Poor starting

Got a '97 disco 300. It takes about 15-20 turns for it to fire up initially with a lot of black/grey smoke. If you stop it and re-start within 2 hours everything is fine but beyond 2 hours then it takes ages to start again - any ideas?

air leak in the fuel system somewhere, may be the spill pipes?

Are they the return pipes from the injectors?

Yes the spill pipes are the returns on the injectors.

I guess your using the heater plugs?

What's the mileage, it could be suffering from low compression on the cylinders.

Mine is very lethargic at turning over - every time - done 145k. On advice I have replaced battery (twice) for bigger ones, glow plugs (three times) for better ones and lift pump twice (leaking). Also had fuel system checked over but it seems to get steadily worse. Wondering if it is lack of compression but not sure how to check it on a diesel.

Yours sounds different as it starts ok after running so don't know if any of these are any help.

lagpunktortoni said:

Yours sounds different as it starts ok after running so don't know if any of these are any help.

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That's why I suggested an air leak in the fuel system..another place to look is the flow and return pipes where they enter the fuel tank. Take the carpet out of the boot, drill out the rusty screws in the access plate and have a look. If they are corroded air can get in even if you can't see fuel leaking out

sound like air getting in the fuel lines to me. mine was doing the same, rusty pipes ontop of the sedimenter had cracked allowing air to get into the fuel. bypassed the fuel sedimenter and all is good now

I had all of the above spent ages trying to sort it, it turned out to be a poor Earth Engine to body under the turbo area, she started but was lazy now have 2 earths there all clean and she fires up immediatly, do an Ohm test as well.

Yes, Cossiedreamer...that was next on my list of suggestions I have found (when cold) that if give it three blasts on the glow plugs it starts immediatley, if not it turns over for too long before starting. As you say poor engine earth is most likely cause. Someone else has suggested checking the body earth point behind the battery and infront of the coolant expansion tank.

Richard Martin said:

Yes, Cossiedreamer...that was next on my list of suggestions I have found (when cold) that if give it three blasts on the glow plugs it starts immediatley, if not it turns over for too long before starting. As you say poor engine earth is most likely cause. Someone else has suggested checking the body earth point behind the battery and infront of the coolant expansion tank.

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If it is a bad earth don't hang around to get it fixed as I had to rewire the front half of a friends wiring harness last year after his handbrake cable became his earth lead and melted as well as melting half his wiring harness.