It's cold and my 90 won't start!

Hi All,

I have a 1989 90 2.5 TD which has been a real sod to start in the winter, ever since I've had it! It's perfectly fine in the summer!

This year is no exception! Here is the procedure I go through at this time of year;

1. Battery fully charged
2. Turn it over after a 10 second glow plug heat - it turns but wont fire straight away
3. when it does start firing nothing happens
4. wait 10 seconds and have another go - same deal
5. wait another 10 secs - sometimes it will go after continuously turning the key until kicks in, sometimes the battery dies!

That's what happened this morning, the battery died!

So, what could it be;

1. battery?
2. glow plugs?
3. earth leads?
4. starter?
5. alternator?

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Mo

Get your battery properly tested, remove your glow plugs and test them using a battery and jump leads. They should glow a nice red (but dont touch them unless you dont like skin!) if they dont then replace them. The 2.5td was never the easiest of beasts to fire on really cold mornings

Also;

1. starter motor turns quite slowly
2. starts alright from a jump start
3. will start fine if I drive for half an hour and stop to get fuel!

I got same engine as you I have 2 batteries in parallel still dont like the cold in the morning but does start up. Also try preheating a bit longer mebe 15 seconds and clean ur earths and battery terminals.
Alex

ive got same problem with mine i checked glow plugs etc turned out to be my battery although it was showing of when i tested it tried the battery outta my mates and i started no problem

if even one of yer glow plugs are out on a td youll have problems
ive got a soleniod with a switch on my glowplugs and i have to give it a minute to warm up it this weather

mojo247 said:

2. Turn it over after a 10 second glow plug heat

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Try 30 seconds of heat ( even 45 at times ) , 10 seconds of heat will only just get the plugs starting to glow .
I have to heat and turn over a couple of times befor she will fire up and thats at 30+ seconds heat on new plugs .

easy fix take out exsisting lump say good bye miss you and all that bolloks .. love the never ending memories of trying to start you up.. REPLACE WITH A NICE AND HEALTHY 200TDI GOODNESS.. best thing i did anyway starts 1 turn of the key at minus 10 .. my td didnt like to start at 25c in july .. **** ENGINE even a freinds turner conversion pales to a old disco 200

Mine gets left in the yard monday to friday 20 secs on glow plugs no throttle starts first turn every time is there something wrong with it?

Thanks All, forgot to update this but what I did was this;

• removed and replaced main engine earth lead, cleaned contacts with wire wool until nice and shiny
• cleaned -ve lead terminal and contacts to main chassis until nice and shiny
• bought a new battery (Optima Red Top RT S 4.2 (8002-250) (BCI 34) RTS4.2) - I reckon this would crank a Sherman!
• new glow plugs from www.thexmod.com for £15

Now it starts first time, every morning even the other week when it got back down to -5! Glows need about 15 secs on really cold days!

Cheers!

Mo

DEF49 said:

Mine gets left in the yard monday to friday 20 secs on glow plugs no throttle starts first turn every time is there something wrong with it?

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Yours would be safer parked outside my house instead of the yard.