smoke lumpy on idle starting problems

terry4444 · Unread post by **terry4444** » 13 Jun 2005, 01:44

My P reg Xantia TD 88k on clock is tempremental about starting again.Smokes greyish smoke with blue tinge.Lumpy on idle but holds at 1000rpm.The other week it just died on me but I changed the fuel filter and oil and filter and it was OK for a while,but it is now having the same problems again more so when hot in fact.

Kowalski · Unread post by **Kowalski** » 13 Jun 2005, 04:26

If the lumpyness is and smoke is for a few seconds after starting it's either an air leak on the fuel system somewhere or a duff glowplug or two. Have a search on the forum for "air leak" and "glowplugs".

casperdog2 · Unread post by **casperdog2** » 13 Jun 2005, 04:47

I think that you will find that you have glow plug failure, at least two by the sound of it. Ive had this problem and plugs always were at fault, I would advise changing the four plugs, if one goes the others will follow

terry4444 · Unread post by **terry4444** » 15 Jun 2005, 01:09

Thanks for that lads, been thinking that was probably it.

citronut · Unread post by **citronut** » 15 Jun 2005, 01:16

glow plugs,take them out test them across a battery but be very carfull not to cause any sparks near top of battery,use two lengths of wire with crocks on and dont touch tips of glow plugs,they should get red hot regards malcolm

jeremy · Unread post by **jeremy** » 15 Jun 2005, 01:25

Or simply check their resistance - undo nut on top, remove wire and meter between there and body of plug or engine - should be virtually no resistance even on low scale (200 ohm)
If they fail they go open circuit generally - so give an infinite resistance but a partial failure will show up as a high reading.
And of course they should all read the same. A bulb could also be used for this test.
Jeremy