Thread: Completely and utterly flabbergasted

I wonder if it has something to do with the EGR. When I modified mine I just removed the whole thing and put the blank on the hole in the manifold. Could you have dislodged some of the crud in the EGR system into the inlet manifold and fouled the injectors?

Originally Posted by Pippin

Hi uniland44,

I have reread your processes and I still am firmly of the belief that all you have is air in the injectors because of the following:

1) When you started it after the change of filters it ran until air finally displaced the fuel in the injectors which happened during topping up the transmission.
2) Going through the purge cycle does not remove the air in the injectors.
3) Probably exacerbated by swopping the fuel filter again and other actions.

In my experience the TD5 is notoriously hard to start once the injectors are full of air as air only compresses on the injection stroke so I would persevere with trying to start it, you may be surprised.

Nick

Concur with Nick's diagnosis, following an engine swap where I also changed injector seals etc I had a starting problem - it took quite a few fuel prime cycles (5 presses of accelerator etc) before it spluttered into life then ran smoothly.

Another vote here for fuel system not being bled up... If you forget to bleed the system before starting after replacing a fuel filter, it's an absolute pig to get them going again once they've run out of fuel. As pippin says, you can get the air out of the lines easily, but all the fuel galleries inside the head, and the injectors themselves seem to airlock once it's actually been run out of fuel.

If that happened in the workshop where I did my apprenticeship, the way I used to manage to get them going was firstly to cycle the ignition (ie on until the fuel pump shuts off, then turn ign off and back on) about five or six times, then just keep cranking it over with my foot flat to the floor. From memory (it's been a LONG time since I failed to bleed a Td5 fuel filter before starting) you had to keep the foot flat once it started to fire too, until it actually got up to about 2000 rpm, otherwise it'd cut out again, and it'd take a while to get it to fire again. Clouds of black smoke everywhere once it's running, until it clears all the unatomised fuel out of the cylinders.

Could sometimes take well over 5 minutes to get to start once cranking over, especially since you need to stop after about 30 seconds of cranking to give the starter motor a rest before you keep trying it.

The 'purge procedure' probably works just as well as cycling the ignition, but I've never used it. Easy to just reach in through the window, flick the ign on, go do something else for a while. Repeat. Usually do it at least three times on a filter change - once you've had a couple of Td5s run out of fuel and had to get the bloody things going again, you tend to overdo it to be safe.

You mentioned that you blocked off the hoses that used to connect to the egr. Don't. There's no need.

When I changed my fuel filter and replaced the air bleed valve my truck started and ran fine for several miles. Without warning (thankfully in a car park) she cut out and refused to re-start. It took multiple fuel purge cycles and what felt like an eternity of cranking before she fired but has run fine ever since. I would suggest continuing with the purging and it should hopefully fire.

I had the same thing last time I cleaned the I/C. Took about 6 or 7 cranks to start and blew a big cloud of blue smoke when it did.

Originally Posted by 85 county

to much oil in the tranny.

you check the level with the motor running. do not fill to overflowing like a manual box. to much drag on the T coverter, to much oil in it.

makes like the motor wants to start but will not catch

NO.

There's a VERY specific method to fill the auto in the D2. As there's no dipstick it has to be a fill to overflow method.

1. Fill to overflow.
2. Start car, run 5 sec then shut down. You should be able to get some more fluid in a couple of times in this step.
3. Once you cannot get any more fluid in then leave running and run it through the gears, stopping in each for a few seconds. Go all the way down and back. Leave it running and top up again. Repeat running through the gears once or twice more, basically until you can't cram anymore fluid in.
4. By the book, this is the point where, with it still running you plug the pan and finish. From here, and I've had more than one recommendation to do this (locally and overseas including "it won't hurt" from the manufacturer), jack the front up to raise the unit 8" and fill again, run the gears and recheck and plug.

I've been running like this for about 5 years now, first with original box, then rebuilt box and now a new Ashcroft 4HP24. Never had an issue until someone did not follow the procedure and just filled to overflow running (no gear selection. It would run but the excess flow to keep stuff lubed is lacking and it kills the bits at the end of the oil flow path. Thus I got a new Ashcroft box courtesy of the Panel Beaters.

Have had a very similar situation and after numerous bleed cycles on fuel system car would still not start. What I had to do was connect jump battery actually to starter motor main power supply wire as the current draw from the starter would not allow injectors to pulse even though there was no air in the system. So I needed a good starter battery and a second battery connected straight to starter motor and after cranking away it went. Maybe try this I know it sounds strange but I am a land rover specialist mechanic and have been working on Landys full time for over 20 years. Please let us know how you go.