Hi all,
New to the forum, but read extensivley! excellent info here, this is the first diesel Ive have encountered and the forum is like gold dust. I have searched hard but cant find the answer (typically) to my problem:
Just bought a T3 (vanagon) with retro fitted 1.9 AAZ TD, it had new glow plugs (NGK's) and a new looking but burnt out set of NGK's floating around in the back. (thought nothing of it at the time)Started on the first turn but evidently the drive home of 60 miles was sufficient to see the new plugs off. The next day far from starting, it didnt even cough, despite fast spinning of starter. I took the easiest looking plug out and it is burnt off, all others remain cold when cycling, so pressumed dead. There is feed to the BUSS bar, fuse intact.
I'm reading enough to suggest I should Re-fit nothing less than Motorcraft/ Beru plugs as they are the most hardy. The others have burned out within a matter of hours. A guy on a different forum has tested various types here:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/k2pilot/Glow%20plug%20removal%20article.html A good read if you are in a similar position. This guy confirms this and descibes destruction bench testing results.
Not sure whether ive got a slow or fast heating circuit, but it has the tall black relay in a black box on the firewall, (new, also have new spare, so problem was approached by previous owner but not resolved)
The relay appears to work okay and clicks off after about 30 seconds, it wont start at all, plenty of unburnt fuel issuing from the tail pipe, all plugs cold after two cycles.)
So far, I can 'pimp' my glowplugs if circuit turns out to be faulty, but im distincly aware of the fact that in every cylinder I Have TWO plug tips floating about, What does this mean? The guy on the link above also describes the death of engines (albeit not VW ones) due to this and the clearence between the head and the piston being 3,000 of an inch.
I can only assume I have a similar scenario and need to try and:
rescue the tips by means of suction,
take the head off to remove them,
trust they will be spat out of the exhaust port or sit harmlessley inside
To add further interest, The van was stranded at a friends house during this and in desperation to shift it I got it running with a tiny bit of the easy start (sorry, ran out of options) At the time i was ignorant of plug issues.
Lumpy as hell, metallic sounding, plenty of white smoke. The effects of no glow plugs and the deathly easy start?
Or the sound of my cylinders whacking away at lumps of glow plug? After a few minutes it settled down and the smoke stopped, drive home was normal and uneventful after that. But as I have only driven it once I dont have much to compare it to.
Sorry about the essay, Just saying what I DO know, Any wisdom on this scenario is most welcome
Temptation is to fit new quality plugs and hope for better, not keen on the idea off taking the head off! but if that is the case it'll just have to be done.