Our little 205 D Junior is really playing games with me.
The story so far: It is hard to start after it has stood overnight and often even when it's cold during the day. I have battled her now for a couple of weeks and have not yet found the root cause. It just won't start as all other XUDs I've owned do. I'm used to them starting more or less instantly whatever the weather and however long they have stood.
Junior will churn and churn and then all of a sudden, burst into life faultlessly, no rough running, just a perfect tickover. She only plays this game when she has been standing a while and when it's cold or cool. At all other times she fires up instantly. All through the summer she was always faultless.
"Easy!" I hear you all say. Glowplugs or if not that then air leaks. If only
I have already done the following:
New BERU glowplus (of the correct type, GV636), a new BERU glowplug controller. Checked that a healthy voltage is reaching the glowplugs.
Checked and checked for air leaks, even tried a clear run of hose from the filter head to the pump. I saw some bubbles caused by the fake filter but after filter replacement not a bubble to be seen at any time, no real improvement. Pumping the priming bulb with the ignition on makes no difference anyway. I have checked the leakoff pipes and fuel return lines even though it's a Lucas pump and problems here don't cause this sort of trouble as they do in a Bosch system..
Ran it with the stop solenoid plunger removed in case it was "lazy". No real improvement.
The pump was weeping a little diesel from around the throttle shaft so I replaced the O rings. It is as dry as a bone now.
Checked the waxstat and anti-stall settings. Adjusted to book and both working fine.
There have been small improvements but all the little things I found have all been red herrings and not really cured the problem.
When it starts it runs like a clock, not an apparant problem at all. It never falters, coughs or smokes, ever.
On the last point, it seems to go well but I cannot help thinking something is not quite right. Just a feeling. There are two things that bothers me slightly.
The first is that however hard I try, even in "Italian Tuneup" mode, I just cannot provoke any black smoke out of it whatsoever. It almost suggests it is underfuelling slightly.
The second is related I think. The throttle lever on the pump has a lot of "lost motion" in that the speed of the engine does not increase over the first third of the travel of the lever. After this lost third, it pickus up but there is a very short lumpy phase between idle and starting to rev. It then revs fine until it hits the max speed stop. Out on the road it will rev well enough to see 70 in third before it looses power significantly as the governor pulls it back.
The pump "lost motion" was evident before I put the new O rings in so it's nothing I have done. (I think)
My next tasks are to check the injector timing (once I have made a suitable probe and DTI mounting) and check the valve clearances and valve timing in case the cambelt has slipped a tooth. I tend to rule out the latter as the root cause of the problem because once it starts it is fine and runs like a clock. I would have expected at least a few moments of rough running if it was valves and rough running all the time if the cam timing was out.
So, what have I missed? Is the pump worn out? Is the transfer pressure low, hence the "lost motion" on the throttle lever? Is there an injector problem? But surely not all four at the same time? Why no black smoke, ever?
Would a leak-down test be a good idea if all else fails?
Any help would be most appreciated. If I don't soon get to the bottom of this, I will be needing help; of the variety provided by men in white coats
