Disco cold starting

Hi
I have a 1998 300Tdi on cold mornings it turns over very slowly a few times then the battery goes flat. Once the battery is changed it will start ok. When the weather is mild it starts ok. I have checked the earth cables they are all solid.I am wondering if its the glow plugs giving we this problem starting once its started for the first time it will start all day no problem.
The batteries have been tested and are fine. There is a new alternator on the vehicle. So any input would be good
Big john 53

I have the same issue - 99% of the time starts absolutely fine, but when really cold the first start of the day is an arse... I just drop a jump on it to save draining the main battery too much.

I've replaced all the earths, glow plugs, tried a new battery, replaced leak off pipes, fitted a new lift pump... pretty much the only thing I'm left with is a new starter. It's on the list!

We have the same problem also. When we had the cold spell my 94 300 would either turn over fir the first 3-4 time slowly then speed up. Sometimes it would fire,and other time would drain the battery. Had unburt diesel smoke coming through when cranking. Repalced glowplugs still the same, new alty, still the same, new battery still the same however had more crank time so would start after alittle while. Once started, it would start everytime without effort. I to would be interested as to what the cause maybe

Don't suppose we all have EDC do we? Not sure about the 94 but certainly the 98 could have it...

If your vehicle is a manual, try pressing the clutch and keep it pressed as you start it, that way it's not dragging all the gears round in the g/box, only turning the engine over.

You need a new battery, re-charging it is not a viable long term solution in winter.

before you go out buying new batteries try this I did and it worked wonders.
Fit an extra earth strap from the -ve terminal of your battery to the engine block.
I used a length of 10mm put a lug on both ends and bolted it to where the clip is for the heater pipe.
Also after the glow plug light goes out WAIT ! ! about 10 seconds later you will hear a "clunk" coming from under the bonnet then try and start it will fire up a lot better.
Trust me these two little things have transformed how mine started, as I was having the same trouble and now no troubles at all.

big john 53 said:

Hi
I have a 1998 300Tdi on cold mornings it turns over very slowly a few times then the battery goes flat. Once the battery is changed it will start ok. When the weather is mild it starts ok. I have checked the earth cables they are all solid.I am wondering if its the glow plugs giving we this problem starting once its started for the first time it will start all day no problem.
The batteries have been tested and are fine. There is a new alternator on the vehicle. So any input would be good
Big john 53

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i have a 99 TD5, also does this..

Rezz said:

i have a 99 TD5, also does this..

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Fit that extra earth strap it works wonders.

lerk said:

Don't suppose we all have EDC do we? Not sure about the 94 but certainly the 98 could have it...

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Question what is a EDC and what does it do ? mine is a 98 auto

Another question if you fit another earth strap what is the point would'nt it be just as good too clean around the fixing of the old earth straps? unless the old straps have broken down with age just another thought

big john 53 said:

Question what is a EDC and what does it do ? mine is a 98 auto

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Electronic Diesel Control.
a primitive fly by wire ECU used on the Auto 300tdi if yours is a 98 it will be EDC.
it takes it's readings from various sensors around the engine to make it a bit more smoother and economical.
you won't be able to do the fuel pump "tweek" on it but they had a bit more power from the off I think the EDC cars were 120bhp while the manual pump ones were 113bhp.
you can get them chipped and that gives you a bit more, mine has been chipped and it'll more than keep up with a TD5 now.
The std earth strap goes from the battery down to the chassis so the starter has to use "parallel" paths to complete the circuit to get back to the battery -ve so it has a greater resistance and so can't flow if you put a direct earth path from the block to the battery it has a much stronger earth path and more current can flow

Already replaced all my earths and added the other strap to the block...

That's two of us with EDC then - I wonder if it may be something weird happening with that?

Whats the cca of your battery Lerk?

lerk said:

Already replaced all my earths and added the other strap to the block...

That's two of us with EDC then - I wonder if it may be something weird happening with that?

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have you tried waiting for the clunk from under the bonnet after the light has gone out ?

Mine has been the same since buying in April 2009, warm weather would start ok but was really slow to turn over in frosty weather last year so i bought a new battery but didn't cure it. This winter has been the same and couldn't get it started on Christmas day. It turned over so slow that i actually checked the hoses to make sure it hadn't frozen as that's what it sounded like and eventually ran the battery flat so took it off and charged it until boxing day and was still sounding the same then. Tried using another battery to jump from but was still the same and eventually took off the battery again to put on charge and noticed that the battery leads had become hot from trying to start it so decided to put the old battery on and give it a final try and at first only turned over really slowly then all of a sudden turned over really fast and started so assume that as the leads had got hot it has burned some crap out of the starter solenoid?? It now turns over fast everytime even first thing in the morning,in fact starts easier now than in the summer. I had already replaced the glow plugs and cleaned the earths etc and hadn't noticed any difference so can't really be sure what has happened now but i'm not going to complain. Mine hasn't got EDC by the way.

You had a resistive path somewhere-well done

storm99 said:

Whats the cca of your battery Lerk?

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Quoted as 590A, so that should be ok - even with the second battery connected (1180CCA in effect) it's still sluggish for a few turns then speeds up and fires on the second fast revolution...

I've given it 3-4 glow cycles before now - 30 second bursts turning key all the way off in between - and the plugs do glow!

I've got my mates old starter to strip and refurb when I get round to it, but if that makes no difference I'm thinking leaky injector or EDC Pump cold start mechanism (whatever it is and however it works - I don't really know, but it must do something different when it senses it's stone cold... in fact it may even be a dodgy sensor feeding back to the ECU????)

It's not actually all that much hassle for me to drop the extra battery on it for the first start of the day once or twice a week, so I'm putting up with it till it gets warmer to squirm about on my back...

Plus I've got a major brake overhaul to do more urgently - rear discs only just passed the MOT on efficency, so new discs pads and calipers seeing as they were decidedly tired when I last changed the pads... and while I'm in there I might as well do the bearings and seals... and it would be silly not to do the front axle at the same time wouldn't it? My ****ing bank managers going to love me! :doh:

I may as well add my tuppence worth ...

I've had exactly the same.

1st start after a frosty night. Slow turning and flattens battery. Once started it starts all day. Park it on a hill and it jumps in minus 10c after 20 yards.

I tried 3 batteries. All the same. Up to 690cca.

I checked all leads and ended up refitting main earth lead higher up to engine.

A local garage that works on and sells loads of Discos said they wouldn't have even messed about as it will defo be starter motor. Local place refurbs them for 40 quid.

I never got around to it as the damper pulley then fell off so I'm still fixing that.

Good luck

Col

A new set of glow plugs really helped my cold starting problems, still not the same as summer though...... but you knew that.