Offroad-Express

Good morning all, well it has started getting quite cold and I have been out there trying to get my truck running to warm it up before driving to work.. Finally got it going but it has been hard the last few mornings and starting to get my worried.

It always started really well but I have noticed it getting harder as the mornings get colder. It will crank for a while and then start trying to start, I give it a few goes and eventually it starts with a heap of black crap getting blown over the lawn.

I have taken the battery out and tested it, it was good and manages to crack the truck over for a good period of time without loosing any grunt while it is trying to start.

The glow plug light only lights up for maybe 2-4 seconds when I turn the ignition on. I did it 2 times before trying to start yesterday and 4 this morning, it didn't seem to make any difference.

Should the glow plugs stay on for longer?

My next course of action is going to be to remove and test my glow plugs, the general consensus is they should be less than 2 ohms and glow evenly when connected to the car battery with jumper leads.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Definitely sounds like a glow plug issue to me - easy enough to whip them out and test them... Quite common for the issue to come to the surface in this cold weather!

Jay

yea, it's this time of year when you figure out you need a new battery alternator starter glowplugs etc.

black crap on the lawn is unburnt fuel glow the plugs twice before even trying to start it until you get some new ones in there.

check if there is voltage at the glows as well.

the other thing is to pump the fuel filter primer. make sure the pump is full of fuel and it hasn't drained back to tank. might pay to check the fuel filter is not clogged. fuel restriction tends to retard injection timing making it harder to start.

Thanks for the replies guys, I grabbed some new glow plugs and in the process of removing it it broke in the hole What a bugger of a thing, all of the threaded portion came out so it is just the tip jammed in the hole presumably held in there by carbon build up.. It is such a tiny tip I am not sure if I am going to be able to drill it and get an easy out in there, hopefully I don't have to take the head off

From bad to worse, I snapped one off in the hole and then got 2 others out mostly intact but the ends of both of them look like they are destroyed one looks like it has been like that for a while but one has fresh damage so looks like the head is going to have to come off to get all the crap out of the pre combustion chamber

bugger.
owell least you will get to check the head for cracks.
be sure to fit new timing belt and idler while your at it.

What is the best way to check for cracks? Can I just check visually?

I have the full service history with the truck and the water pump/idlers/timing belt etc are only 20k old so will just inspect them and if they look good then leave them there.

Does anyone have a link to a good DIY thread on changing the head gasket? I have done it before on FWD cars so imagine this would be pretty easy but would like to have a guide and some pics if possible..

Have a look here. There's some good stuff that can help.
http://toyotasurf.asn.au/techsite/