300Tdi - Slow start in cold weather - New glow plugs needed?

I would get the glow plugs changed. About £30 tops for them and maybe an hour at a garage to fit them - I recently changed mine in my 110 and it made a difference.

Andy

Judith wrote: I thought I'd just be able to unscrew the glow plugs and have

You COULD look at them, but unless they are utterly knackered, you can't see anything. You need to pull 'em and connect them to the battery for a few seconds. You should see a good bright glow close to the tip of the plug, if you don't, then change them, its not worth changing single plugs for the cost. Don't know where you are, but Richard at Beamends in the UK does a set of plugs for 4 x 3.76 GBP !

Steve

Glow plugs are probably most likely. However, do you park onj a slope with your engine pointing up the slope? Mine at the moment takes about 10 seconds to start if I do this - park the other way round, it starts on the first turn.

My mechanic here replaced the lift fuel pump the last time mine did this - he said the fuel was draining back into the tank overnight and had to be pumped back up again. He said it was a sign of the diaphragm failing.

The fuel lift pump doesn't do much once the engine is running I believe. I'm sure there was a post on this newsgroup that said the injection pump could suck the fuel through once the engine was running. So you probably wouldn't notice any other symptoms.

Cheers! Graham Carter

My 98 2.5 Disco has been behaving (mis-behaving) like that over the past few weeks. I think I will try backing into the garden before I change the glow plugs.

Happy New Year all

Hugh

On or around Wed, 28 Dec 2005 16:24:22 +0200, "Graham Carter" enlightened us thusly:

Glow plugs last until they fail. They're not, AFAIK, a service item.

surely this would apply in warmer weather too? if it's a recent symptom only in cold weather, I'd still go with glow plugs. It's quite possible to have an engine that starts fine without plugs, and then the temperature drops about 3 degrees and it doesn't.

You can test 'em, as someone says: pull plug, connect fattish wire (a jump lead is good) to the top, connect other end of FW to battery +, grab plug with pliers and rest the metal casing on battery -. should take about 5 seconds to start glowing at the tip. You hold it with pliers 'cos it gets hot (if it's working) and be careful where you put it down afterwards.

sender on the solar collector on our roof says -9.3 C tonight.

Diagnose first, spend money later - unless you are the Government spending our money.

In message , Austin Shackles writes

Doesn't the 300 Tdi have a relay which controls the glow plugs in some way?

No, I park on a slope ..... but with my engine pointing DOWN the slope!

Judith

Yes, that's how it seems. Above, say, 2 deg C - fine. Around 0 deg C

- bit iffy. Below -2 deg C - cross fingers! It hasn't not started yet, but I need to do something about it soon as there's obviously something not right. Most people seem to think it's the plugs and I reckon a new set after (at least) 60,000 miles wouldn't be too much of an extravagance.

Judith

All diesels will have a relay controlling the glow-plugs. the suck upwards of about 50 amps i believe, so you certainly wouldn't want all that current tearing through you ignition barrel. i was quoted $150 to replace the glow-plug relay on my old landcruiser. i said "bugger that", and bought a universal started solenoid and did the job for about $20 and about an hours work.

Sam.

Here in Harare, Zimbabwe, temp is 23C, likely to rise to about 30 if the cloud clears. Yesterday, travelling back from South Africa, we had temps about 35C

Just thought how glad I am not to be in English cold at the moment.

Cheers! Graham

Yes it does. Also has a temperature sensor. Plugs come on for a period of time depending on temperature, and then dashboard light goes off. Plugs stay on for about a further 10 seconds. If you listen carefully, you can hear the relay click (it's by the fuse box under the bonnet).

Cheers! Graham.

I have to say I'd rather have our very changeable weather - I don't like hot and I love wintery Christmas card morinings (not rain though!).

Richard

On or around Wed, 28 Dec 2005 23:06:49 +0000, Judith enlightened us thusly:

it's quite common for one or two plugs to fail. Even on the sort of engines that habitually use the glowplugs (and yes, the TDi shouldn't need 'em normally) they'll start from one or two plugs on a warm day, but a few degrees colder they won't start at all.

it *could* be the plug controller. But check the plugs first, they're much cheaper to replace.

On or around 28 Dec 2005 05:56:01 -0800, "Judith" enlightened us thusly:

[slow starts]

in a spirit of enquiry I went out and started the motors here. -11 C overnight, probably about -8 now.

Disco took 2 goes of heater and several seconds of cranking - I suspect it'll be worth checking the plugs on that one, too. BTW - one classic symptom of partially-dead plug set is for it to fire initially on less than

4 cylinders.

Minibus (Ford Di) took about 4 seconds of cranking. I'm not sure it even HAS glowplugs.

Edward II (the series III) was a bit tricksy. I suspect that the choke doesn't actually enrich enough even at full choke for this temperature. A bit of pumping on the accelerator pedal to get more fuel into him eventually brought him to life, without recourse to the starting handle.

Result!

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 09:47:46 +0200, "Graham Carter" enlightened us thusly:

git.

what's the position with emigrating to ZA these days :-)

not sure I fancy Zimbabwe unless the regime gets a bit of a makeover.

...and Graham Carter spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...

You cruel, cruel man. Actually, I like a good cold snap in the winter. It kills off all the bugs and reminds you that seasons are theoretically meant to be different. The endless succession in the past few years of month after month of mild, dull, wet weather in "winter" makes me depressed.

Fair comment!!!

Fairly tight unless you've got R500,000 to invest in a company, or a South Africa relation (parent/grandparent). You can also get in if you can get a job, which has been advertised to South Africans, and none were suitable.

As for Zimbabwe, 1000% inflation takes getting used to. Our largest note is

20,000 dollars, and is worth about 15p. Only need two to get a beer mind!! But shopping for the two of us costs about $5million per week!

Sun shines a lot though, and if it's too hot, just jump in the pool.

Having said that, it's rained all day today!!! 26mm (which is actually quite light for Zimbabwe).

Cheers!!! Graham Carter

On or around Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:52:44 +0200, "Graham Carter" enlightened us thusly:

Blimey. I could fancy having a farm or something there, but from what I hear and read, there's not much point at the moment as the PTB over there are intent on a) booting out any whites they reckon they can do without and b) generally breaking the economy in a way that makes ours look positively blooming.

I freely admit that the information I have may be biassed.