Cleaning hard lines?

[Goat]

So..

I just spent about 12 months rebuilding my lovely mk2 1.6td. I've come a long way in the process, but now that it's time to actually crank the motor over, I'm having problems.

I drained the water/fuel separator, and the fuel filter. Today I came back to it with a fresh mind, and noticed I was finally getting fuel to the IP. Still no fire. So I cracked the #1 injector hard line (on the injector), and no fuel drizzle when I crank the motor over. Tightened it back up, and cracked the line on the IP side...and voila.. we have fuel!

 This leaves me to believe that during those 12 months of sitting on my garage floor, some of the components including the hard lines have collected dirt. So how do I go about cleaning the hard lines? Anything else I should look for if I'm getting fuel seepage from the pump side but not the injector side?

Thanks!

[Vincent Waldon]

At idle the IP pumps out very little fuel, so it can take several minutes of cranking before fuel makes its way thru the hard lines.

I crank in 15 second intervals, with a 30 second pause to let the starter stay cool.

Having said that, if you have a supply of compressed air that's probably the easiest way to make sure they are free of dirt etc.

[jtanguay]

... Having said that, if you have a supply of compressed air that's probably the easiest way to make sure they are free of dirt etc.

thats how i had my lines cleaned at Giles' places by Ben when he was working there.  :wink: dunno if he used a solvent though...

[arb]

At idle the IP pumps out very little fuel, so it can take several minutes of cranking before fuel makes its way thru the hard lines.

I crank in 15 second intervals, with a 30 second pause to let the starter stay cool.

Having said that, if you have a supply of compressed air that's probably the easiest way to make sure they are free of dirt etc.

Ditto. And you need to crack all 4 lines at the injectors. They each will prime at different times. You will likely drain your battery with all the cranking it will take. An alternative if you get stuck on the road is to squirt some ether into the intake. It will start and rev a bit, but will prime the cracked lines quickly. Some guys are very much against using starting fluid, but Mercedes-Benz has a bottle installed at the factory for cold starts on their medium duty (18,000 GVW) diesel engines. At least they did when I worked as a diesel mechanic ;-)

[Smokey Eddy]

If you're trying to prime the lines with them tight on the injectors they will take a very long time to fill like Vince said.

I undo them all and just put shop towel (or in my case, kitchen towel) under the injectors to prevent too much mess.

As for cleaning, when mine were apart i poured a bit of solvent into them and just blew through them with my own compressed air (lungs). Promptly washing my lips after of course. The long period of time it takes for them to fill with diesel gives the illusion that they are clogged, in my experiences anyways.

[Goat]

Aaah..ok!

When I had a tdi I remember priming the lines and pump by cracking injector number three... so I tried doing one at a time on the 1.6td. So I'll clean the lines out and keep cranking the engine over. I didn't think it would take that long to prime, though! Had me a little worried, in fact haha..

Thanks everyone!

[Smokey Eddy]

yeahhh crack em all and you'll be done in a jiff.

[Rabbit on Roids]

At idle the IP pumps out very little fuel, so it can take several minutes of cranking before fuel makes its way thru the hard lines.

I crank in 15 second intervals, with a 30 second pause to let the starter stay cool.

Having said that, if you have a supply of compressed air that's probably the easiest way to make sure they are free of dirt etc.

Ditto. And you need to crack all 4 lines at the injectors. They each will prime at different times. You will likely drain your battery with all the cranking it will take. An alternative if you get stuck on the road is to squirt some ether into the intake. It will start and rev a bit, but will prime the cracked lines quickly. Some guys are very much against using starting fluid, but Mercedes-Benz has a bottle installed at the factory for cold starts on their medium duty (18,000 GVW) diesel engines. At least they did when I worked as a diesel mechanic ;-)

ive tried using starting fluid on my car, but it does NOT work, the engine just comes up tight and seems like it tries to kick back on the starter. but it definitely does not start it. or at least it didnt in my case. ive actually had better results from a heat gun (hot air) or a quick shot of propane into the intake. (less volatile fuel than ether)

[rabbitman]

I usually crack two lines and get it started, the other two bleed quickly after that.

[maxfax]

ive tried using starting fluid on my car, but it does NOT work, the engine just comes up tight and seems like it tries to kick back on the starter. but it definitely does not start it. or at least it didnt in my case.

Too much ether!!   Not that I'm condoning the use of starting fluid (but hey crap happens)   It's a very tiny engine when it comes to diesels in general..  You almost need to give a quick spray near the intake and allow it to woft in there...

[Rabbit on Roids]

ive tried using starting fluid on my car, but it does NOT work, the engine just comes up tight and seems like it tries to kick back on the starter. but it definitely does not start it. or at least it didnt in my case.

Too much ether!!   Not that I'm condoning the use of starting fluid (but hey crap happens)   It's a very tiny engine when it comes to diesels in general..  You almost need to give a quick spray near the intake and allow it to woft in there...

thats exactly what i did.. as fast as i could get a quick spray out of the can and let off the button. shot it straight in, so it could waft down all 4 intake runners. it was such a tiny amount, and the engine was worn out too. so i didnt really care about it.

recently i replaced a 6.9 diesel for one of my friends. glows didnt work, starter didnt work. so he popped the hood, gave it a 5 second (at least)shot of ether, then rolled it down the hill. lets just say ive never heard a ford diesel rev up so quick. and when we got it pulled in his shop, it was still cool to the touch, but the cooling system was fully pressurized. haha..

[AndyL]

ether's always a touchy subject... Basic info - it's 'ok' on DI engines - bad for IDI's (this is why it's ok on med duty diesels and often factory installed on some engines for cold weather starts). However, that said - one of the tricks i've used on the 91 vw and on my gm 6.2 - is to spray it into a rag, then put the rag into the air filter housing... Keeps the amount of ether released down to 'safer' levels than straight sprays into the intake. *** make sure glow plugs aren't connected if using it ***

I'm getting a little fonder of using propane for emergency starts - my little propane torch cranked open seems to work better without getting those nasty pre-ignition kicks that make me worry about my starter's lifespan...

[Rabbit on Roids]

wow, so im not the only one who uses propane. another thing i like about propane.. is that it doesnt dissolve the oil off the walls of the cylinder.

[AndyL]

Nope you're not the only one... I'm still newer to diesels so trying out tricks as I go - but it only took one quick spray to realize I didn't like ether...  :lol: My propane injection method doesn't quite have the kick the ether does - likely not enough propane getting in; but at least it doesn't make me want to borrow a mythbusters blast shield while using it but gets the engine started :lol:

[maxfax]

I don;t even shoot the ether into the intake..  I spray it perpendicular to the inlet of the air box..  

Like libbybapa said, it's really not worth it..  At least most of the time..  last time I sprayed the little b&$ch it was 38 deg, raining, and dark..  If it made it the 8 miles home it coulda bust into flames after that for all I cared...

Propane is a little better...  Once again better suited for DI diesels, but crap happens..