2.25 Diesel Cold Starting Major Issues

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slughead91

New Member
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15
Location
cheshire
Hi i've read lots of other threads on similar problems but can't seem to find an answer.
My 2.25 Diesel S3 decided it didnt want to start yesterday but didnt get chance to look till today.
It was cranking over too slow to start, battery died so i put it on charge overnight.
Put it back in this morning, cranked over fast enough to start but never fired, battery died again after much trying.
Tried two more batteries, same story.
Tried jumping it, got it to run for about 10 seconds then it cut out and wudnt start again.
It was firing a lot more while being jumped but never quite got there.

Checked the glow plugs, all the earths from starter, 'encouraged' starter with hammer while turning over, checked the diesel hadnt waxed in the tank.

Im guessing its just too cold for it but if anybody could shed some educated light on the situation it would be very appreciated as I am currently stranded in the house :(

Cheers
 
Have you made sure that the glow plugs work on the vehicles original wiring, Ie pull a plug out while keeping its wire on, hold it with pliers against an earth then operating the keyswitch to prewarm and seeing if the plug glows.
I had a fault on my sherpa like this, messed about rtesting the plugs, all seemed ok, turned out there was no supply to the plugs, the ignition switch was knacked.
 
Upon recheking the glowplugs one of the cables came out of the crimp in my hand :mad:
This cud explain why it cut out after eventually starting, it may have burst into life purely through compression heating it up after constant turning over.

For the time being ill wrap the engine in an electric blanket an put a tarp over the front end stop wind chill and hopefully keep the block a bit warmer.
Ill redo all the glow connections tomorow its too cold and dark at the moment.

Fingers crossed thats the only problem.

Cheers for the help ill update tomoro one way or the other.
 
So long as she's antifreezed I bet all will be ok.
Might be worth putting summat behind the grille this weather, the heater will work better and she wont get as cold at night.
I used to put an old trench coat over the engine on mine when I got home from work, kept enough heat in overnight.
 
ah yeh good call - seen a few defenders knockn about wiv grills covered.
Theres an amount of antifreeze in it, admitadly coolant cud do wiv a topup but think its neat lol
First port of call when i wake the bloody thing up
 
Also check to see if they are series plugs or the later upgraded parallel glow plugs , if these have been added but wired as series then they wont get the full 12v . if they have, a good check is to put a jump lead from positive battery to top of glow plug for 20s then have someone turn it over and if it statrt s easier then need to wire for parallel
 
engine probably a bit worn and most are down on compression,always seem to have worn bores but dosent stop them working once started ,use easystart on mornings when hard to start ,wont hurt ,and it cant get addicted only an idiot would believe it could ,yes if you keep using it for hours it will wash oil of bores ,but if it doesnt go after a few minuets it probably wont with out some more work,or you can remove rubber hose from inlet and point a blow lamp down it
 
Have to argue about the easystart jim.
The detonation from the ether igniting peens over the top of the piston gripping the top ring, causing it to break when the engine warms up, lowering the compression and 'addicting' the engine.
Only use easy start if your stuffed miles away or late for work, and then only use a smidgeon.
 
Well, Bugger.
I am an idiot.
I was once told that presumption is the mother of all f**k ups
Really should have listened!

Re-did all glow plug cabling this morning, thought i'd just check the radiator before trying to start, found a nice radiator shaped block of ice where the coolant should be.

Bugger.

Not really sure where to go from here, nowhere to put it in the warm and its bloody minus degrees all week.

Bugger.

Any advice much appreciated
Abuse for being so stupid expected but not so appreciated lol
 
If you've got an electric fan heater,take front grill off,take out rad drain plug, take of rad cap and direct fan onto rad so it de-ices it,keep bonnet closed and it should warm engine aswell to aid de-icing.Otherwise you'll be waiting forever for it to defrost in this weather and just pray your core plugs dont/haven't blown. When done for christsake make sure its got antifreeze in coolant when re-filling.Best of luck.
 
The 3 possible ideas so far
Tek radiator out and defrost it in the bath
This idea did NOT go down well lol
Put leccy blanket round engine
Went down slighlty better than a radiator in a bath but still no
Fan heater on rad
Went down quite well until she seen the heater i wer using n moaned bout the leccy bill
Fortunatly she is at work now and will never know :)

O and for the record - I feel I am not as stupid as originally presumed, i undid the drain on the block and was greeted by a heavenly flow of blue liquid!!
Also when drainin the radiator a fair amount of blue heaven fell out the bottom, looks like sumhow the antifreeze had moved into the engine blok and left a ****load of water in the radiator to freeze.
Just waitin on that ice to defrost and then hopefully all will be good
 
So ive defrosted it, refilled it with lots of antifreeze.

Taken all the glowplugs out, they all work.

I tested them by connecting 1 to the ignition at a time an seeing if they were glowing after a few seconds on the key, so the ignition wiring to the glow plugs is fine.

Still wont start.

Battery fully charged read 13.4V on multimeter but starter motor not turning fast enough to get it going.

Any last ideas ?

Really need to drive to the shops an do me xmas shoppin :Cry:
 
Jump leads - the extra oomph might help. Could be your starter motor is getting a bit tired.
 
Just disconnected the starter and cleaned up every contact i could find.

Also found 2 wires going to the starter that wer knackered.
Reconnected these two wires (Brown one and a Green one)

Tried to start her up after reconnecting everything, starter going slower than before and smoke came off the earth cable between the starter and solenoid (The insualtion was melted when i removed it so i presume this aint the first time)
Smoke continued until battery was disconnected.

Help!!
 
There should be a couple of brown wires, one or two from the alternator and one to the ignition switch (the vehicle's main electrical feed.) These attach to the terminal that the battery live lead attaches to.
The energising feed from the ignition switch should be red and white to the spade connector.
The short link id the live feed to the motor windings. If this is smoking then the motor is shorting out or running too slowly - sounds like you need to overhaul or replace the motor.
 
There are 3 brown wires on the live terminal
2 from alternator and 1 from ignition
The spade connecter does have the red n white cable on it although there is a green wire with a spade on it just loose near the starter :confused:, this seems to go somewhere near the dash.

Short link still smoking despite efforts to earth everything again with jump leads.

Could starter motor deteriorate that quick ?
It was brilliant, it rocked the entire truck, then parked it up when got back from work and it decided it didnt want to start in the morning.
 
The green wire's a bit of a mystery - the only green wire in that part of the engine bay is the live feed to the brake light switch from the fusebox.
The short link isn't an earth, it's the live feed from the solenoid to the motor. If the motor isn't going round fast enough this will get hot and extra earthing won't help.
It does sound like the starter is buggered - you can get overhaul kits for these, search on e-bay.
 
After purchasing a 200tdi starter the 2 working day delivery turned into 8 days due to all the bloody bank holidays.
Got home from work, neighbour brought parcel round, Finally!!

Swapped starters, gave it sum glow, pushed the start button....

and it didnt start.

Starter motor sounded very hopeful but i decided to giv it more glow after a while of turning over.
Then some strange things happend
Whenever i press the push start the starter does something different
Once it didnt engage, a couple of times it sounded like the old starter, once it did that horrible clicking noise.
As it is now 11.20pm I have given up for the day, I've put the battery on charge overnight and am hoping for the best.

Is there anything ive forgotten to do installing the 200tdi starter ?
I was under the impression it was a straight swap, just smaller.
 
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