My mechanic just rang to say that there was something odd going on with my Rover.
While he was buildning it back up after its HGF, he thought he would test the three glowplugs. He found that none worked at all.
He showed me just now by running a current through a good plug and sure enough, the tip glowed red quite quickly.
He did the same with the glow plugs on my Rover - no response at all.
So how come, even on a frosty morning, is the car starting after just two seconds if the glow plugs arent working ( he tested all three, all the same )? They are alot bigger than the ones he used as a test example but that wouldnt mean they take more than 10 seconds to glow would it?
He honestly couldnt explain it other than to suggest that it must be top notch in every other respect and thus an easy starter, but still?
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Diesels start on compression the plug is only an aid maybe it was warm in your engine bay.
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It must have been warm in the engine bay because it was only two degrees outside.
I cant think that left over night would be warm enough?
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Presumably this is the 'newer' Rover engine, and not the previous Peuguot engined example? Thus it will be direct injection rather than indirect injection, meaning it will start easier from cold.
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I was involved in the development of the ancestor of this engine - a Perkins design. It would always start instantly without glowplugs. In the test bays, they were never connected up, even in the Winter time.
659.
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My ex gf had a Maestro TD with that engine and it was always a good starter, even in very cold weather. I tested the glowplugs once and found none of them worked at all.
To be honest I'm more surprised that a mechanic would think it was odd for a Di diesel to start without glowplugs!
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I have a Rover 400 diesel which has always started instantly even in cold weather for 8 years and 147,000 miles.
After having a service and cam belt change done "profesionaly" by a garage the early morning starting for the first time is very difficult even when I wait for the glow time, something I have never done in the last 8 years.
What would be moved or changed during a service and cam belt change that would effect the cold starting performance so dramatically?
The garage is not very sympathic since they don't believe how easy it was to start and when they start in the day after a resent start when it is OK.
They jusy changed a glow plug the battery and sent it back saying" we think we fixed it" but not so.
Rodney B
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/11/2007 at 19:42
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Tell them to set the injection pump timing properly.
659.
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tell them they need to check the timing on the belt and pump or you will take it and have it checked, and send them the bill if found to be out.
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meastro td would start in -20 degrees with no heater plug due to the long stroke of the engine but the best I ever tried was a 40 year old A E C which started at -27 after pouring a large jug of boiling water over the starter to thaw it out ,no heater for the engine though
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The Maestro TD had the Perkins Prima engine which I described earlier as an outstanding cold starter. The Rover 400 had essentially the same engine with an updated fuel system.
The Prima's good cold starting characteristics had little to do with the bore/stroke ratio (other than by having slightly lower compression leakage due to shorter piston rings) but was due to an extremely compact combustion chamber within the piston crown, coupled with high intake turbulance. Perkins had a rather good full sized perspex model which you fed with smoke to see what was happening inside the engine.
This engine also had an excellent specific fuel consumption for its day - pity it ran rough and smoked like a trooper. Most of its practical shortcomings stemmed from its BL 'O' series origins - weak crank due to long stroke and no journal overlap and oil leaks galore. The oil pump/filter plumbing at the front of the engine looked like something made in scrap-heap challenge. Using the cam cover as half camshaft journals was not very bright - you have to pressure lubricate the joint. Guess where they leaked.
659.
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My 1996 rover 620 SLDi is the reverse. Had problems starting on cold mornings, changed the glow plugs, (not the easiest of jobs, steel plugs into an aluminium head without inserts, whose the genius who designed that) now starts easily. Is this the same engine?
--
Alyn Beattie
I\'m sane, it\'s the rest of the world that\'s mad.
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Hi 659,I had the Montego Turbo Diesel,I had 61mpg once out of it going to the south of France.They were very agricultural but essentailly a very good engine,not the fastest boy on the block but in their day they were ok.I now have the 1996 Rover 420 diesel with the Landrover Freelander engine in it.It goes very well indeed,very torquey.Andrew...
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Even IDI engines will under the right circumstances. I bought a Bedford CA van, one of the first with a Perkins 4/108 diesel. I got it at the right price as I was told that the engine was seized. After stripping it down I found that a bolt jammed between the flywheel and bellhousing. As I had it stripped I decided to recon it anyway and took the block to have it bored and new pistons etc. The pistons should have been machined to give the correct clearance with the head, but the firm failed to do that, with the result that they must have been all but touching! but a welcome side effect was that the engine would start without using the thermostart, a fitting in the inlet manifold resembling a blowlamp! This was all the more remarkable as diesel engines of that era were notoriously difficult to start. The rated compression ratio was 22.1, goodness knows what this one was.
Peter.N.
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a 4/108, i remember someone fitted one of these lumps into his jag
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I fitted them into all sorts of things, from a Vauxhall Viva to a Granada estate, I even had a go at turbocharging one. Then the Citroen CX diesel came along, so quiet and refined it was no longer necessary to do my own.
Peter.N.
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