Hi all.

We've had temperatures in excess of -20 Celsius and the Iveco-powered (early 90's, 2,5 litre turbo diesel, "Sofim") 4x4 has been nothing but troublesome.

The engine has gotten harder and harder to start, even now as the weather has started to become warmer (-5C). The battery measures 12,4 volt which should be plenty, but even with a freshly-charged battery that has 12,7V the thing won't start up. It's not until you jump-charge it with a running car charging in excess of 14 volts, that the thing sputters itself to life.

The glove lamps seem to act normally and goes out after about 10 seconds, ten more seconds later and the click from the glowing relay can be heard. It doesn't seem to matter if glowing many times, or not glowing at all.

My immediate thought was obviously glove plugs, but I was told by the previous owner that they were recently changed. But the funny thing is, I CAN'T FIND THE DAMN THINGS! They are nowhere to be seen on any side of the cylinder head. By tracing the thick wire from the relay, I only found what kind of looks like a temperature sender located in the turbo air-outlet before the inlet manifold.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? These things doesn't have glove plugs?

 

Not sure of that specific engine, but it may have a grid heater which heats the incoming air instead of plugs to heat the actual cylinder.

is it possible the battery is weak? and after running the preheat cycle at too low of a voltage? or not spinning the engine fast enough for the diesel to ignite?

http://www.powertechengines.com/Ivec...007E-Mar05.pdf

it mentions plugs. kinda

what condition is the fuel in? has it been treated for cold operation?

 

Hmm, that could be. Funny thing is, the PO left a set of four used glove plugs - indicating he had changed them.

The battery is new, but used. It should be pretty good, but I don't know about cold-cranking amperage and things of that nature. Regardless, the truck should start with a 12,7V charge.

Thanks for the link, but it seem to refer to a newer common-rail style motor. Also it says "preheat plugs" - which to me sounds like glove plugs?

Good call on the fuel. The truck is probably due for a new diesel filter and water separator, but it has been working okay as-is in the cold just weeks ago. In the winter months the gas stations mix a small percentage of kerosine in the diesel to withstand temperatures of -30C, and I have filled the tank at least twice this winter. But then again, could a small amount of contamination be a contributing factor to the starting issues?

Thanks again!

 

Just curious, where are you from? Celsius and all that...

 

find the plugs and test them.. or even check to see the proper draw cominf off the battery when they are on. and check your cranking speed. I bet a new battery will fix the problem if the plugs are good.

 

Oslo, Norway.

Yeah, only thing is there is only one "plug". I finally found something of value while searching the web:

"There is only one pre-heat plug, it’s in the air intake pipe and is linked to a fuel injection line. At start-up it’s supposed to spray lit (burning) diesel down the manifold which burns slowly enough to light the fuel in the first cylinder to compress. Maybe the starter injection’s playing up."

So, I guess there is a third pre-heat starting system in existence? Quite odd.

Any guesses as to how this system ignites the diesel?

 

Could you add a picture of your engine? I know a bit of Iveco engines, but never heard about yours.

Does it look like this engine?:This is a 2.5 TD Sofim engine- built into the Talento/ Ducato and around 68kw/ 90hp

It seems that this special engine has a single glowplug which burns an amount of diesel with an open flame to preheat the chambers.
If it starts does it start to smoke white? Did you changed the fuel filter already?

 

Looks like maybe they would be under the valve cover?

almost sounds like an either injection system haha.

 

That type of cold start system has been around for a long time.I think it is perkins engines I have seen it on. It sprays fuel on the intake heater to ignite it and the air in the intake is then hot enough that the compression finishes heating it for the engine to fire. I have taken a lit propane torch and put the flame into the intake of a diesel to start it cold. It is the hoter intake air not the flame that makes them start.

 

Grabbed some pictures. This is without the plastic valve cover (which looks different from the one you pictured).



From the passenger side. Note the lack of a cross-flow head design.



Here's the pre-heat unit. How this thing ignites diesel is beyond me?



Actually yes, the engine generated some white smoke upon start-up before earlier. Now during winter, the smoke is hard to tell from condensation. I haven't changed the fuel filter, but I did drain the water separator.