300 Tdi Cold Starting

My '97 300 Tdi struggles a bit to start first thing in a morning. I have just had all 4 glowplugs replaced and a full service including timing belt (the woodruff key wasn't worn so not replaced).

I give the glowplugs plenty of time to warm up and I don't turn it over until I have heard the relay switch them off. No matter how long I keep it turning over on the key it never starts first time. It does however always start second time. It's not that critical, but just a bit annoying that's all, so any suggestions or pointers would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Is the engine turning over quickly?

Was wondering about battery/earths conditions


Other thought was whether the lift pump is allowing fuel to drain back overnight causing a delay while fuel is pumped through again - had a similar thing myself last year and changing the lift pump solved

Yes it seems to turn over quickly. I had the lift pump replaced a couple of days after I bought it, as when I was driving it back on the day of purchase it lost all power on the M1 and I had to pull over to restart it on sdeveral occasions (which didn't happen on the test drive)! That solved that little problem!!

Any other clues at all please?

check your glow plugs actually work

fuel leaking back over night?

Couple of things to check .. Diesel leak-off pipes. Top of the engine, three pipes about 5" long, covered in cloth type material, running between injector pipes. These get cracked over age and leak fuel, or let air in! Don't get LR dealer relacements, they copst "12, go to a motor factors and for £5 I got 5metres of it!! (dropped on it I think, mind)

Other things to look at, sedimentor, under rear wheel arch, undo the bolt at the top .. don't try to undo the water trap plastic bolt, it'll most likely break! Might be full of crap.

Petrol pipes in and out of the fuel filter housing, sometimes crack, and the fuel pipes at the tank end. Remove carpets from the boot undo the 6 screw and the plate. On the top of the tank will be a nylon plate with three pipes to it .. the top is a known place to crack and allow ait in or diesel out .. only 'real' fix is to replace it.

Summat to be getting on with anyway ..

I doubt its what I had with starting issues,

I had a failing starter that presented its self as dirty earths and a knackered battery,

Made morning starts smokey and long winded

Sounds like air getting in to me. 300tdi will be fine without glow-plugs.

Thanks for all your suggestions folks... will look into these and report back!

air getting in, mine did all last winter with no glows never noticed,
no sedimentor of defender tho, but still check the fuel filter, if unsure, change it.
prob the leakoffs tho. telltail is if the area round the injectors is suspiciously clean.

Some duff replacement lift pumps about.

Have you tried starting it BEFORE the glow plugs click off

Worth a try, if not prob leak off pipes as mentioned above

or take out the 80A maxifuse undeer the bonnet, theres 2, one is an everything fuse (so everything will be dead if you pull this one) the other is the glowss.

Mine starts on what sounds like half a turn I just turn the key and start no waiting for glows , I guess. 2000cca helps lol, how big is your battery?

Benjamino said:

My '97 300 Tdi struggles a bit to start first thing in a morning. I have just had all 4 glowplugs replaced and a full service including timing belt (the woodruff key wasn't worn so not replaced).

I give the glowplugs plenty of time to warm up and I don't turn it over until I have heard the relay switch them off. No matter how long I keep it turning over on the key it never starts first time. It does however always start second time. It's not that critical, but just a bit annoying that's all, so any suggestions or pointers would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Click to expand...

If you have tried all the things listed above and it's not made any difference, then try decking the throttle before you turn the key, and keep it decked until it fires and release - I had a sluggish 300tdi, everything was fine on it, but it liked full throttle on colder mornings. Mind you a super high torque starter motor (this thing is like a jet - now on my 90) blasted it into life no matter what, bio diesel, no glows -10 - wham it went.

landowner said:

Have you tried starting it BEFORE the glow plugs click off

Worth a try, if not prob leak off pipes as mentioned above

Click to expand...

I have, no difference.

Checked the leak off pipes yesterday and there's no sign of any diesel around them tbh. One thing which has just sprung to mind which may be a factor in this.... it had a new fuel tank fitted for the MOT when the previous owner was selling it, and one of the fuel pipes was leaking fuel onto my drive. I have tightened up the jubilee clip to it although on inspection yesterday it did still look a bit damp as if it is still slightly leaking - I will try nipping them all up and see if this solves the problem...

Benjamino said:

Checked the leak off pipes yesterday and there's no sign of any diesel around them tbh. One thing which has just sprung to mind which may be a factor in this.... it had a new fuel tank fitted for the MOT when the previous owner was selling it, and one of the fuel pipes was leaking fuel onto my drive. I have tightened up the jubilee clip to it although on inspection yesterday it did still look a bit damp as if it is still slightly leaking - I will try nipping them all up and see if this solves the problem...

Click to expand...

what about cracking the injector pipes one by one by the head, then manually priming the lift pump until you get a decent flow out of each one. So you are testing to see if fuel is slowly leaking back over night.

then do the glows as normal and see if it turns over.

Fuel lines all nipped up on the fuel tank now. Also after some investigative looks under the bonnet, I realised that the Diesel leak off return pipe is actually missing. The 3 smaller pipes between each injector are there, but I wondered whether this was potentially the problem with air getting in and draining back?

Any thoughts on this would be very much appreciated please....

Thanks

pictures?

Should be 3 short pipes linking the injectors together, then on the front most injector, a pipe leading off it to cant remember where,
the excess deisel has to go somwhere...

timtheenchanteruk said:

pictures?

Should be 3 short pipes linking the injectors together, then on the front most injector, a pipe leading off it to cant remember where,
the excess deisel has to go somwhere...

Click to expand...

Back to the filter housing on a 300 I think