Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start

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Thu 7 Jan 2016 12:55
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - milkandalcohol

Hi,

The vehicle is taking 8 or 9 seconds to start from cold. Starting from warm is fine. Car runs OK otherwise.

I replaced the battery but no improvement. Took it to a garage and asked them to replace the glow plugs which they did but still no better.

Perhaps the garage didn't do a good job. How would I go about testing the glow plugs to make sure they're working correctly. The glow plug light on the dash shows up and goes out after 5 or 6 secoinds like it always did.

What else could be up?

Thanks in advance.

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Thu 7 Jan 2016 14:47
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - hardway

How fast does it crank over on the rev counter.

needs a minimum of 120rpm.

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Thu 7 Jan 2016 16:10
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - milkandalcohol

Sadly it has no rev counter :(

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Thu 7 Jan 2016 17:03
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - hardway

Blast,

Oh well,

As stated diesels need a minimum turn over speed of 100/120 RPM,

so you garage might be able to plug their scanner in to check this.

Not having any spark plugs diesel relay on the heat generated by the engine spinning over and compressing the air in the cylinders.

So a lazy starter or high restance cable could limit the turn over speed.

as could bad/old oil restrict it.

Or a partial air bleed into the fuel filter.

or a number of other things

But If this were in to me now I'd absolutly need the cranking speed to be checked before suspecting glow plugs or anything else.

The fact that it starts all through the day means internals are most likely fine.

So again I state cold engine cranking RPM speed required.

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Mon 11 Jan 2016 12:36
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - dieselnut

Having the glow light up doesn't necessarily mean the plugs are actually getting any power.

Try running a wire direct from the battery positive to one of the plugs.

The plugs are usually all wired in parallel to this should power them all.

You will need some substantial wire ( like a jump lead ) as the 4 plugs will take at least 60 amps initially.

Once powered up try starting within a few seconds.

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Mon 11 Jan 2016 12:50
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - gordonbennet

Yes checking the glow plugs are getting power is a good start, if you can find an ammeter capable of reading (without melting) 60+ amps @ 12v you could connect the ammeter between the glow plug supply wire and the first plug in line, as Dieselnut states they take around 15a each, if you have a lower powered ammeter you could do the same test but individually only and take care of bare bits of disconnected link wire earthing out during testing.

I used to keep a good old 30a dashboard Lucas ammeter from a scap car for jobs like these, lent it out and it never came back...why i never learn that many have no honour i do not know, such is life.

The other simple thing to do is to make sure you have full head of fuel in the filter by operating the plunger till it goes solid before trying to start, fuel might be leaking back to tank during the night.

And use a set of jump leads from a good known battery as well as yours to give some oomph when trying to start, as i recall the 1.8 truns over really slowly at the best of times, might be the new battery is under spec or the starter dying.

Edited by gordonbennet on 11/01/2016 at 12:52

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Mon 11 Jan 2016 13:37
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - Railroad.
A current clamp is the ideal tool for checking glow plugs. You simply place the clamp over the cable you wish to check and it measures current without having to disconnect anything. It's a very useful tool that can be used in many applications such as starter and charging circuits, fuel pumps, lighting and glow plugs. Mine has two range settings, up to 400 & up to 1200 amps. Glow plugs on a cold morning can draw up to 20 amps each, and a current clamp does not need any fuse protection since current doesn't actually pass through it. It measures electromagnetism produced by the flow of current which is then converted into a current reading on the LCD display.

In addition I would also carry out a voltage drop test between the battery and the glow plugs. This will confirm a good connection or otherwise between the two.
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Mon 11 Jan 2016 13:45
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - gordonbennet

Never seen one of those before Railroad, excellent, damned sight easier than the faffing about i suggested.

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Mon 11 Jan 2016 18:22
Ford Fiesta 1.8D 1999 - Fiesta diesel slow to start - Railroad.
If you're going to buy one make sure it's capable of checking DC amps, as some will only do AC amps. Mine does both. Also although mine will test up to 1200 amps, it's not that accurate when testing below 1 amp. I could do with another one which has a smaller scale and will test milliamps more accurately. I use mine mostly for testing for battery, starting and charging faults.
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