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Wed Mar 23, 2005 5:00 pm

I know Im gonna get railed for this, but here it goes.

I picked up a 2.3L Turbo Diesel motor out of a Ford Ranger, (yes they actually came factory) to replace the old worn out type 1 in my vw based sandrail. It has a rebuilt starter,........ and thats about it. It takes forever to start, and it smokes like a coal furnace even after warming up. I picked up some new glow plugs ($55 a pop, only from Ford) but what else should I replace or do on it as far as tune up is concerned?

Wed Mar 23, 2005 6:20 pm

Do the valves need adjustment? My 83 300cd benz does every 15k miles.
Injector pump timing might be off
Timing chain stretch?
Got the right grade fuel?

If thats all within spec I'd give it the time honored italian tune up- you need a long frikkin grade, get that engine up to temp, and drive it wide open up the hill with the engine screaming for as long as possible. I'm talking a few 4-6 mile passes, which might be tough for you to do if it isnt street legal

This burns off the carbon and soot- but you need the grade to slow the car down or you have to max it out in a lower gear and keep it there. Make that thing howl. I've never worried about redlining cause the car only gets up to 105mph or so.

You can try running Diesel Purge thru the system to clean it out- I throw a can in the tank, but there is a way to run the Purge right to the injectors and have the return line put the unused Purge back in the can- you run the engine until all the purge is gone. The instructions are on the can.

Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:50 pm

Are the glow plugs getting activated? Check it with a meter. The Glow plug circuits are connected to a temp sensor. If the relay or the sensor is faulty, the glow plugs may not be getting any current or too little current.

As for the smoking, check the injection pump timing cycle or it could be a variety of issues, valve seals or just plain wear. Hard to determine AFAIK.

Wed Mar 23, 2005 9:57 pm

Sounds like injection timing or a lift pump issue. If you're not getting enough fuel pressure to the injection pump and injectors, it can cause this. I'd go back and get the lift pump off the Ranger if you haven't already. From what little I remember of Fjord Diesels, it should be an electric pump either in or just outside the tank.

Wed Mar 23, 2005 10:44 pm

Make sure you wait for the light to go out before starting it, or eventually you will mushroom the glowplugs and it will be hard to start, what color is the smoke? Run some cleaner through the engine and run the shit out of it for a little while to get it up to operating temp to get it cleaned out.

Thu Mar 24, 2005 2:00 pm

Alright, so I pulled the glow plugs, and although they a fair amount of black build-up on them, they looked fine. I still installed the new ones, and cleaned up all the electrical connections for good measure. It seems to smoke less now. It still has a hard time starting. I put in some 6-point citaine booster, and am in the process of running it back and forth through the corn field to clean things out.

Im thinking it may be a glow plug temp issue. I have an voltmeter, what setting should I use to test it? Also, I know this is a shot in the dark, but what should the reading be? In has two wires that connect to a power distribution bar for all four cylinders.

Lastly, I was told they dont offer a glow plug relay replacement any more. Any ideas on fabricating one?

Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:04 am

soke is good that means it wants to kill nature

Fri Mar 25, 2005 11:25 am

steave pajamahead wrote: soke is good that means it wants to kill nature

What in the san hell you talkin bout cracker?

Fri Mar 25, 2005 5:58 pm

Have you replaced the fuel filter, water separator and air filter? That made a big difference in the Merc's I used to service.

Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:17 am

Dave Roach wrote: Alright, so I pulled the glow plugs, and although they a fair amount of black build-up on them, they looked fine. I still installed the new ones, and cleaned up all the electrical connections for good measure. It seems to smoke less now. It still has a hard time starting. I put in some 6-point citaine booster, and am in the process of running it back and forth through the corn field to clean things out.

Im thinking it may be a glow plug temp issue. I have an voltmeter, what setting should I use to test it? Also, I know this is a shot in the dark, but what should the reading be? In has two wires that connect to a power distribution bar for all four cylinders.

Lastly, I was told they dont offer a glow plug relay replacement any more. Any ideas on fabricating one?
I had the same problem with my diesel, hard start, smoke, etc. I chaged the glow plugs, glow plig timer, checked the timing, etc. All these things helped, but not enough. Finally one day I heard a load clicking and quit driving it. In pulling the heads the valves all appeared good but looking at the injectors they didn't look good.
I sent the injectors in to be rebuilt and 3 were JUNK and the others were marginal, so I got all new (rebuilt) injectors. Once installed the truck starts like it never has since I have owned it.
Since I put the new injectors in tough I need to reset the timing as it seems somewhere the timing had been adjusted to cominsate for the bad injectors.

Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:57 am

splitpile wrote: Dave Roach wrote: Alright, so I pulled the glow plugs, and although they a fair amount of black build-up on them, they looked fine. I still installed the new ones, and cleaned up all the electrical connections for good measure. It seems to smoke less now. It still has a hard time starting. I put in some 6-point citaine booster, and am in the process of running it back and forth through the corn field to clean things out.

Im thinking it may be a glow plug temp issue. I have an voltmeter, what setting should I use to test it? Also, I know this is a shot in the dark, but what should the reading be? In has two wires that connect to a power distribution bar for all four cylinders.

Lastly, I was told they dont offer a glow plug relay replacement any more. Any ideas on fabricating one?
I had the same problem with my diesel, hard start, smoke, etc. I chaged the glow plugs, glow plig timer, checked the timing, etc. All these things helped, but not enough. Finally one day I heard a load clicking and quit driving it. In pulling the heads the valves all appeared good but looking at the injectors they didn't look good.
I sent the injectors in to be rebuilt and 3 were JUNK and the others were marginal, so I got all new (rebuilt) injectors. Once installed the truck starts like it never has since I have owned it.
Since I put the new injectors in tough I need to reset the timing as it seems somewhere the timing had been adjusted to cominsate for the bad injectors.

Look on where the injector pump mounts the should be a little mark and you just turn the whole pump that is the timing.