I have a diesel transit (2.5L K reg) that hasn't been run for a year or so, but was formerly a very quick starter, even when cold - have been through a few charge/try-to-start cycles, (maybe a total of a couple of mins cranking in 10 sec bursts) with no signs of life - I'm guessing fuel may have run back & isn't getting through - ISTR something similar a while ago when it wasn't run for a while.
Any hints for how to get it going - is there an easy way to prime the pump etc.? Is it possible that the fuel shutoff valve has stuck?
If it's as cold with you as it is here (-6 this morning) then possibly you have frozen droplets of water in the fuel stopping it flowing. My Thwaites dumper truck took me a good half hour to start yesterday as a fuel pipe was frozen solid
slacken off an injector pipe union, then get someone to crank it over and see if you get any fuel out the cracked open union, that'll tell you if it's a fuel or heat problem.
if no fuel at the injectors, first thing to check is the damn awfull diaphram in the primer pump, push the black 'button' a few times on the top of the fuel filter, if it has resistance then it might be ok, but they rot away with no warning, so i'd expect you to find no resistance at all there, if so that's the problem, get a new filter primer head to sort it.
if you get fuel at the injectors and still no start, then check the cold start cable hasnt snapped, there will be a shirt bowden type cable going from the pump to a large metal cylinder on the engine, this has a wax stat in it and pulls on the cold start lever when it's cold, releasing it as the engine warms up.
i had a works trannie that the cable had snapped on, would start down to around 5 degrees c, but below that i had to wedge the cold start lever on to get it to fire,
try to move the cold start lever, if it moves the cables snapped inside the outer cable) so pull the lever in and get someone to start the engine.... it'll start again all day from then on, but the next day if cold enough you'll have to do the same) of course the wax stat could have failed, so undoo the big nut and operate the cold start that way.
.... i was on my own when i had the trannie with the snapped cable and the boss who wouldent buy a new un, so i used a wedge of wood on a string to get the thing going, string was threaded through the bulkhead in to the cab, i'd pop the bonnet, place the wedge to hold the cold start lever open and shut the bonnet, get in and start it, leave it for a minute or so to settle down, then tug the string to release the wedge and drive off,
better than the job i had when i was the YTS bod at that firm a few years before, my job was to crawl under one of the wreckers with a lump of wood to push the starter up when they got a call out, it had a broken bell housing and the starter sagged out of engagment, in the cold another yts lad was employed to empty a can of easy start down the air intake (which ment climbing on to the cab roof to squirt it down the intake untill he discovered he could spray it in the water drain in the filter housing)
Can't see any sign of a bowden cable to the pump other then the throttle (also links to the air intake).
BTW does anyone know how these things work without glowplugs?
There are some things near each injector linked by a pipe that tees off a pipe that goes to the fuel filter. There is also an electrical connection to the bottom of the fuel filter
These days diesel has anti waxing additives so that is no longer a problem. I'm not sure if those additives are there all year though, so of the tranny has "summer" diesel in it...
Just light a small fire under the fuel tank and use a blow lamp on (metal) fuel lines. B-)
You should hear the cut off valve click when you turn the ignition on.You can also feel it if you hold onto it while someone else turns on the ignition.
cold start could be actuated directly on that age trannie then, the wax stat will be a largish lump of metal on the pump, there will be a small length of cable that goes to the cold start lever *which advances the pump to allow the fuel to be injected sooner to give more time to 'catch'... which is why most diesels are noiseir on the first start of the day, tho trannies usually have such badly set injection timing they knock like hell anyway.
Direct injection, no need for glow plugs, and no pre-combustion chambers to put them anyway. you can get a thermostarter on some larger TDI engiens, my iveco has one, a combined glowplug and injector, squirts hot diesel in the inlet manifold in sub zero temps to assist starting... works quite well too but only had it come on when i was camping on the top of the swiss alps in october,
rest of the time the cold start advance does the job fine.
leak off pipes, excess fuel from the injectors go up those pipes and back to the fuel tank,
Most likely for the water in the fuel warning light, would be 2 or 3 wires, and if the filter is a canister type it screws into the bottom of the filter where the water train tap goes,
To be honnest, to get this engine started get a can of easy start (or 'start ya bastard' if your in australia :) crank the engine over and squirt some up the air intake nozzle, once she fires on the easy start stop spraying, if engine dies spray a bit more unitll she is running of diesel, that's assuming it is something like air in the fuel line,
Be wary of Easystart - the land on the piston above the top ring can be broken by the excess pressure, which leads to 'Easystart addiction'. The now reduced compression means engine will only start with Easystart. It's ok in VERY small quantities.
Err, EVERY diesel engine knocks - at a rate of 4000 times a minutes. "Knock" in a spark ignition engine (petrol, LPG), occurs when the mixture is ignited by compression. Diesel engines are compression ignition engines, and are *supposed* to ignite like that.
I'm not saying you're wrong but ether has been used in the starting of diesels for decades. What authoritative evidence is there of this type of damage? If the top part of the piston breaks away you'll have a flapping ring, from my experience it won't be long before you get repeated ring breakage and subsequent valve bending!
Diesel engines that start only reluctantly usually need some form of mechanical attention. Using EasyStart prolongs the time until they finally get that attention.
During that intervening period, they will only start with EasyStart, giving rise to the (erroneous) beliefs that they are either "addicted to EasyStart" or that EasyStart has done some permanent damage.
Neither is true; the engine just needs some proper maintenance, and until it gets it, using EasyStart is the only way it will start.
Thanks for that. I was curious since Easystart can also be used to aid the starting of petrol engines, hence may not be ideal for a diesel engine in terms of rate of combustion and hence stress engine components.
The 2.5 is unusual in that it doesn't have any glow plugs. Also the standard battery is hardly man enough to churn the engine at a good speed such that in the last 2 years of my van's life it needed Easystart on cold mornings. You say it implies maintenance but there isn't a schedule for maintaining injectors or the pump. The van was maintained in every other respect and had 2 recon injectors over it's life which didn't make any difference. (Apparently they were dribbling!) In common with Transits there was a fair level of blow by but that didn't seem to deteriorate over it's life. So the problem of starting was not entirely obvious.
I would not give it a moment's thought. It makes initial combustion from cold easier, that's all.
A bigger battery is a boon on a diesel. One of my cars has a 3 litre six cylinder diesel engine and the glow plugs aren't working as they should. Uprating the battery from 100 Ah to 120 Ah has helped make starting more predictable.
I'm surprised there is no service schedule. On my car, the injectors are tested for correct delivery volume and spray pattern and no leakage, every 40,000 miles. Perhaps Ford only advise this in response to a report of a problem, rather than as preventative maintenance.
I have often heard it said that the Transit is designed for a short but very hard working life. I considered buying one as a base for a motorhome but was advised that the rustproofing is almost non-existent because Transits are not designed to last more than 3-5 years and
250-300,000 miles. Mechanically, they are tough within their design lifespan but can unreliable after that.
I chose a VW but I still have a lot of respect for the Transit.
The Transit I had had the old fashioned square terminals and a imited battery tray, otherwise I would agree with you.
I agree - apart from the rust proofing! It's absolutely appalling! They still last 8 years without any welding and apart from oil changes the engine would just keep going. 300,000 miles isn't untypical for the 2.5 diesel and being thrashed, though with a 4,000 rpm limit I suppose that shouldn't be difficult!
I felt they were pleasant to drive - no power but the handling, steering and brakes were second to none!
I guess the newer ones have addressed the power issue - well I hope so!!
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