200Tdi with starting difficulties (pantelis)

Kalispera Pantelis.

I've just returned from my third trip to your lovely islands, Fiskardo was a real treat.

I had no problems with starting after making all the tweaks you have done on my 300. On the 200 all I did was to increase the "go faster" screw though.

Two thoughts:

1. If it is smoking a lot then you may have difficulty starting it, in which case lean out the mix a bit.
2. If you have not blocked off the Engine Gas Recycling Valve ( EGR ) then you may experience some starting trouble. This valve is not present on the 200 but appears on the

300. In any event it's a good idea to block it off. I found a £2 coin fitted mine and blocked it perfectly, I think Austin found a 2p coin fitted his.

Hope this helps

TonyB

In news:NYqdnaxz snipped-for-privacy@bt.com, TonyB wibbled :

Typically frugal, Austin.

If you have tweaked the injector pump (especially the max power screw) you really need to fit an exhaust gas temperature guage and make sure that the reading never goes over 700 degrees centigrade. If the temperature has gone over that you may well have melted something.

John

Tony Hi,

Glad you had a nice time in Kefallonia. Fiskardo is a very beautiful village. Did you also visit the other side of the island and the caves?

Thanks for the suggestions. My 200Tdi does NOT have the EGR system. I will try and reduce the amount of added travel on the "go faster" screw.

Take care and thanks again Pantelis

John Hi,

it never went above the middle line on the temperature gauge. It does go there faster though but never actually gone over it.

The engine performs and sounds exactly as it did before. Once it starts it works like a dream.

Take care Pantelis

People Hi,

an update on the situation.

Today I have decided to try and lubricate the diesel fuel injector pump a bit. Occasionaly I add a bit of vegetable oil (new not used) in the fuel tank so as to lubricate the fuel system a bit because of the low sulphur diesel fuel available here in Greece.

So since the fuel tank was almost empty (the orange light started blinking when turning) I added 10 lt. of corn oil in it.

The car still had a bit of a problem to start but after a small drive (about

12 km or 8 miles) it started smelling like french fries from the exhaust which meant that it had started using the fresh corn oil as fuel. The car started feeling more "agile" and less noisy also (which we all know is one of the advantages of using vegy fuel instead of dynojuice)

After returning home I decided to give it a try and start the engine again just to check on whether it could start again (because when hot it had more difficulty into starting)

SURPRISE !!!!

it started IMMEDIATELY !!!!

so I think. Could this be a problem of the fuel pump getting stuck or in being in need of better lubrication? I have been using central heating diesel during the whole winter so could this be the reason and not the tweaking of the fuel pump?

Take care Pantelis

I don't know if it's still the case, but a while ago, a fuel chemist told me that if I wanted to use paraffin/ kerosene (More or less the same as central heating oil) in my boat engine, I should add some RedEx (An upper cylinder lubricant) to the fuel, as diesel fuel contains something similar, while paraffin doesn't.

Apparently not doing this can cause the injectors to stick slightly, & give a coarser spray pattern with larger droplets, which may be what was causing your starting problems. The smaller the droplets, the easier an engine is to start. Once it's running, this doesn't matter so much, but can still cut fuel efficiency by a noticeable percentage.

Hope this helps.

Tciao for Now!

John.

People Hi,

More interesting news, unfortunately not good ones though.

After using the 10 lt of corn oil I have filled up the fuel tank with normal diesel fuel today. After the corn oil in the system was used and the engine started using diesel again I noticed that it sounded harsher and now is a bit less "responsive"

And unfortunately the difficulty in starting has reappeared. Especially when hot (at around the middle white line in the temperature gauge) it totally refuses to start eventhough the starter is cranking the engine without any effort (twin batteries on the Camels)

Any ideas?

Take care Pantelis

"Pantelis Giamarellos" wrote .............

I would remove the injectors, then check the compressions then check the injector pressures and spray patterns.

Martin

Martin Thanks,

I will have a look at the compression and take the injectors for a check also.

Take care and thanks for your suggestions. Pantelis

Hi Pantelis, Sadly |I didn't have time to visit the other side of the island, but managed Ithaca, Kalamos, Meganisi and Lefkas, not bad for a week!

I wonder if your starting problem is due to air gieeting in the fuel line somewhere?

I guess you've drained the filters to exclude water too? Hope you get it sorted soon, TonyB

Tony Hi,

Lots of places to visit in just only a week.

I have not checked about air getting in the fuel but the strange thing is that the car starts fine with cornoil in the fuel but still has problems starting (excessive cranking) when cold and does not start at all (even with more than 15 seconds of continuous cranking) when cold.

I tried to clean the oil fules separator today and have removed the go faster screw. Then screwed it back but not so far inside (a very sexy way to put it in writing......) Idle speed has been reduced a bit but can not say whether this will help since I am now running at a 75% ratio of corn oil to diesel. It is amazing though how sweeter and more silent the engine is with the cornoil as main fuel.

With 42 degrees of ambient temperature today there is no need to worry about clogged fuel systems from the cornoil.

I did a little research today on the BOSCH published book about the VE diesel fuel pumps that I had bought some years ago. The thing I found is that the "go faster" screw is in fact pushing more inwards a metallic "tongue" which when closed is supposed to hinder starting the engine. This is why I decided to undo the winding of the "go faster" screw and see what happens.

The strange thing is that before tampering with the "go faster" screw there was no problem at all with starting the engine. But after turning it for about 1.5 turns the engine gradually developed this problem and now refuses to start easily when cold and does not start at all when cold.

I will try and do a compression test on Monday and I will let everybody know about the outcome.

Thanks again for your kind input and suggestions.

Take care Pantelis