Priming a diesel 205

See my answer to your later post.

easistart works suprisingly well.

"Duncan Wood" wrote in news:op.tiy80qliyuobwl@lucy:

I don't think that is going to suck up the missing fuel though. Cheers.

Itdepends, I can't remember if there's a lift pump on a 205, but if not then it quite often will suck up the missing fuel.

I remember as a young lad being asked to pump the primer like b*****y for an age before it would start, whilst my buddy turned the engine over... :-/

Priming fuel to the injection pump is only part of priming a diesel.

It's beena while since I done one of these, so the finer details may not be right. Either open the fuel filter bleed screw (if fitted) or remove the fuel feed pipe to the injection pump from the fuel filter head. Operate the primer until fuel free from air comes out. Tighten / reattach the hose. Now operate the primer until you feel increased resistance.

Now you need to crack open the fuel injector pipes at the injectors. Just crack open a couple (1/4 - 1/2 turn is enough). Now crank the engine over until fuel free from air starts spurting out. Stop cranking the engine, and tighten the injector pipes. The engine should now start (even though a bit lumpy to begin with), but if it doesn't, repeat the procedure with the other two injector pipes.

Under no circumstances put your hands near the injector pipes, while they're cracked open. The fuel pressure is high enough to break through your skin and cause severe medical problems.

When I changed the fuel pipes on my BX (XUD - same engine as the 205), I just primed it with the button on the filter. It took absolutely ages, but got there in the end. I think 'pump until you're really bored, then do it about 5 times as long' should do it.

There was a bit of air left in there which caused a couple of misfires, but that soon cleared and it was running fine.

cheers, clive

By finer details, I meant things like where the bleed screws are, which depended on what fuel filter and injection pump were fitted (had the option of several different fuel filters IIRC, aswell as both CAV and Bosch pumps on the XUD engines). There is also the possibility that he primer is knackered (common for the delphi filter top ones to fail), which means that fuel may not be getting pumped. Hence the removal of pipe/opening of bleed screw to check fuel is actually getting pumped up.

The principles of bleeding a conventional (ie. mechanical pump) diesel are essentially the same (prime fuel to injection pump, then prime fuel to injectors). You don't always have to crack open the injector pipes, but it means the injectors get bled far quicker, with less chance of doing stupid things like burning out starter motors.

"Clive George" wrote in news:4559c9e4$0$8730$ snipped-for-privacy@ptn-nntp-reader02.plus.net:

I suspect that my primer bulb thing may be buggered. I changed the fuel pipes on this 205 last year and never had this problem. Also I'm beginning to wonder if I have enough fuel in the tank mind you. The low fuel light is off but there is a known gallon of diesel in the tank. mebbe I need a bit more to get the pressure up. I'll try again tomorrow after I've fitted the new brake cylinder to my ZX. It's all go here at the moment.

The older Pugs and citroens can have 1 0r 2 problems with the fuel, supply, first the metal pipes corrode and get pinhole leaks , if you have an air leak you aint never going to lift any diesel. secondly some of them have a metal block on the back of the coolant manifold on the rear of the engine block as a fuel heater , steel pipes araldited into the block , with different expansion rates eventually they leak..... more air in the system . The old lucas girling type primers are notorious for not pumping. the later bulb type are not too bad , but the button type primer is also prone to air leaking. I note the car has stood , something is not pumping or is leaking air in .

The old air filter off , burning rag/ blowlamp held by air inlet still works (much less damaging than easy start), allow just the end of the flame to be dragged into the air inlet whilst cranking. Steve the grease

How does that work?

Same as a flame start, you put some pre vaporised fuel into the chamber. Easistarts easier & less likely to set your engine on fire.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Duncan Wood" saying something like:

I've never felt good about Easystart - many an old hand used to say engines got 'addicted' to it. Turns out they were right - the detonation levels can bugger rings and the engine won't cold start from that point on. My own misgivings were based on that, but mainly from the nasty noise an Easystarted engine was making as it fired. I didn't know exactly what was taking place inside, but on general principle I thought it didn't sound good.

Otoh, I've found the burning rag/blowlamp method to be reliable, cheap and simple. Never set a car or truck alight with it either - yet.

It's the same principle though. We used to supply ether starters for high altitude applications on diesels, flame starters for cold temperatures. You've got to really overdo it to damage the rings.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Duncan Wood" saying something like:

Problem is, plenty people don't know how much - who ever reads the instructions? A small amount will suffice, but yer average EasyStart user just wellies it in.

Grimly Curmudgeon wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I've tried a couple of times, I reckon there just isn't enough fuel in the tank (a known one gallon), even though the low fuel light fickers then goes off. Tomorrow I'm going to chuck another gallon in and pour some down the fuel filter. Battery is back on charge. :-)

Tunku wrote in news:Xns987F456EB33Bstuartggraydslpipexc@216.196.109.145:

Yay, a bit more diesel, and the primer worked !!!