e36 325tds - starting problems

[[email protected]]

Hi all,

I am posting on behalf of my dad. its a e36 325tds. It is close to impossible to start the car when its cold. it starts like a dream when the engine is warm. We have replaced all 6 glow plugs and the battery not too long ago. The engine itself is fine as well once it gets going.

The "pros" say we need to replace the diesel pump. But a new one is about R14k.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[netercol]

crazy as it sounds, it might be your starter. a diesel needs to reach a certain rpm to start cold, and the starter might just just not be able to turn the engine fast enough to start when cold..

edit : how many km's on the engine?

 

[[email protected]]

crazy as it sounds, it might be your starter. a diesel needs to reach a certain rpm to start cold, and the starter might just just not be able to turn the engine fast enough to start when cold..

edit : how many km's on the engine?

thanks.

I'm a bit of posting retard, so forgot to mention a few other things. The starter was replaced a year or so back. Also found out the car used to sukkel to start when warm. My dad then found a relay ninja trick to fool the ECU in thinking the engine was colder than it actually was. This helped with warm starting, but broke the cold starting. So there is no winning.

 

[netercol]

hmmm.. ok its like this..

to start (cold) , a diesel needs to get the air in the combustion chamber hot enough to ignite the fuel injected at the beginning of the combustion stroke.
so the engine must be in healthy enough condition to achieve good compression (in other words compression ratio must be sufficient, rings ,valves, worn engine/bores play a role here)
the engine must achieve enough rpm to compress air fast enough (fast compress = more heat) to ignite the fuel injected (battery, starter and associated wiring play a role here)
and of course the fueling system must be able to deliver the fuel correctly metered and atomized and on time to be ignited (injectors, fuel pressure, injection timing plays a role here)

then there is the cold start help systems, like the glow plugs, aux water heater ect that make the start a little easier.. generally the glow plugs will not be on unless the temp is under zero..

lots of stuff to test and be sure of..

 

[2LV2]

Hi,

Just my 2 cent worth.

Dont know if you have solved the problem by now.

I picked this problem up from a friend's Landrover. ( :roflol: )

The current that the starter motor draw is critical. Could be that the junk one was replaced with a dud or a generic with the wrong rating. Bigger is not better in this case. Use RealOEM to check the proper part no.

Diesels have no throttle butterfly and are "throttled" by the amount of fuel being injected. This amount is very much affected when cold if the starter pulls just a bit more current and affects the fuel pump and consequently the circuit pressure.

There are obviously other factors that influence the current being drawn when starting. Do a general check of the engine earthing straps as well.

 

[james]

As everyone said, on these cars it could be a million things. Never had a hot start issue, although have been experiencing cold start issues lately. The past week my car was standing as she refused to start. My car is currently at Briegel diesel in Paardeneiland, getting the injector pump refurbed. Should cost about 7k. Hopefully it solves my issue.

 

[M3M5POWER]

will not start as in not cranking at all?

 

[[email protected]]

thanks for all the advice.

Turns out the problem was the fuel pump in the tank. phoning around now to get parts.