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firstly, im new so Hi every one.

I have an old 1989 transit diesel which refuses to start when it has been freezing cold but it perfectly behaved when it is warmer.  does any one have any ideas why? without costing me a fortune at the garage

Welcome Bombalurinagirl         

Bombalurinagirl you need the help of Billybun for the answer to this one.

I have chatted with Billybun yesterday and he tells me he is having a problem on the net with a family member.

Billybun has had  to involve the police as the abusive mails have also named friends and neighbours .

Bombalurina i will email your question to Billybun sometime tomorrow.

I will post the reply as soon as soon as Billybun replies to my mail.

regards Marys Bloke

Hi and welcolme.

good advice the two posts from above and I wouold go with the following

May I suggest the following. By saying not starting I suggest you mean that the van turns over but just wont catch?

This would lead me to believe that you need DECENT new heater plugs. This is what happens. I am also asuming that when you say its cold you are talking about your van and not the weather?  If it is the latter then this is because turn on the key. and await for diesel light to go off. This then effectively means your plugs are hot enough to explode the fuel. however poor quality or well used heater plugs will lead to the turning over of the engine, putting in pleny of fuel, but with no igniting taking place. Alas when the van has started, the heater plugs now have warmth enough to continue starting throughout the day.

so my advice would be start at the heater plugs and work backwards, as a new set of heater plugs are always recomended to ensure the good running of a diesel.

However this has been written in laymans terms and the thing to remember with a diesel is they are a really simple engine, especialy around that age. All you need to run them are are a heater plug and a bit of fuel (not always even diesel chip fat works wonders) and bobs ya uncle.

If it is the cold weather preventing your van starting then I would still reccomend heater plugs. failing that check that ya plugs are sealed properly as they may be getting damp.

As mentioned above, it may be your glow plugs but before you go to the expense of getting them changed try the following.

When cranking the engine from cold, is there any white/grey smoke from the exhaust? If there is then fuel is being injected but not igniting, then you should be looking at a pre-heating problem such as glow plugs, glow plug relay, or a loss of cylinder compression.

It could be something as simple as water in the fuel filter. When was the last time you had it drained? It should be done as part of the service every year.

I don’t know what the resistance reading should be for your vans glow plugs, but each plug should draw about 20 amps (when the ignition is turned on and the yellow light is on).

Without wishing or trying to teach you to suck eggs, diesel ignites under compression NOT from a spark as in a petrol engine. The glow plugs are only there to heat up the air in the cylinder before the fuel is pumped in.

Hope this helps

Tom B  

wont be glow plugs 89 Di's dont have em!!

check battery and connections especially leads to the starter motor!

most engines are harder to start in the cold weather especally big diesels - how many seconds does it take to start in the summer?

wont be glow plugs 89 Di's dont have em!!?????????????????????????????????????????????

Ok so I aint familiar with these, so what do they have if they have no glow plugs???

surely they must have?

panagah mate - the earlier ones (yorks) did - and needed em!! and the later ones(duratecs) do but the Di's dont most people look at them with the stanadyne injectors and presume one bit is the injector and the other is the glowplug but its all one piece - the injector!!

if the engine and pump is ok a decent battery shoudn't have a problem starting it in anything the british weather can throw at it!!!