Four Trak starting issues

Submitted by shedster on

Forum: 

Hi Everybody, Newbie here - reasonable mechanic but not too hot on diesels.... Wink Okay, I picked up a 1995 F78 for a friend of mine, checked it over, did what work was needed (cambelt, welding etc), and delivered it to her (I'm from Lancs, she's from Scotland). The guy had fitted new heater plugs before I got it, and it always started on the button and sweet as a nut. It's now suddenly decided to start badly - smokey and running rough for first 30 seconds or so. Once it's settled down it runs great, no smoke, loadsa power. So I'm thinking a glow plug problem somehow? The glow light stays on for about five seconds, which it's always done, so no change there, and when it goes out the relay starts clicking in and out about every five seconds, which also sounds about right. So basically nothing seems to have changed, it's just not starting nicely any more. Any ideas please? I did throw some injector cleaner in it as well, but I can't see how that could cause the symptoms, as it runs beautifully after half a minute or so? All thoughts gratefully received... Wink

Sounds like

Submitted by Mace on

Missed the correct sprocket on the cam belt?

I understand that

Submitted by shedster on

I understand that possibility, but I don't think so, it pulls like a train once it's run for 30 seconds or so, no smoke, no loss of power, am I right in thinking if it was a tooth out I'd have other symptoms? So it does seem like a glow plug issue to me. I bought a multimeter yesterday (typically I have two at home, but that's 200 miles away), the glow plugs all test at just over 1 ohm, but the problem seems to be the very short time the relay kicks in. Checking it again this morning it's actually only a couple of seconds then the feed cuts out, I'm thinking the plugs need power for a lot longer than that? I checked the power supply to the relay (the two wires on the round white plastic connector), one's a good earth, the other starts out at a 12v feed but then dies off, with the voltage dropping at a fairly swift rate, which is presumably why the relay is clicking out. I can't work out why that would be, so I'm contemplating a direct feed to the relay through a dash switch, so I could control the glow plug timing manually. Anyone forsee any problems with that?