1995 1.9D ZX - 2 questions for the price of one...

RussellF97 · Post by **RussellF97** » 03 Oct 2011, 19:19

Hi All,

1995 ZX Elation 1.9 D (non-turbo) 131838 miles

Q1): Bought some of Halfords finest glowplugs early this year and one has gone down already. Ho hum... Don't mock... Any recommendations for the best make of glow plug to use?

Q2): It was run on basic supermarket fuel over here in Brittany and I'd noticed a gradual falling off of it's not exactly exhilarating performance over the last year or so and tried some Redex injector cleaner which seems to have made a noticeable improvement - and smoothed out the roughish idle as a bonus.
Would it be worth the effort to give the little devil a decoke as well, or should I just continue with the Redex until I've finished the (litre) bottle and then run it on decent fuel?

I would welcome any thoughts you may have.

Cheers, Phil

Post by **CitroJim** » 03 Oct 2011, 19:38

Hi Phil,

Make sure you are using the right glowplugs... Non-Turbo glows are very different from the turbo glows and not interchangeable...

The best I find are BERU ones and you need the GV636. If you are fobbed off with the GN909 throw them back as they're for the turbo only...

This is a good site for cross-referencing glowplugs...

As for a decoke, don't. Just use the einjector cleaner and if you are confident the engine is well serviced and the cambelt is very good, do an 'Italian Tune-up' This entails dropping to third and holding the engine near the red-line for a few miles on a good clear stretch of road... That'll clear out any accumulated carbon! Just occasionally if the engine and notably the back-box is at all coked-up you may see sparks if you do it at night as lumps of glowing carbon are ejected

As I say, don't do this unless the engine is well serviced otherwise the strain my do it a mischief...

RussellF97 · Post by **RussellF97** » 03 Oct 2011, 22:19

Hi CitroJim, many thanks for your reply.
The timing belt has done 33,000 miles (I had it done when I bought the car at 98,000) and I've changed the oil & filter every 4500-5000 miles using Total oil and Purflex filters.
I think an 'Italian Tune-up' will come as a shock to it; I've rarely had the engine spinning more than 3000-3500rpm - which may be part of the problem, of course...
I'll let you know if it gets better - or goes Bang!!

bxzx16v · Post by **bxzx16v** » 04 Oct 2011, 05:56

Recently used some injector cleaner from Peugeot , made a noticable difference in the wifes laguna and my dispatch hdi , not cheap at £8 a bottle but I'll certainly get some more

Mark

citronut · Post by **citronut** » 04 Oct 2011, 08:26

also check the cold start device's on the fuel pump are working corectly,

especialy make sure the contacts on the front of the pump are clean and in working order, as these conect the earth feed to the advance servo,

regards malcolm

RussellF97 · Post by **RussellF97** » 04 Oct 2011, 09:21

Hi Malcolm, thanks for that, but this car has the plain vanilla version of the Lucas/CAV pump; the only electrical connection is for the stop solenoid.

Post by **CitroJim** » 04 Oct 2011, 13:01

It'll have the waxstat, the device in the thermostat housing that pulls on the pump fast-idle lever by way of a cable...

The waxstats don't live long and are often non-functional but having said that, the 200 or so rpm in crease the allow in cold idle speed does make quite a difference...