ford transit van wont turn over

[tommyl18]

Hi ive got a ford transit van 2.5litre r reg long wheeel base that wont turn over when cold if you turn the ignition on and off a few times it will then turn over and start up is the starter motor on its way out?

Also to get it to start in a morning now the weather has gone cold i have to spray easy start in the air intake to get it to fire up other wise just turns over till batteries dead doesnt do it in the summer and starts first key with the easy start someone mentioned it could be the temperature sensor on the air intake, its had a new air filter, fuel filter, alternator, has direct ignition no glow plugs

 

[Burnerman]

It would seem that the solenoid, which sits on top of the starter motor, is having a bad day - this is what happens when it is starting to jam.
This Transit motor indeed has no glowplugs or other cold start mechanism and it relies on having a good battery to swing it over.
If you are having to use Easy Start it would indicate that the cylinder compressions are down due to engine wear.
If the fuel filter has a pump primer button (can't remember) then give it a few presses prior to starting up...there's a possibility that fuel is returning back to the tank.
John

 

[tommyl18]

i do pump the accelerator many times before i start it but doesnt seem to make any difference

 

[tommyl18]

I do pump the accelerator but it doesnt seem to make any difference

 

[Burnerman]

That doesn't make any difference on a diesel engine, Tommy - on older petrol engines, where the carburettor had an accellerator pump, raw petrol was squirted into the carburettor choke, richening the mixture.
Occasionally this helped with a cold start.
John

 

[Mursal]

Replacement starter if all the connections to the battery are good.

Throw your eye on the earth strap to the engine also, your looking for a
bad connection.

Starters seem to give quite a bit of trouble.

Keep away from the easy start, its not the answer. Usually does more hard
than good.

A bit like Alcohol, to us humans.

 

[jetex]

Transits suffer from starter motor failures due to the dual mass flywheel breaking up and putting iron filings into the starter. The battery and all connections must be in good condition. If the fuel system is the HDI (common rail) type, then your fuel pressure regulator may need changing.

 

[Mickymoody]

Even that diesels have a higher amp battery that their petrol counterparts, an "R" reg vehicle is coming upto 10 years now? And there seems to be always a 10 year cutoff for ANY vehicle, to produce weirdrness. Either alarm trouble, random electrical issues, or starting issues, maybe some dash issues, where some items work, and others don't.

And taking the battery off, and recharging it, doesn't work. You have to check the gravity of the acid etc...

But a simple and easy check is fit a new battery.

I wrote a paper for someone a while back, regarding this sudden battery failure at 10 years old....seems that it causes a lot of electrical issues at 10 years old, where the expected failures, are not what you would expect, but the battery is the culprit. And it happens across the range of vehicles, not specific to one type of vehicle.

And I'm not in the battery selling sector either!

 

[jetex]

Sorry, I missed the "R" reg bit, so your engine won't be a common rail type. To test the battery : connect a voltmeter to the battery. You want to see 12.2 volts or above. Disconnect the wire on the diesel fuel pump stop solenoid so that the engine won't start. Now ask someone to crank the engine over on the key for 15 seconds - the voltage should not drop below 9.0 volts over this period. If it does, the battery is kaput.

 

[tommyl18]

the battery is fine