Thread: TD5 taking a while to start

A quick update.

I've left the D2 with the mechanic and he's working on it in his own time.

He's said that when all the diagnosis equipment is hooked up, it starts fine, never fails. The latest included fuel pressure sensor stuff (I have to admit I'm only paraphrasing here) and each time the D2 was started, it was fine.

Remove all the analysis equipment and it starts failing with starting.

He's going to try the fuel pressure regulator next.

The simplistic (sarcastic) comments from work mates is maybe I just need to leave the diagnostic equipment hooked up so I can get it back.

It's going to be interesting to see come of this.

I spoke to the mechanic about progress on the D2, and he's admitted that this problem has driven him and his guys mad trying to track down the issue.

So here's what I recall of the conversation.

The fuel system itself was inspected and it turned out fine (good thing since I did the fuel pump myself and it had been a lingering concern I did something wrong there).

The problem was that the engine just wasn't consistent with the slow starting. It wasn't showing the general issues with injector washers and seals (keeping in mind they were changed during the head reconditioning only 3000km's ago).

In the end Ray said he built himself a test harness that allowed him to test the injectors as though they are in the cylinder, it allowed him to turn the engine and see what was going on.

It turns out that the injector on cylinder 4 would leak every now and then. Apparently engines will tend to stop turning when you switch them off generally in the same spot, and it turns out that often this engine will stop with the cylinder valve just open and the injector would leak, but since the value was open there was enough chance for the diesel to be expelled to prevent hydro-locking (is that the right term?) but with that it would cause problems with the engine actually firing ( a blocked fuel line valve was at this point contributing to the problem, however as I was told, often you can go years without a problem it's only an issue when you need to bleed the fuel line of air, which at this point the system needed to do).

So when the engine would stop with a different rotation in the engine, the problem wouldn't present and it allowed the engine to fire up pretty much first go as expected.

To test this out, a new injector has been put in from one of his spare engines. It's the newer one than was put in the 2001 model TD5 engine, it was programmed into the ECU and the engine now starts fine after a large number of test starts.

I'm still to get it back, hopefully on Monday and hopefully without a second mortgage..

I have to wonder though about the mixing of the injectors. Should I think about having it replaced with the same as the others, or will it not be an issue?

Peter.

Originally Posted by plaven

I have to wonder though about the mixing of the injectors. Should I think about having it replaced with the same as the others, or will it not be an issue?

Peter.

I would your mechanic this question. Myself, if it started and ran fine I would be quite happy to leave it.

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

I would your mechanic this question. Myself, if it started and ran fine I would be quite happy to leave it.

Yeah, I've already asked, and he said that LR don't recommend it, but he can't see a reason not to.

I guess the main thing is to make sure the ECU's are programmed correctly for the injectors.

Hmmm.. does a diagnostic tool know what injectors are in which location?

I have a spare ECU and he will program it to match the new injector set up.