strange starting problem

[Beau]

What did you remove just the pipe from exhaust manifold to the egr valve ?

As we talked about earlier in this thread turning up the fuel is something of a mystery still , i can get the same results from half turn as i get from 3 full turns on the screw and as you said some get no joy at all . I would use smoke as your indicator , turn it up see if it cures your starting problem and if it does you can work at finding the lowest fuel setting without the worry .

Yep, the pipe that runs along the back of the engine.

And I'm a bit scared of turning it up too much as I would rather avoid a runaway engine situation again After turning it up one full turn and having no influence on starting I doubt turning it up anymore will have any change.

 

[Shayne]

Do it with the engine running and see if it starts ok tomorrow . Loosen a battery terminal so you can shut the ecu down if you want to be doubly safe .

More fuel means more power but too much fuel saps power and running lean will feel better than over fueling , this is the balance that took me so long to find . I think you are enjoying the opposite end of where you were at power wise .

 

[Shayne]

I blanked the egr where it comes off the manifold and left the rest alone because there are to many wires for complete removal but i don't see why i couldn't have removed the pipe as you have and just blanked the other end as well .

 

[Beau]

Disconnecting the battery doesn't do anything. It free revs past 4k, turning off the engine via the key doesn't stop it either. The only way is to block the air intake with something.

I'll have a mess about with the switches back there and see if having them unplugged will do anything. Also dropping the tank and checking in there!

 

[Shayne]

I was thinking electric pump means no spark means no fuel clamp the fuel pipe ? , I have never had so much as a dash light while messing with everything but i will turn the fuel screw from 12 to 1 oclock and it might stay like that for a week until i've done a bit of driving and thought about how it feels .

 

[Beau]

I was thinking electric pump means no spark means no fuel clamp the fuel pipe ? , I have never had so much as a dash light while messing with everything but i will turn the fuel screw from 12 to 1 oclock and it might stay like that for a week until i've done a bit of driving and thought about how it feels .

I imagine what happens is the spill control plunger stays lifted, and the engine keeps driving the pump which pushes fuel through into the injectors. I can clamp the the fuel lines but it'll still bleed the entire pump out before starting and I'd also be worried about running the pump at that high RPM with little fuel in it...

I'm normally thankful for the little electronics these things have, but I'm starting to think if it it had more sensors, I could have isolated the starting issue by now

 

[Shayne]

go and stand in the corner or you might be given one of them newer cruisers which have only as much power as Helen's little truck to haul twice the weight

No worries about reliability in them though the onboard computer will shut you down if you ever push its limits

 

[Beau]

Well, I swapped the pump over the weekend and after some cranking it started... left it to idle for a few minutes then switched it off. Tried starting back and nothing. Tried cranking several times and still nothing... strange.

One thing I have noticed was the RPM tach was hesitant and dipping when the actual engine rpm was the same. So this has led me to check all the grounds and sensors.

 

[Beau]

Ok, figured out it was a air leak and sorted that out. However I reckon I still have a air leak somewhere. Ordering up some new washers to swap next.

Side note - When I remove the fuel hose entering the primer pump should fuel drain back to the tank? Same goes for the return line?

Also the primer pump never gets hard. I had a inline check valve in and this made it get hard, but now it wont. It does work though. No air is returning through the return.

 

[Shayne]

If i couldn't pump the primer until it was hard i would assume its knackered and i would expect the fuel to run back to the tank if i disconnected the pipes because gravity demands it .

 

[Beau]

If i couldn't pump the primer until it was hard i would assume its knackered and i would expect the fuel to run back to the tank if i disconnected the pipes because gravity demands it .

So does your primer pump get hard when pumping consecutively?

 

[Shayne]

I pump fast until there's lots of resistance absently sort of watching for a leak to appear somewhere . Had to replace both filter housings on my boat recently there were no symptoms as such it just wouldn't start sometimes , it was probably this that killed my batteries which were both replaced at the same time .

 

[Shayne]

Would a leak from filter to pump not show itself as white smoke on start up ?

 

[Beau]

I can pump until there's resistance but it doesn't get really hard where it's a struggle or pain to pump. The resistance stays the same.

why white smoke? White smoke normally indicates either unburnt diesel or water in the engine. Start ups have been clean but still require 4 seconds of cranking.

 

[Shayne]

I don't think the mrs could get 4 more pumps out of mine immediately after me . The white smoke suggestion was followed by a question mark because i'm not sure where the idea comes from , late night web browsing maybe ?

Have you done fuel direct to pump again since swapping the pump ?

 

[Shayne]

Think i have a dodgy glow plug , white smoke and lumpy idle but only while starting a cold engine , it clears with a blip of throttle and the truck is running fine otherwise . I'm not trawling through 7 pages to see if glow plugs have been discussed already but i thought it worth a mention .

 

[Beau]

Think i have a dodgy glow plug , white smoke and lumpy idle but only while starting a cold engine , it clears with a blip of throttle and the truck is running fine otherwise . I'm not trawling through 7 pages to see if glow plugs have been discussed already but i thought it worth a mention .

I defo don't have a glow plug issue, when truck fires it's smooth as should be. Air is entering through the copper washers I reckon. I'm finding it hard to source the correct ones so I might anneal mine back and re-use them. I bought some new ones off ebay but they're ebay quality and don't seal right. Over the weekend I bypassed the filter housing and she started much better but still not on the first crank. So I'll be replacing the housing soon as well as those copper washers.

On a side note, when you get round to replacing your glow plug, do so on a hot engine. I did mine on a cold engine and snapped the plug. Probably worth soaking them before hand as well.

 

[Shayne]

Thanks Beau changing the plugs will be a first for me so i will just be following Mr Ellery's instructions and the warm engine tip may not be in it

 

[Shayne]

Just a thought , i think my idle is lumpy because its one failed glow plug , could there be a wiring fault affecting all four of yours ?

 

[Beau]

Just a thought , i think my idle is lumpy because its one failed glow plug , could there be a wiring fault affecting all four of yours ?

hmm I don't believe so. I've tested the bar and voltage is there when ignition is turned on and stays low for the first few seconds after the engine is on. Plus starting hot doesn't affect the crank time, so glow plugs can't be the case.

When sh does fire, there is no black smoke indicating it's a lack of fuel, hence lack of pressure, which means air in the pump causing for a slightly longer crank