Rough start up

[juz63]

Hi all. I have just joined up and am unashamedly a complete novice!:D I have a '94 TDI ute which has an interesting start up. I expect it might be common but.... Whenever I start it in cold weather it runs on 3 cylinders only until it's at operating temp. It has done 300,000 odd K's could this be a worn motor looking for (putting) oil in all the wrong places? (Yeah, it uses about 1/2 litre per 1000- 1500 k) . Once it warms up it runs fine and the problem does not recur until the next cold start. If the weather is warm - no problems. Took it to a guy who is purported to be good with said landy's - he checked the glows - no problems, but said the 60 amp (is it 60?) fuse for them was blown (suspect he blew it as there were no other problems previous... ) and that having replaced it that there would be no problems. Not so! Of course it started fine when I picked it up coz it was warm, but next cold morning...... Has anyone experienced this? Thanks in advance for your help. Justin.

[dullbird]

i'm by no means an expert either so gunna wing it and ask

you sure you got fuel coming out of all 4 injectors?

other than me winging it with that guess cant help any further :(

[cewilson]

How cold is cold?

Another words what temps in the morning are you talking about?

[juz63]

Not very. just frost on the outside of your jeans. Even a cold day in summer 8 ~10 degrees.

[juz63]

Dullbird, yeah! pretty sure, figure it wouldn't begin to run on all four at all if there wasn't. Don't worry too much about not figuring it, like I said even a possibly otherwise competent diesel mechanic came up blank.

[dullbird]

Dullbird, yeah! pretty sure, figure it wouldn't begin to run on all four at all if there wasn't. Don't worry too much about not figuring it, like I said even a possibly otherwise competent diesel mechanic came up blank.

didn't explain myself very well buy saying coming out of all four i ment is it coming out of all 4 or just 3

never comes out in text how you mean it to say does it :)

i was just leading towards a faulty injector

[JDNSW]

Initial start on three cylinders would suggest a faulty glow plug, but it should start firing within a few seconds, certainly less than a minute at those temperatures, if that were the problem.

Considering the oil usage, I would think that the problem is lack of compression on one cylinder, probably stuck rings or burnt valves, so that it only has enough compression to fire when the whole engine has warmed up. If this is the case, it will only get worse.

As suggested, it could be a faulty injector, but I think I would be asking a workshop familiar with diesels to carry out a compression test, which should show whether my idea is correct, and should not too cost much.

If you put in where you are, perhaps someone can suggest where to get this done.

John

[juz63]

Thanks Dullbird and JD, I like your reasoning. I'll get a compression test done and get the injectors checked. I still don't quite get why it wouldn't run - then run, if the injector isn't working at all... perhaps if it were intermittent, but why only in cold weather? Anyway, I'll check both.

PS. I'm in Reservoir victoria if anyone knows a good diesel mecknick nearby. Or even not so close is fine. Thanks again. ciao. justin.