Diesel engine cutoff - weird operation

When I got my LR I was told that I had to depress the brake pedel to cutoff the diesel engine once the ignition key was removed. Being a Jap engine, I just thought that this was how it was meant to be done.

Yesterday I fitted some LED brake/tail lights (very good purchase with nice even lighting of the Wipac lens cover but you need to have 2 identical units otherwise they do not work) and hitting the brake pedel stopped cutting off the engine.

To cut a long story short, the brake pedel was a red herring. It appears that the engine is cut when a load is applied to what appears to be the ignition circuit. With the new LED bulbs, the load is probably insufficient to work so the engine continued to run. Thankfully I have found that turning the windscreen wipers on still kills the engine.

I cannot see this is normal and probably indicates a fault somewhere. Can someone please explain to me how a diesel engine is cutoff? My only experience with diesel engines are on boats when we just opened the compression levers.

Sometimes turning the ignition off does kill the engine so this may indicate a fault in the ignition switch. But when it does not kill the engine, the ignition light remains lit until the windscreen wiper is turned on although it does not move.

not sure if this helps at all, but in my days of owning a series III, i had to pull a choke physically to kill the engine. removing the key, just shuts off the electric circuits.

in a modern day td5, i guess when you switch the key to POS I it also chokes the engine by means of a electronic choke.

What sort of system is that? It would make sence having to depress the brake to let the engine start for security, but not turn off, mean what purpose does that serve! My guess is eradicate this strange system.

If I were you I would, look into the ignition system, not sure which engine you have, but you might find a little wire going into a sensor looking thing on the injector pump or somewhere else along the fuel line, turn the ignition off, with the engine still running pull the little wire off the terminal, your engine should die. You may have a dodgey fuel cutoff, on my engine if I unscrew it, and take out the plunger, there is then no way of turning off the engine, so perhaps you have a stuck or seized plunger or some electrical fault on the brake wiring somehow effects the cutoff current.

This plunger needs a small current to keep it lifted, its almost like its not fully loosing the current.

If you have a later electronicaly controlled engine, then I am sorry and my thoughts are with you.

achuakh said:

not sure if this helps at all, but in my days of owning a series III, i had to pull a choke physically to kill the engine. removing the key, just shuts off the electric circuits.

in a modern day td5, i guess when you switch the key to POS I it also chokes the engine by means of a electronic choke.

Click to expand...

its not a choke its a fuel cut-off cable