Stalwart 68

I have just aquired another Land Rover to go with the long list I have had. It is a 1975 2286 diesel 88". I got it through the MOT last week. I converted to Dieselglow heater plugs. I am a bit spoilt in diesel starting as my old Mercedes 240D starts in seconds. The Land Rover diesel I know is a different animal altogether. Does anybody knows how long is it safe to keep the glowplugs on before they burn out. I have kept the resistor. It seems reluctant to start and needs some time to get going. At the moment I need to keep them on for 45 seconds. The bugger likes to have a good smoke when it starts but clears in a few hundred metres. When the engine is hot it starts instantly. Would a set of reconditioned injectors make for a bit easyier starting. Any advice would be helpful.

Stalwart68

the series 1 me and the old man have done up takes 45 secs of heat before it will start if that helps

Thank's for that 90boy....

i do try to help on the odd occassion

I don't know anything about these dieselglow plugs, but I'm guessing that they are the later type which are wired in parallel. I suspect that the resistor should not be used with this type of plug. I have a 2 1/4 diesel engine with the original type plugs fitted (wired in series) and it starts quite nicely after 20 seconds on the glow plugs. It might be worth playing around with the timing and see if that helps it start better. I was told by my local diesel specialist (who used to work for Lucas) that the best way to set the fuel pump timing up on these engines is to ignore the manual and just find a balance between smoke and engine noise, even lengthening the three adjustment slots with a file if necessary to compensate for wear in the timing gear. He also said that the cam timing is prone to going out because of wear in the timing chain. Bad compression could be making the engine difficult to start.

Thanks for all help. The glowplugs are the type wired in parallel. The wiring diagram from Paddocks stated that the resister should be left in the circuit. I ave fitted some recon injectors. The engines fires after nearly a minute on the glowplugs. But you have to keep the starter going until it gets going. It is smokey on start up but after a hundred metres or so the smike has mainly gone. When it is hot and I am accelaerting against the wind there is a wisp of black smoke until I ease off then it goes. Do these engines always smoke on start up. I never remember London taxis (FX4s) being as smokey on start up, are they they the same engine?. Does it seem that I should leave it alone. It goes really good (for a diesel Land Rover) especially in overdrive. Any more answers will be helpful.

Stalwart68

stalwart68 said:

Thanks for all help. The glowplugs are the type wired in parallel. The wiring diagram from Paddocks stated that the resister should be left in the circuit. I ave fitted some recon injectors. The engines fires after nearly a minute on the glowplugs. But you have to keep the starter going until it gets going. It is smokey on start up but after a hundred metres or so the smike has mainly gone. When it is hot and I am accelaerting against the wind there is a wisp of black smoke until I ease off then it goes. Do these engines always smoke on start up. I never remember London taxis (FX4s) being as smokey on start up, are they they the same engine?. Does it seem that I should leave it alone. It goes really good (for a diesel Land Rover) especially in overdrive. Any more answers will be helpful.

Stalwart68

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Sounds like my old Unimog on startup ! LOL I would tentatively suggest an old preheater setup that burns fuel in the inlet to warm the intake air-worked lovely on my hand crank deisel boat engine-just a thought !

Have you used a multimeter to check the voltage at one of the plugs when you turn the switch to the pre-heat position? I'm just wandering if the switch or resistor has packed in. I think I would go further and take one of the plugs out, earth it with a jump lead, turn on the power and check that it glows bright orange. I would do the same to the rest of the plugs. If they are all dim then there is either a bad connection somewhere or Paddocks have got it wrong, and the resistor should not be in the circuit. It is possible that the parallel type plugs as used on 2.5 engines have a higher power rating and so Paddocks have suggested keeping the resistor in the circuit to stop the wiring and switch from overheating. It might be worth finding a wiring diagram for a 2.5 engine and see if that has a resistor in the circuit. Lots of cars have a relay to switch on the plugs.

Mine has had a rebore in the not too distant past and it smokes blue for a minuite after startup before clearing up.