c15 Romahome Starting Problem

[moosemax75]

Hello everyone i 've got a strange starting problem with my 1998 C15 Romahome.(55000 miles)(non turbo)

Yesterday i left the radio on standby all day at work and then came to start the van at 5pm and it wouldn't start!
It turned over (until the battery started to flatten) but wouldn't fire up.

Eventually with help from some jump leads it eventually coughed and started.

After a day on charge the battery being topped up, same problem at 5pm it turned over but didn't start for ages, eventually as the battery started to deaden it coughed and fired up!!

It seemed to me not to be a duff battery problem as the starter motor fires over quickly.

When it did start it does smoke a lot until warm and the glow plug light has always seemed to take a good 10sec's to go out. Could it be that it needs a good service (ie. Fuel filter being blocked) and a oil and fitler change could improve the cold starting smoking? Previous owner gave me no indicatin when it was last serviced!!!

Any help or advice greatfully recieved (sorry for the long thread mod's)

Kevin

[ant]

Hi Moosemax75.
Just because the glow plug light comes on it doesn't mean the plugs are working. It sound like you need to replace the glow plugs, you could help your garage by soaking them ( wd40) for a few days before hand as they get stuck and break very easily!
Ant

[jayjay]

Getting a full service is something I always do if I haven't got proof that there has been a recent service, Kev.

I bought my present second-user car in the middle of winter...it wasn't until the spring that I noticed that the fuel consumption hadn't altered (you expect to use more in the winter, but I'm talking 23mpg here!). Got a full service done, with particular ref. to fuel consumption and now it's doing around 40 on a run.

In a previous car, my battery kept going flat overnight.. couldn't understand why. New battery still went flat. Garage found that the radio (switched off) was actually on when off, and disconnected it. No further problems! Not sure if this is the same for car radios, but I know the standby on household items like radios, tvs etc, has practically the same draw electrically wise as if it was left switched on.

The moral of my particular story is - a: get the car serviced regularly and b: switch off the lights and the radio.

[RRH]

It could be the smoke that came out was white smoke. This is the unburnt diesel vapour from turning over on the starter.

Glowplugs sounds like the most obvious problem. I's worth checking those as Ant says. They can be tested on the battery from the positive post+ with a jump lead onto the top of the plug and earthing onto the negative post - they should glow, if not buy some new ones.

If they do glow it could be the relay. diconnect the power supply wire to the plugs and attach a volt meter to it the complete circuit to earth on the engine. Have someone switch on the ignition and there should be a reading of about 12 - 13 volts for about 10 - 15 seconds. The relay keeps the plugs glowing for a few seconds even after the engine has started, this helps the engine for those first few seconds on cold days.

On the left side of engine bay there is a black box, it should make a slight click sound when ignition is turned on and click again after 10-15 seconds.

Fuel injectors may be in need of a clean so buy some injector cleaner and follow instructions on bottle.

Check battery is being charged with volt meter. attach leads correctly across terminals. When engine running it should read about 13- 14 volts.

Word of warning be carefull of cheap glow plugs on ebay. buy good NGK ones or similar.

As a last resort keep a can of Easystart in car in case of need, it sprays into the air intake or even better somewhere closer to intake manifold.

If all fails smoke a cigar . . . . . . . . . . then call Ant