Will not start. Opinions/Help please!!

Hey guys!

Car had a minor service today and had the gasket between the inlet manifold and the crossover pipe changed (small job). According to the mechanic it had been starting perfectly all day till i arrived.

The only way we could get it started when cold was if we sprayed a tiny bit of AeroStart into the inlet but would not start again if i didnt allow it to reach operating temp.... Though when i do start it with the AeroStart spray and let it warm up to operating temp i can turn it off and start it back up no problem at all, time after time.

So basically when cold the only way to start it is with the spray but when the motor is left running till it reaches operating temp it can be turned off and started with no problem at all.

I am guessing it is the glow plugs not heating when cold starting... Would this be the most probable cause?

It is a 1998 2.0turbo diesel and has done a little over 300,000km the engine is a little tired blows a tiny bit of smoke but still goes hard and strong. My worst thoughts are it has lost compression so will only start when the rings have warmed up and expanded, but i really hope this is not the case.

I have spent over $1000 in the past week on this car and really need to know what this could be as i want to do it myself. I am quite mechanically minded (i used to repair mechanic workshop equipment for a job before i lost my job due to the recession) and have a copy of the Haynes Service manual as well as the RAVE Land rover Free Lander workshop CD.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE somebody give me an opinion or an idea of where to start or what to do. I can't afford much at the moment and have a baby due soon but no car so i don't want to throw money at the "experts" who will charge me an arm leg and a kidney to diagnose the car.

Thank You,
Martin.

I doubt its the glow plugs as my L series will light up cold (if rather roughly) without them. Worth a check though as its easy to do. Firstly connect a volt meter between the top connection of one plug and earth. 10-12v should be present when the ignition is switched on and should drop to 0 after a minute or so, maybe sooner. The lack of this voltage indicates a problem with the supply and this points to either the preheat relay or the fuse. Now if the supply is present then the plugs may have expired. To check you need to remove the supply cable from the top of each plug and then using your meter on its resistance range, connect between the top connection of the plug and earth. You should get a value of around 1 ohm. If its higher than 10 ohms then the plug is goosed and needs replacing. If you find one plug down then replace all four regardless of their health.

Your Aerostart is a compression booster. Its increasing the heat induced in the compression stroke. If the glowplugs are out then this will compensate. Don't make a habit of using this stuff though as it kicks the crap out of the bottom end of the engine and then next thing you'll be looking at is little end failures.

Now if the glow plugs check out okay then it does sound like its lacking compression. But before we condem the engine lets examine the facts. You say the garage changes a gasket on the inlet manifold. Now was the car running okay before this work was done? What was the reason that this gasket was changed? I assume it was leaking and as this is a turbo engine and the manifold is under positive pressure most of the time then it would have been hissing at you.

If the car was running okay before this work was done, and the glow plugs check out okay, then I would be getting that manifold apart again to see what daftness has occurred. A partially blocked manifold will reduce compression.

Keep us posted on your findings, theres a good team of people on here.

BTW, where are you in the world.

Best of luck.

I concur that it isn't the glow plugs. Mine went through a winter of poor starting when the relay failed. It would take a bit of cranking but it would still start.

Cheers

Blippie