Cold start

Hello folks

I've lurked on this forum for a while but not posted much. I bought my first land rover in August, a 1997 110 csw 300tdi. It's in tidy condition and hasn't had any problems since getting it, except that it doesn't particularly like starting in this recent cold!

In the first cold snap, the battery struggled to turn the engine over with enough oomph. On one very cold day the battery ran flat after numerous attempts to get it started. I've replaced the battery with a stronger one (740cca) and all was well for a bit.

Now it's got cold again, it's still struggling. I normally need to run the glow plugs cycle 3 or 4 times before it fires up. The battery is turning the engine over fine. When it does fire up, it isn't very convincing - e.g. Engine sounds like it wants to cut out again, almost like its idling to slow. Sometimes a dab of throttle helps it fire up just as it starts to do it itself. Once started, a healthy dose of throttle is needed to help it stay alive.

I've got some decent replacement glow plugs that are going in soon but wanted to see if there were any suggestions as to why it's struggling to stay running once it's fired up? Glow plugs should help it fire up more quickly, without needing to repeatedly cycle them, but I can't see that helping it stay running once it's fired (but sounding like it will stall).

I'm new to land rovers so any suggestions welcome. I've searched and there are lots of similar posts, but none I've found about the specific problem I'm having.

Thanks and merry Christmas!

David

Hi for a start Id get them glow plugs in first and give it a try. The 300s should fire up on one heating sometimes none . where are you in the world ? , if its very cold your diesel might be waxing up ! . Get the tools out and get them plugs in .
It'll give you something to do today

I have a 1996 300tdi 110 csw.... as sypher says, glow plugs.... I have problems with my diesel waxing in temps below -10c but mine started just fine but when I tried to accelerate the fuel wasn't getting through.
As a one off in this weather I added unleaded to the diesel..no more than 10%...ie half a tank in a 110 is around £40 of diesel... I added £4 of unleaded and no problems in temps as low as -15c

Thanks folks. I've got the new glow plugs in and it started on the first turn over. That said, i've had it running already this morning to move it nearer to the flat so it didn't start from completely cold. It's normally the first start of the morning that it struggles with when it's been chilly overnight.

I'm in Bath. It's been about -8 overnight for the past few nights and that's when it's really struggled. Tomorrow morning will be the test to see whether the glow plugs have sorted it.

Thanks for the help.

well hopefully you've sorted it now....if you have any more problems I'm not far up the road......just give me a shout and I'll come and break down on you

One more thing; all the glow plugs were sooty at the base of them but one, from the 4th chamber, was absolutely caked in soot along the whole length of it. I also noticed that there was a bit of oil on top of the engine (towards the right hand side) in line with the 4th cylinder.

Is this a) possibly related / something to worry about b) irrelevant now I've replaced the plugs or c) meaningless without more info!

Cheers

try putting 10% of petrol to your diesel, as said above. It helps a great deal with starting on really cold mornings, I do this every winter now and don't have any problems.

does putting a bit of petrol with you diesel bugger anything up in the injection pump?

It has hit minus 15 here and my LAndy starts no bother at all, last year the first sniff of winter and it wouldnt play, so i stuck good quality glow plugs in( cheap ****e doesnt last) and its fantastic. Even this yrear when i had to dig it out of the snow, defrost the handels and haul the ddors open it still started first time, One thing to check is the earth starp on the gear box, i like to take mine of every few years clean all the crap off with petrol and refitt with a smear of petroleum jelly. Oh and make sure the starter terminals are clean, as tesco says "every little helps "