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Getting colder, Defender refuses to crank immediately

Hi!

My wifes Defender 90 (2.5l TD 63kw, 08/1990) cranks not as willingly as usual, seems he (yes, _he_ - my wife never would use a female car

*g*) has realized that the winter is to come, at the moment around 0 Celsius :( Only after a few tries he awakes, exhausting a large cloud of smoke, then it takes about 10 seconds for him to run as smooth as nothing had happened, if this kind of diesel engine ever runs smooth :-)

What should we do? The battery is relatively new, and the glow plugs had been changed one year ago or so.

What I will do is check the glow plugs; is it enough to measure the resistance and/or power consumption of each single one, or do I have to take them out to be sure?

Any hint is highly welcome! Thanks in advance.

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS
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Ralph You don't mention anything about the condition of the starter motor. If its cranking slowly, try a different battery, then check for a bad connection. If its still not spinning it over like it should, either get it checked out or replace it.

From my experience of starting a 2.5TD (not Tdi), don't touch the accelerator while starting.

Mick

Reply to
Mick

you can measure the glow-plugs resistance, I don't recall what 'healthy' resistance is but I changed mine a week ago and could measure the resistance on them for you (1984 2.5 n/a diesel engine).

Is the starter merrily turning? if not it may me a dodgy earth meaning the starter is not getting it's full amount of power. Talking of power, is the battery good?

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Reply to
Mr.Nice.

It does not seem slow to me at all; of course I do not have a seconbd defender to compare, but it sounds quite noemal.

We do not, we just have to when the engine started to keep it alive for the firt seconds.

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS

Like I just posted, it seems OK.

It is about 18 months old, and the car usually does not have to do trips below 45 km, so the battery is charged, and it does not seem to be weak at all.

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS

Hi Ralph - get a jump lead and connect it from battery -ve to a suitable point on the engine block. If the engine now cranks better you have a bad earth, usually between the starter and chassis.

All the 4-cylinder diesels before the 200Tdi will not start easily (or at all) if they cannot be cranked fast enough, and the problem is usually down to bad earths.

Cheers Richard

Reply to
beamendsltd

Hey, sounds like a good practical hint; this I will try these days.

Yes, I am hearing more and more of this *g*

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS

Had a bad earth to the starter on 'Jasmine'. Made my own lead from battery -ve to starter motor body and now it spins much, much faster. Another problem I have had is a broken wire to the glow plugs. They all looked great but only the first plug was actually doing any work. Usually took 2 or 3 tries to start the engine. Rewired the plugs, and now, along with the starter motor earthing she fires up first time, even when it was -3degC last week!!!

Stew.

Reply to
90ninety

We will do some research this weekend, when we can have a look at the cold engine at daylight; before work, in the dark at 6 AM or so, this would be no fun at all :-)

So I will take two advices from all the very helpful replies, look at the battery and ground connection, and checking evrything around the glow plugs.

Thank you all!

regards - Ralph

Reply to
Ralph A. Schmid, DK5RAS

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