mu wont start :( fuel prob?

[sam]

ok now my mu wont start it cranks over fine and everything and i saw that one of the fuel filter hoses was not on properly so i tightened that up an everythin and bled it( undid screw a few turns and primed the pump on it for ages), was a bit of air so im assuming thats the problem, still doesnt work, and im aware theres another bleed thingy on the injectors, but for the life of me i cant find it. anyone have pics of it? or anything helpful in finding it/getting the right bolt? cheers

[geeves]

On the injectors there are 2 pipes. One goes to the pump the other goes along the injectors then back to the tank. Slightly loosen this pipe and cranck. Be carefull as the fuel here is under pressure and realy hurts if it sqirts in your eye (it sqirts more than 2 meters)

[elysian]

sounds the voice of experience Alan ?

[geeves]

not quite (it missed eye by about 2 inches)

[MattMU]

Ok, Geeves has most of the good points but to make sure you havent missed anything I will start from the start.

If you cranked the engine while the hose was off...it should have started but then stopped...if it didnt run at all I would be checking to make sure the solenoid shut down valve is getting power. (check your fuses and then power at the electrical line going to the solenoid above the high pressure fuel lines coming out of the pump.

Ok, so you refitted the pipe and primed the plunger...did it get hard?
If this is working then you will bleed the air out of the VE high pressure pump and this will be all you should need to do, VE pumps will bleed the air out without opening any bleed screws.

Even if you get air into the high pressure line to the injectors then that will eventually get pumped out and the engine will start...this just depends on how long your battery and starter can crank for.

There is no bleed screw for the injectors but you can use a 17mm, spanner and crack the high pressure lines at the injectors and let the air out as you are cranking the engine. Wear glasses because the fuel is underpressure and sprays out..once you see spurts of fuel close this pipe and move to the next one. This should take about 5 seconds to crank...dont do it for longer than 10 or you risk burning out your starter motor and air in the system isnt the problem anyway.

These hand priming pumps can be a pain to move fuel if they have drained all the way back to the tank....have had to use an auxillary pump to get fuel upto the primer before I could bleed the VE pump.

Bit more information if you havent already got it sorted and I may be able to help online.

Goodluck,

Matt.

[sam]

thanks for this guys, have given me a few things to try, will test voltage going to fuel solenoid, i believe i need 9v for it to open?

yeah plunger got hard and no bubbles were there, i will also check the pipes to fuel tank incase one of them came off too

will bleed injectors soon and get back to you guys

[lukewpollard]

it sounds to me that your fule shut off solenoid has died mine done the same thing not so long ago cost me about $80 for the solenoid thats what fixed mine mate

[sam]

havent had time to bleed the injectors as quite busy at uni tomorrow, should get time tomorrow, looked for an engine manual but didnt seem the right one. was looking for the fuel solenoid to test it, does anyone have a pic of it? there are a couple of plugs going into pump but dont know which..

[sam]

uh ok, so i changed the fuel cut of solenoid, connected everything up, had flatmate looking over them to check it wasnt leaking, tried to crank the engine and there was a crack, like electrical crack, sound that came from around the pump area??, doubled checked everything was connected right, only thing that i changed was the return solenoid thingy, cause i thought it was the cut of one, and the fuel cut of solenoid.

now im stumped might have to take it in to get it fixed if i cant find out whats wrong...but cant really afford that as its too big for any of our cars to tow

[geeves]

Im thinking unnice noise. ie timing belt failed or something big in the pump.
Where are you? Someone might be able to help you get it to an expert.
One thing you could try is to first turn the engine over by hand at least 3 times to check that you have good compression and that valves etc are not binding then try a healthy squirt of easy start etc while cranking. If it fires and runs on the easy start it might kick the injectors into life ( took 20 min of almost continuous easy start while engine was running on mine after water in the fuel).
If it doesnt fire the problem probably is not fuel

[sam]

yeah, pretty sure it was electrical, will check for timing belt fail tomorrow then will try some easy start if i can get to a repco or something, if that doesnt work will take it to expert i guess

[James W]

Supercheaps latest spam in my mailbox has some starter fluid.



Be careful using this stuff and other brands, you can overdo it and cause severe knocking and possibly damage... short squirts only.
Good luck

[geeves]

Thats the stuff I used. Makes the motor rattle something rotten but getting the last of the water out of the injectors didnt happen till the engine was warm. Follow the instructions carefully to start then once running stop squirting If it starts to stall give a little puff. If it doesnt run by itself after 5 min or so its not going to

[sam]

thanks for that guys, to add to my transport woes i just got a flat tyre on my bike and destroyed its back gears, so i have no way of getting around except waiting for flatmates cars so i can use them

[bedford4x4]

Hi there, new member with a 1992 Mu. I bought this truck as one needing a few things doing for a WOF and possibly injectors or glowplugs as it blew heaps of white smoke. but after getting it home, it wouldn't start.

I looked on a Pommie Isuzu forum and they suggested disconnecting a yellow wire off a temperature sender on the thermostat housing. This will activate the glowplugs, they said. Did that and it sprang to life although still blowing a bit of smoke.

Now when I reconnected the wire, the engine revs dropped to about half and it blew heaps of smoke again. So I called a Jap diesel specialist in CHCH and he said that the issue is not glowplugs because the 2.8 litre motor is direct-injection and doesn't normally use them unless it's about -20 degrees. He said the issue is injector timing because the temperature sender advances the injector pump timing for extremely cold starting and by removing the wire, I have artificially changed the pump timing to something approaching normal timing.

So I pulled the timing belt cover off and found that the timing belt sprocket on the crankshaft had come loose and munted itself and the key on the crankshaft, running the injector timing about 15 degrees retarded. This is apparently a very common problem due to ignorant mechanics undoing the large bolt holding the crankshaft pulley hub and timing belt sprocket on the crank, then not loctiting everything or doing the bolt up to the correct torque (140 lb-ft).

So now I have the problem of trying to find a second hand sprocket (new ones are astronomically priced), pulley hub and key. They are getting hard to find in good condition.

So, if your truck has trouble starting, and it has a 2.8TD or 3.1TD which blows large clouds of white smoke if and when you get it going, I suggest a close look at the timing belt sprocket on the crankshaft.

I hope this helps if you're still scratching your head.

[geeves]

This is far too common a problem. It happened to mine although it didnt cause smoke just a knocking noise when the fan belt started hitting the timing cover. 9/10 you cant even go back to the mechanic that did it as it was many years ago.
Also check the keyway in the crank as these wear at the same time. I was lucky. Theres an outfit in CHCH that can repair these but dont know details

[bedford4x4]

Mar 28, 2009 9:04:50 GMT 11 geeves said:

This is far too common a problem. It happened to mine although it didnt cause smoke just a knocking noise when the fan belt started hitting the timing cover. 9/10 you cant even go back to the mechanic that did it as it was many years ago.
Also check the keyway in the crank as these wear at the same time. I was lucky. Theres an outfit in CHCH that can repair these but dont know details

Thanks, Geeves. I got it fixed yesterday after finding a guy who wrecks Isuzus from home with a few sprockets. The crank was fine, thankfully. The motor is now running beautifully apart from a bit of smoke when starting from cold, but that's normal. I used super-strength Loctite, pulled the starter motor to lock the ring-gear before assembling everything and torqueing it up to 150 lb-ft.

After looking at your site, I've realised that someone has done a ball-joint flip on the front end. I was already aware of the aftermarket bumpers (something substantial to put a Hi-lift jack under), alloy bash-plate, rock-sliders, sway-bar disconnect, extended shackles on the rear, 1.5" body lift and intercooler off a Bighorn but it was nice to see that someone has already done the work that I would want done myself, and done it all properly.

Now I'm wondering if there are Detroit lockers for these....

[geeves]

Sounds like a nice truck in the end. You can get a Loka brand auto locker for the front and back These are just like the Detroits. You can also get ARB manual lockers front and back but also anouther CHCH member has got hold of some rear manual lockers which are apparently very good and under half the price of the ARB

[sam]

ok, thanks for that, hoping its not that as i have time but money is what i need to be spending on my track car engine but will check under cam covers this wednesday.

was yours cranking ok when it wasnt starting? i havent heard any form of mechanical noise, only that elctrical spark, like a relay blowing itself, but then again i probably wouldntve heard it as i was in the car when it first didnt want to start

[sam]

disconnected wire, like you said and still same, im still leaning towards an electrical fault, wondering if theres a short or something that overloads the fuel solenoid which mightve been the cracking when i started it after i put a new one in. will test voltage when i get new battery for multimeter