Cold starting Diesel

Anyone had experience of cold starting?
Had my '96 2.5 DSE for a year now, replaced compressor Air bags etc, just lately, when freezing or below, its become a pig to start, wait for heater sign to go out, but it takes a minuite or so to start, it 'sort' of fires, trys, but won't catch, eventually it does, it will be ok all day from then on. If the outside temp is 0 or above, no trouble. I suspect the glow plugs, bought a new set, but hav'nt got round to fitting them yet.
My question is this, has anyone ever fitted these & whats involved? I've checked the fuses to see if a 'cold-start' circuit has failed, but did'nt find one. Could the cold start circuit have failed somehow & yet still show the glow plug symbol? In which case the glow plugs would still be ok.

To check if it is the plugs there is some electrikery test you can do, measuring the resistance I think, but I can't remember exactly how!

Quick test is to allow them to go through a heating cycle twice - i.e. ignition on, let the light go out, then switch the ignition off, then run them up again straight away before trying to start. Had that problem on an old Citroen when cold, and a double heating cycle always got it to fire straight away. Got to be better for the starter / engine than cranking it for > 1 min.

It's been down to -5 around here recently and my DSE has been sluggish to start - now it is above freezing it is better again, but I've never had to run the starter for more than around 15-20 seconds. The manual suggests that you can run the starter for longer when it is really cold as it may take longer to start the engine.

Other thing could be your battery needs a good charge, but then if it is turning the motor over for >1min I guess it is probably ok.

Never changed diesel plugs but as I understand, it is no more difficult than changing a set of sparkies.

Matt.

Had the same problem reciently, checked all the glow plugs and they were 5~10 Ohms down from the nominal value (alas, can't remember straight off). Replaced them all and now she starts first time. . .
Usually.

The bad news: the alloy manifold above the plugs and injectors had to be removed and new gaskets fitted on reassembly. I also had to lossen off one of the pipes feeding the third injector.
It cost about £30 for plugs, gaskets and took me roughly 3 hours.

Blue skies

Thanks for the feedback, just for the record, i've 'cycled' the heating sequence many times before it started, but it WAS -10c, so it was off to a bad start (pun intended)!!
I have the new glowplugs ready, I feel a little job coming up.

Modelman,

I would be very interested to hear how you get on when you fit the new plugs. I had a similar problem with mine - but even at warmer temperatures. My RR was a pig to start with lots of black smoke. I had my garage check the glow plugs and he said they were fine. I also noticed that when I cold start her, take her for a short run and then start her again (she is still cold enough to cycle the plugs the second time), she starts fine - on a single crank almost. But if I take her on a longer run from cold - say 8 miles, then start her again - this time the engine is warm enough so the plugs don't cycle - but if the outside temp is low it can be really hard to start.

It made me suspect the battery - but it is reading nearly 13V and the altenator is putting out more than 14V. I am reluctant to replace the battery if it is OK, but in this cold weather I sometimes have to resort to an emergency start from a power pack.??

Ok, this morning at 1030hrs I started to pull out the old glowplugs, fairly micky-mouse job, took a bit longer than I expected, but I did degrease & clean all the underside 'crud' off the various parts.
I've just finnished1215hrs, & ran it around the block, seems ok, started very easy, but there'rs no frost to-day, we'll see what happens when it freezes!!

Update, this morning at 0530hrs the temp was -2 celsius, heavy frost on all glass etc. Key in, waited for glow light to go out, instant startup, the engine was running before i'd let go of the key!!
Glowplugs it was then.

Sorry to hijack this thread!
I've had a strange cold starting problem just appear.
A couple of times now, from cold, the engine has caught on the turn of the key then just stopped! It then takes a while to get it to start..sometimes only with a bit of throttle applied.
To expand.....
Ignition goes on, all expected lights come on, glow plug light goes out, I give it a couple more seconds then turn the key to crank, she fires for a second then stops dead. This has happended randomly, OAT irrelevant.

Is something about to break and leave me stranded?? Anyone else experienced a similar fault.

Any of you guys use block heaters in the winter when temps get low? Its alot easier on your diesels than a cold start. If you don't mind being hard on them just give them a shot of ether in the air intake before starting. Both are alot less work and money than replacing glowplugs that don't need it.

glow plugs are easy to change and are fairly cheap too.
ie a landy series set is just 15 quid.
get a new set for winter?

my disco must have a really good set, and good comps, cause it fires up really quick everytime. first time every time.
never had a problem starting it in over 12 months ownership.