I have recently bought an LX Turbo Diesel Escort with 115k miles from a relative. Very pleased with the car as it returns up to 54 miles to the gallon cruises very well on the Motorway and has been very reiable. Also having had a spell on public transport for 4 years "any" car is a bonus. Recently, it has let me down when cold starting. Having not owned a diesel before and not having the owners manual i am not sure whether there is a genuine fault or its my starting technique i.e. never touch the pedal on a diesel hot or cold or give the glow plugs 2 turns on the key when cold etc etc. I would like to try and cure this myself before trying Ford or a diesel specialist so i suppose a good start would be the glow plugs. Is it simply a matter of disconecting the power wire from the plugs and putting a meter across each one and checking for minimal resistance or should they come out? The one on the right hand side looks like hard work.
Regards Kevin
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Kevin,
Starting a diesel: don't touch pedal, turn ignition on, wait for orange light (with a sort of curly wire in it) to go out, crank the engine. It should start first cylinder over compression.
There are basically 2 reasons a diesel won't start - the plugs are shot, or air is leaking into the fuel system. To confirm or eliminate the latter try pumping the fuel primer (either a hand bulb in the fuel line or a button on top of the fuel filter) before starting the engine. If it's soft and stays so for more than a couple of squeezes, and the engine starts straight away if you pump till it's hard you've got an air leak. If it's hard and makes no difference - suspect the glow plugs.
You can check the resistance of the glow plugs - should be around 1 ohm only each. This won't tell you the whole story though, since they sometimes don't heat up at the end, which makes starting difficult. Changing them is as straightforward as it looks - remove wire, remove plugs, fit new. The one behind the injecion pump is usually fiddly.
Richard
RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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Fao Richard
Many thanks! More confident now.
Kevin
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Some diesels(including earlier Fords) tell you to push the accelerator to the floor whilst cranking.
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