My escort has just developed a fault in the last two days , when starting in the morning it has taken about 10-12 turns of the ignition to get it started , once started its fine , but the next morning same problem My question is , would this be more likely to be an old battery (not been replaced since new) or glow plugs or cold start adjustment
Thanks
First stop is the glow plugs, any place that sells batteries will test your battery for you, but my bet would be one plug gone.
MrCheerful
if its spinning over fast enough and when it does start it seems rough and jerky for a few seconds whilst spewing out more white / black smoke than normal then sounds like you have one or 2 glow plugs down...
Tim..
Turn the headlights on & then try & start it. If they dim dramatically it's the battery, if not & you've got white smoke /after/ it starts & it runs lumpy then you've probably lost a glowplug
How can you tell which glowplugs are not doing their job? My Xantia 1.9TD is suffering from the same problem. I have a full set of spare glowplugs but dont want to swap them for no reason.
Changing the duff ones is usually false economy - when one goes, the rest are almost always about to go.
Almost certainly the glowies, assuming it's still churning the donk over at the usual pace after ten turns.
So changing the old set with a good set seems to be my next job.
disconnect the lead to each glow plug, use a flylead from battery positive to connect to one glow plug at a time, you should get a nice crackle as you connect. Any duff ones will not draw current. This is not an infallible test but is accurate more than 99 times out of a hundred.
I don't agree about all the plugs failing near to each other by age.
MrCheerful
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