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vauxhall mk3 diesel 1.7 - hard starting

got a problem starting in that if its left standing for a few days, it will not start easily, even after allowing glow plugs to go out, "seizes whilst turning over, prior to firing.. I suspect water seeping into the cylinders.

when it does actually manage to turn over, its firing is very erratic and takes about 20 seconds before it ignites, (because of the water which has now been exhausted and therefore damp), even then it takes about 45-60 seconds before its firing normally.

once its running normally its great, no jerking and pulls away smoothly.

its not losing massive amounts of coolant nor oil during use, nor do I have mayonnaise syndrome yet. so I don't think its head gasket related..

or is it the start of a pending gasket failure?

Reply to
Derrick
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The message from Derrick contains these words:

S'not pending - it's already happened. At least, it's most likely the gasket though it could be a porous head.

Reply to
Guy King

even more common is the head cracked between the valves

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

In article , mrcheerful . writes

£ £ £ big time
Reply to
Derrick

Why do you think it's a water leak, if your're not losing water. Did you check the glowplugs

John

Reply to
John

In article , John writes

its not losing massive amounts of water...

not the sort I would expect to lose had it been a full gasket failure.

glowplugs have been changed recently

Reply to
Derrick

I've changed glowplugs in the past and used Halfords cheapies and they seem to last about 10 minutes :-( Bosch seem to last ok. I'd think if it was loosing enough water to "seize" the engine it would be noticeable - you'd have to fill one cylinder at least, and that's going to be 400-odd ml, or 3/4 of a pint. I'd have the glowplugs tested again before you do anything else..

Mike

Reply to
Mike P

I've had very similar problems with our '95 cav, turned out to be the starter motor, ok, i;ve used breakers parts but its need to be changed every 18 months. Bit of a pain in the arse to change compaired to other cars i've worked on, but still very DIY'able. It'd turn over a tiny bit at seemingly full speed, then kinda stop, similar to the jetski when i've hydrolocked it, so i can see where you get the cylinder full of water idea from. But i'd still guess starters your problem.

Reply to
Chris

In article , Mike P writes

still doesn't explain the seizing on turning over..

unless both starter motor and glow plugs are expiring

Reply to
Derrick

Take less than full cylinder of water to lock engine at a guess, high compression engine with uncompressable water. If it did lock think chance is more of a con rod bending.

Would heater plug show signs of getting a steam cleaned if water is leaking to cylinder, like very shiny compared against others?

Adam

Reply to
Adam Aglionby

The message from "Mike P" contains these words:

No you wouldn't. You'd need around (1.7 / 4 )/ (compression ratio) litres. Assuming perhaps 20:1 compression that's about six cc. The dead space in a diesel is very small at the top of stroke.

Reply to
Guy King

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