Having been reading a heck of a lot of forums and other documentation and learning alot of diesel diagnosing methods, symptoms and attempting to document what I'd learnt here in my blog in a more structured way I've been making my way slowly through the tests / diagnositics one at a time which has been very frustrating since you only have one attempt each morning to test the cold start since after the initial start issue the car starts and runs fine for the rest of the day, meaning you have to wait to the next morning. But I'm in no hurry as I want to eventually say for sure what the cause or possibly cause(s) have been.
To date I've done the following:
1. Bled the fuel system numerous times and especially at the start of the issue as I've documented in my blog. It helped for a little bit, but cold start issue came back after 3-4 weeks and bleeding did not help.
2. Drained and the water chamber for any water that may have been caught, ensured the water drain plug was securely tightened to prevent leaks. - No water and no joy.
3. Tighten all fuel hose connection clamps - No Joy
4. Replaced the Fuel Filter, making sure that the filter correctly sealed on the hand pump/primer (i.e. old seal not left behind) and that the water chamber / sensor had the seal correctly attached and tight - But still no Joy.
5. Attempted to look for air leak using clear Hoses on Filter 8mm input and output, 6mm return line. It was great to be able to see the fuel and what was happening during initial priming and engine running. During the initial priming and bleeding I could see there was a pocket of air about half the length of the hose from the filter to the injection pump. The only way to clear the lock was while the engine was running, to continue priming it, even when it got hard to prime, continuing priming and finally the the air pocket would just simply pass.
After this the car started for the next two mornings fine and did not stall. However when I took the car out for a test drive and got back, the air pocket would be back again. Putting it down to the size of the clear hose and not having the correct size host clamps to provide a good air-tight seal for the hose onto the pipes, but it was an improvement all over - Fingers crossed.
6. After some success from the previous test, I replaced the 8mm I/D Fuel hoses coming into and out of the FITLER and used new EFI hose clamps - but still no Joy.
7. Replaced the 6mm I/D Fuel host on the return line, including new host clamps. Initial cold morning start tests showed that Paddy would start and after little while start to run lumpy, but just like the very start increased the RPM for about 30-60 sec and the engine would run normal and no stall. It has been several months since I did not have to prime the fuel. Was I on a winner here ?
8. While priming / bleeding the air of the system after replacing the hoses, I could a high pitch squeal even now and then. I narrowed it down to the primer hand pump. When I wiggled the primer button, the squeal would appear to stop, but never start squeal. Thought that I finally had a sign of an obvious air leak hearing the squeal. What got me was that during the clear hose test, the fuel did not ran back into the tank. But I took the primer and filter of the firewall and took it to Diesel mechanic / specialist to have then test it under vacuum. When I dropped it off they said it would cost AUS$30 when I went to pick it up they told me the Primer / Filter was perfect andthey did not charge me for the test (Very nice of them). So I just saved myself $180-240 as a new Genuine Filter / Primer from Mitsubishi was $240 and after market one was $180.
9. After reading forums and other source regarding the HKT CP-05 glow plugs only lasting approx 12-18 months I decided to bite the bullet and replace the glow plugs with new CP-05's. I found the following PDF on the Delica forum - HOWTO Replace your Glow Plugs.
I tested each new glow plug and it heated red/orange hot with in 3-4 sec.
Took the old glow plugs out and tested them, most would take 7-8 secs to glow one even took near 11 sec and these were suppose to be quick glows.
Put the new glow plugs in and the next morning -4 degree C, in my eagerness I did a silly thing, I did not wait for full first cycle of the glow plugs, and so the engine started after the heating lamp went out (I should have known better and course swore at myself). The engine statrted but immediately ran lumpy, accelerator help a little but eventually stalled and shit loads of smoke. To add salt to the wound, a fucking kangaroo jumped out on me on the way to work and put a couple little dints on the right side. Fucking roos that the 2nd time Paddy has been hit by a roo.
10. Waiting for the next morning cold start I thought ok what next, so I decided to double check the glow plug power supply especially after the engine has started in case the glow plug module was shutting the glow plugs off prematurely during cold start. Next morning I had the multi-meter out and started Paddy (heating the plugs for 1 full cycle, and waiting a few secs after the 2nd heat lamp indicate went out) and pulled hand throttle on to bring RPM to 1500 to give me a little time before possible stall to get power readings.
After Paddy started and engine revved up to 1500 (poor thing, it did not sound good, especially not good at -4 degree C again), however I raced round put the multimeter leads on the glow plug busrail and negative terminal and I was reading 14volts, and I waited for sign of the busrail going to 0volts and the engine stalling. But the bloody engine did not stall, it did not even HICCUP. I scratched my head thinking WTF. This was the first cold start at below 0 degrees C that I have not had to prime her (Excluding the clear hose tests).
OK thought hard what had changed in the environment / startup procedure ? New Glow Plugs and properly heating the glow plugs. But there was no other difference except for I set the RPM immediately to 1500 rpm instead of 1000 RPM like normal.
11. This morning was only 0 degrees, and I heated the plugs normal couple of cycles, and started the car and let it rev up to 1000 rpm like I normally do. But before I could get reading the mulimeter the engine started to run lumpy. I took the voltage reading and it was at 14v so the busrail was getting voltage but the engine was running lumpy. not wanting it to stall, I primed it instead of using accelerator.
So Has it got anything to do with the RPM is 1000 rpm too low for a cold start ? I've got to wait for the next cold morning DAMN IT!!!!!
However I decided to delay the RPM test, after it nearly stalling this morning I replaced the fuel hoses and clamps at the fuel tank end. Lifting the carpet up to access the inspection panel in the boot of the Pajero I replaced the 8mm and 6mm I/D fuel hoses and clamps with new lengths of hose and efi hose clamps.
Image 1 - Carpet up and can see the inspection plate, remove 6 x 12mm bolts
Image 2 - Inspection plate close up.
Image 3 - Looking down through inspection hole onto tank. Can see the 8mm pipe left and the 6mm pipe to the right and what I assume to be the fuel tank guage wires and connector.
Image 4 - Looking through the inspection hole up towards the middle the car to see the other end of the hoses.
Image 5 - Job done, with the new fuel hoses and clamps fitted.
Lets see how Paddy starts tomorrow Morning. If it again runs lumpy and/or stalls I've still got the RPM test to do next and there are still a fair few more tests I've got to try which I've researched from the forums, but like I said, trying to elliminate one thing at a time and only getting one shot each day, I know it may take a while, but I'll get this little bugger sorted.
Stay tuned........
Cheers
Mark
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