110 300tdi cranks but wont start, perhaps fuel starved

jamesmartin said:

if fuel squirts from lift pump connect it all up and leave the front banjo bolt pon injection pump loose,pump liftp pump till clean diesel appears,tighten banjo and try,pump will only suck up fuel once its full,it wont if it has air in it, hence once running and lift pump fails its often not noticed till system needs to be bled up after a filter change or similar

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Ah that actually makes sense, explains a bit as to how some peoples goes on for ages without the lift pump and no problem, yet some have immediate problems. cheers



Well I've been out today with the multimeter and done alot of testing. The wire I had run directly from the battery had a 30a inline fuse fitted which at some point had blown and melted. This is the same wire however that I used for testing the solenoid when not fitted to the vehicle (everything worked) so I'm uncertain as to when the fuse blew. However I replaced the fuse and the landy now works even with the solenoid plunger and spring fitted.

This doesn't change the fact that when it first broke down at the side of the road, I tried starting it without the plunger in the solenoid and it wouldnt start.
Additionally, the proper wire for the shut off solenoid just fell off where it was connected to in the engine bay, so it can't have had a great connection to begin with. I'll have to figure out where I should run a new wire from so that the solenoid has power when they key is in running/starting positions to make it function correctly again.

As for the actual fault? I'm still not certain. I could blame it on poor wiring (that fell off) and the blown fuse (which was only on the new wire setup after the breakdown) but that still doesnt explain why it wouldn't initially start without the plunger when i broke down at the side of the road. Perhaps there was initially a fuelling issue which was remedied somewhere along the lines of me taking everything to bits and putting it back together, in conjunction with a wiring problem later on.

I'll drive cautiously and locally for a while, see how it goes. But I'll optimistically call this "fixed" I suppose. Thanks very much for all the help and suggestions, and my aplogies that its turned out (fingers crossed) to be such a boring answer to an interesting fault.

EDIT: Removed it once again and had a look in with a torch. Noticed there was some yellow coloured debris around the larger section of the hole the solenoid screws into. (so inside near where the fuel flows, but not in the smaller section of the hole where the plunger goes). Not sure if it means anything, but AFAIK there shouldnt be any debris in there at all. With it being yellow though, I wonder if its chrome plating from the FIP? I wonder if maybe theres been a slight blockage or enough to stop the plunger moving correctly when fitted. Either way, I've thoroughly cleaned it out and will check on it again in the future to see if any more has appeared.

Additionally, from all my reading up and looking at wiring diagrams everything suggests my shut off solenoid should be connected directly from the ignition via a white wire.

Well I don't know where mine went to, but I think it was to one of these two green wires that appear to run into the back of the brake servo thingey? It was just a wire running out of one of those connectors, I think just jammed in place and with a 10a fuse fitted inline.

So I think my best bet is probably to remove the steering column cowl and fit a new wire running directly from the ignition into the engine bay to the solenoid? Unless anyone has any suggestions as to where in the engine bay I might find the origional wire.

I also found about 10 foot of spooled up wire connected to nothing at both ends! I think from the connection it used to run to the ariel.


EDIT: Oh duh it would be the brake light switch, I think that he had it wired up to?

The white is in the engine loom. It will go to a plug near the brake servo/clutch then through the bulkhead

Hicap phill said:

The white is in the engine loom. It will go to a plug near the brake servo/clutch then through the bulkhead

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Cheers, spent ages looking but not found anything matching that description. Where the loom comes into the engine bay it's split into a couple of wrapped sections of wire, I've managed to unwrap one of them a little but no white wire.

Not sure if it's likely to be in the other wrapped section as it looks like it's never been disturbed.

Currently googling engine bay pics to try and find out where it should be, but not having much luck.

Not sure if it'll help at all, but I've included a picture of where I'm looking in the engine bay.

Edit: managed to unwrap a bit of the other part of the loom, no white wire in there either.

If it was originally fitted with an EGR, would that change anything with the white wire? Been doing a lot of reading online and found a mention of the 3 wires for the EGR also powering the shut off solenoid, so since a previous owner has removed the EGR might it explain why I can't find the wire I'm looking for?

EDIT: found a solid white wire that goes into what appears to be the glow plug relay?

CaptainHair said:

If it was originally fitted with an EGR, would that change anything with the white wire? Been doing a lot of reading online and found a mention of the 3 wires for the EGR also powering the shut off solenoid, so since a previous owner has removed the EGR might it explain why I can't find the wire I'm looking for?

EDIT: found a solid white wire that goes into what appears to be the glow plug relay?

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egr wires are completely separate

jamesmartin said:

egr wires are completely separate

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Ah ok, cheers for ruling that one out.

I've found a solid white wire that goes to the glow plug relay, if that has the same functionality I might take off from that. I'll try following it backwards a bit though and see if it branches off.