starting problems

[bluesurfman123]

got a 2.4 efi surf just recently its been a pig to start from cold ,,turns over a few times before eventually coming to life in a cloud of smoke and firing on 2 or 3 cylinders,,,after a while without touching accellerator it settles down and is cock on from then on with no smoke and restarts first click??? any help please

[Kitesurf]

Sounds very much like a couple of your glow plugs have packed up. It is a fairly easy job ,if you take care to note down the order that all the bits on the buzzbar come off in, so it all goes back with no short circuits. Don't know how much replacements are though.

BTW, where are my manners? Welcome to Difflock.

[bluesurfman123]

thanks i checked plugs about 3 weeks ago and found 3 were dead so replaced them with second hand ones which were working ,,, seemed a bit better for a couple of mornings but back to normal now

[Kitesurf]

Have you tried a whole bottle of injector cleaner in 1/4 tank of diesel, followed by an Italian tune-up? My 2.4 used to love that. J11 to J13 of the M1 and back, with the overdrive off and ECT selected. Loads of welly.

[bluesurfman123]

no not tried that lol though may try it on the a1 from darlington to newcastle and back

[suzi vitara]

i agree with 'kitesurf' it has to be your glow plugs-mabye even a shortage of power to them?

twist up the fuel regulator untill you get black smoke,then turn back a little to get rid of smoke.

also (if automatic) chect the auto line which goes from the rev wire to the auto box - which tells the gearbox which gear to sellect according to revs....this can over time become slack and so chages gears too slow so thighten it up............this should help..... we did this to our 92 swb 2.4efi L.C.
and it worked a treat!

jnr

[bluesurfman123]

ok thanks for advice,, ill try injector cleaner and the wire first then re check me plugs ,,but where is the fuel regulator??

[suzi vitara]

on the engine,on passinger side,cover by a circular cap about a cm in diamiter,

sorry - its hard to describe!

jnr

[bluesurfman123]

ok thanks ill try and find it .... i just bought injector cleaner to put in fuel tank and smoke stuff to put in engine and all wires are tight so a run tomorrow should see if thats helped

[bluesurfman123]

well the additives didnt work ,,started after about 10 seconds of turning over and a foot to the floor with a cloud of smoke again as usual looking at plugs next,,,will fuel regulator sort starting as once its running there is no smoke ???

[Kitesurf]

What colour is the smoke. If it is black smoke it will be overfuelling. If it is white smoke it is too weak. I had a pinhole in the fuel line that was big enough to suck air in but not big enough to let fuel leak out. Mine used to smoke white on startup until I replaced the rubber part of the fuel feed.

[parrotveasey81]

next time you go to start it pump the pump ontop of the filter then try it,if it starts first time you will know you have a fuel leak or drain back then its just finding it

[bluesurfman123]

its kinda thick grey smoke lol will try the pump in the morning see if thats the prob,,,howmany pumps should i give it ???

[Kitesurf]

[ali-lee]

a quick test, see if you put the key on till the glow plug light comes on, then leave it there until you hear a buzzer (20 to 30 seconds I think) then try to start it. on my dads surf it needed that every time for some unknown reason and it suggested it in the owners manual too and worked a treat.

I'm not sure if the surf is like the pick-up where there is a choice off 7v and 11v glow plugs, if it is and you got the wrong voltage they wouldn't have lasted long, and I found on the pick-up I was going through a set off cheep plugs a year but the ngk ones I have now are much better.

other things to check is the glow plug relay you can do that simply by putting a voltage meter or a test light on to the nut on the top off a glow plug to see if there is power there or possibly the fuel draining back as suggested.

[bluesurfman123]

tried pumping it this morning ,,,got about four pumps till it got hard still no better turns over a few times then starts in a cloud of greyish smoke, a big rev to clear it and its cock on,..will try the 20-30 second thing tomorrow though,, had a light wired to the nuts and it works so the plugs are getting power just dont know if they still working ,...

[bluesurfman123]

also tried after work today after it been sat in sun all day turned over and started without touching pedal but a cough of geyish white smoke and it stalled did this abot 5 times till it finally started and after a minute or two of coughing and hiccuping white smoke it ran ok ?????? will take a video if it helps ....

[John yota]

Hi, I have suffered from the exact same problem as you describe. I think I have got on top of it (well, so far it is ok, been 3 months now and no issue).

First off, I think you are drawing air into your fuel lines, the white smoke and the engine cutting out is exactly what I would expect from mine before I changed my fuel lines.

I reckon you need to get your injectors serviced. I had word for word the same issue as you are having and I changed everything, fuel pipes, glow plugs (turned out I needed them as well anyway) but I still had the issue (coughing, spluttering, dark smoke, not white anymore), it was after having the injectors serviced it stopped doing it. I had to have the fuel pump/distributor set up again with the new injectors as it seemed a bit too rich (the black cloud under hard acceleration was the give away) but now it is fine, 3 months and it hasn't done it once since. The injectors are supposed to be serviced every 100,000 km, I'm guessing the problem has something to do with fuel atomisation but not entirely sure. Anyway, this worked for me.

Hope this helps

Cheers, John

[bluesurfman123]

thanks for that john ,,,, i have a spare set in shed i will get them serviced and fit em,,,hopefully thats the cure,,,