Starting issues

[deli meat]

Hey all,

I am new to the Delica world so please forgive my general naivety. I have been having trouble on start up for about a month now. The first symptom I noticed was a very shuttery low idle after a cold start. This shaky start was soon joined by excessive white smoke, but after warming up for a few minutes (at 1k RPM), everything seemed to smooth over. I assumed I had a leaky rocker cover gasket and it just took some heat to get the pieces to expand and stop whatever was dripping (I plan to replace the gasket but am still waiting on a half moon).

Flash forward to now, and starting the van has gone from rough to a true challenge. The last few starts have required >10 attempts and really cranking the starter for >1-2 minutes combined. Now I worry I have a bigger problem, perhaps my glow plugs are shot? I have manual glow plug control and the previous owner told me I couldn't really overdo it, but I wonder if I have been over-energizing them (normally prime for 10-15 secs). I have been meaning to change my oil and filter so I plan on doing that, but I don't expect that to help. This is a bit out of my wheelhouse currently so I will probably bring it to the mechanic soon, but I wanted to check with you all and see if there is any insight you may have first. Thanks in advance!

 

[sk66]

Which glow plug system do you have?
If the glow plugs are cheap metal tipped/non-regulating type you most certainly can overdo it and cause them to blow.

 

[Growlerbearnz]

It certainly does sound like failed glow plugs. The most reliable test is to remove them, inspect them, and bench test them (power them using jumper leads and a battery).

If any have failed it's a good idea to replace them all.

If you have the 6v plugs (will say 6v, maybe 6.2v somewhere on the casing) you only need to run them for 4 seconds before cranking (cold engine/first start), up to maybe 8 seconds if it's seriously cold out. If the engine's warm you usually don't need glow plugs at all.