Motorome Lumpy cold starting problem

Im trying to remember when the battery was replaced. Dont think it was that long ago but ill get it tested.
 
barryd said:
This has always been my problem. Finding someone who really knows these engines and what they are doing but thanks for the advice, very informative.
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Find a commercial vehicle garage, someone who does vans not cars
 
Another thing to check is the engine earth strap, I had similar problems with the same engine and it turned out the starter motor was not turning the engine over fast enough because of a bad earth, and this caused a build up of diesel in the chambers and when it finally did start it was lumpy and smokey for about 2 minutes then all was well
 
jeffmossy said:
Another thing to check is the engine earth strap, I had similar problems with the same engine and it turned out the starter motor was not turning the engine over fast enough because of a bad earth, and this caused a build up of diesel in the chambers and when it finally did start it was lumpy and smokey for about 2 minutes then all was well
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Easiest way to test this is a jump lead onto the negative side of the battery and the other side of the lead onto a good earth point on the engine ;)
 
Another thread finally updated!

I always thought this issue might be power / voltage related. This cold starting issue was one of the things I asked the garage to investigate while the van was with them for over two weeks recently. Apparently the glow plugs tested ok but they were only getting 8 volts to them. They said it should be 11. Anyway they charged the battery and fitted a new glow plug regulator and reckoned they were getting 10volts. Its definitely better but not perfect. I always thought that was where the problem might be, well maybe that and the injectors probably needing doing again. Fingers crossed this summer when I am wilding or on a CL starting the old bus up again next to some neighbours I wont embarrass myself too much covering them in a cloud of fug as I start up and drive off.
 
barryd said:
Another thread finally updated!

I always thought this issue might be power / voltage related. This cold starting issue was one of the things I asked the garage to investigate while the van was with them for over two weeks recently. Apparently the glow plugs tested ok but they were only getting 8 volts to them. They said it should be 11. Anyway they charged the battery and fitted a new glow plug regulator and reckoned they were getting 10volts. Its definitely better but not perfect. I always thought that was where the problem might be, well maybe that and the injectors probably needing doing again. Fingers crossed this summer when I am wilding or on a CL starting the old bus up again next to some neighbours I wont embarrass myself too much covering them in a cloud of fug as I start up and drive off.
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Murky tends to emit white smoke when cold as many bigger Murc's used to. When I remember I preheat the engine in the winter with the eberspacer hydronic. It doesn't need much warmth to stop it.
 
RichardHelen262 said:
I wish I could have made our motorhome smoke this year when we were parked on a aire in Spain and a Spanish motorhome parked so close I couldn’t open the hab door.
I would have let it tick over and smoke him out
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Hank would have finished them off for sure. :D It stinks as well. as soon as you belt up the road its gone but its embarrassing starting it up, or at least hopefully it was.

The other thing it does is if you come down a long mountain pass basically running on the low gears with no throttle it starts to reek also and you start getting gassed. As soon as you kick the throttle at the bottom it bellows smoke out which seems to accumulate somewhere. Its been like that all the time I have had it. Dirty old Diesel I guess.
 
I agree about the glow plugs, on 2.5 Mitsi Pajeros a regular modification was to circumvent the heater plug ecu and fit a switch on the dash to power the plugs for a few seconds then switch off... if your motor has had that kind of mod you should be able to repair it fairly easily.
The other Pajero thing with lumpy cold starts and loads of white smoke was the diesel pump seal on the 2.8 engine which would allow air into the diesel when it cooled down so starting involved lots of cranking before the air in the diesel cleared. If you have a manual priming pump on the diesel filter, try priming it to remove the air before you crank the engine...
Good luck
K ;)
 
Vanterrier said:
I agree about the glow plugs, on 2.5 Mitsi Pajeros a regular modification was to circumvent the heater plug ecu and fit a switch on the dash to power the plugs for a few seconds then switch off... if your motor has had that kind of mod you should be able to repair it fairly easily.
The other Pajero thing with lumpy cold starts and loads of white smoke was the diesel pump seal on the 2.8 engine which would allow air into the diesel when it cooled down so starting involved lots of cranking before the air in the diesel cleared. If you have a manual priming pump on the diesel filter, try priming it to remove the air before you crank the engine...
Good luck
K ;)
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Interesting stuff thanks. I suspect the new glow plug relay hasnt had much effect unless the contacts are cleaner. Charging the battery maybe made a difference. I always suspected the plugs were not getting warm enough. Dont know anything about priming a diesel pump, thats a new theory in about ten years of wondering what it was.
 
Try some fuel cleaner or vegy oil and if it has a cat give her a good hard run.
Strange thing I found is that a ltr of cellulose thinners in fuel cleans the internals like new, this works well on my central heating boiler to.
 
barryd said:
Hank would have finished them off for sure. :D It stinks as well. as soon as you belt up the road its gone but its embarrassing starting it up, or at least hopefully it was.

The other thing it does is if you come down a long mountain pass basically running on the low gears with no throttle it starts to reek also and you start getting gassed. As soon as you kick the throttle at the bottom it bellows smoke out which seems to accumulate somewhere. Its been like that all the time I have had it. Dirty old Diesel I guess.
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After a long downhill run, is it white or blue smoke?
I was always led to believe that smoking after a downhill run with the throttle closed was due to oil being drawn into the cylinders past the seals on the valve stems.
 
dunfillin said:
After a long downhill run, is it white or blue smoke?
I was always led to believe that smoking after a downhill run with the throttle closed was due to oil being drawn into the cylinders past the seals on the valve stems.
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No, it's more likely oil being drawn up the cylinder bores past the rings. If it has a butterfly in the inlet to create a vacuum for braking the inlet valve guides could add to it. Diesels are very good at misleading you as to their faults.
 
Vanterrier said:
Maybe try these diesel specialists in Darlo?

Breedon & Gell

Back Haughton Road off, Westgarth Terrace, Darlington DL1 2PH
01325 381088 https://g.co/kgs/E25zmL
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I think it was quite possibly them that reconditioned the injectors a few years back when we thought it was that what was causing the cold start problem. It cost a fair bit and it was better (not completely) for a while (not very long actually). Does sound like they maybe want doing again.

Dont think ill bother again though. Its clearly mainly down to voltage at the glow plugs.
 
dunfillin said:
After a long downhill run, is it white or blue smoke?
I was always led to believe that smoking after a downhill run with the throttle closed was due to oil being drawn into the cylinders past the seals on the valve stems.
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Its that long since it was driven down a long pass, 2017 probably I Cant remember. Blue I think.
 
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