Offroad-Express

Hi There,

I'm having some more issues with my terrano regulus.

Occasionally it decides that it doesn't want to start, it will just keep cranking over. If i turn key off and try again it will crank for a while and then finally start, I am ensuring I warm the glow plugs up and everything.

It never sounds like that batteries are running out of juice when its cranking over, it just wont fire up.

Other times it starts perfectly. It has two batteries, which I am pointing the finger at for now.I'm mostly only doing short trips (<10min) so i'm wondering whether this could be hard on batteries

what do you reckon? Batteries or underlying problem?

cranking is one of the harder things for the battery to do.
I would suspect your glow plugs timer is not working all the time.

this would only happen when the diesel motor is cold right? if not then it could be no fuel and that is a bit of a mission to track back.

look at the glow plugs first then look at fuel Toyotas have a manual pump where you can pump the diesel up to the motor and a seal in there goes and lets the fuel drop back to the tank, takes some cranking or pumping to get the fuel back up, could have something similar.

Yeah this only ever happens cold. Is there someway I can check the glowplugs and timer?

The glow plugs certainly seem like they could be the cause, the light is ticking off normally on the dash. But thats about all i know about the glow plugs.

Are there any tests I can do to check them?

Cheers.

I have had the glow plugs out, all seem okay as they glow within a few seconds when put to a battery.

I have also checked that they are getting power when starting up, I just put a light tester on the feed and it lit up.

Are there any other tests to see whether the timer could be playing up?

It took about 10 seconds of cranking over to start this morning, with a puff of smoke once it did fire up.

I also had a look for a pump like you described, does anyone know where this is on the 3.2DT ?

theres a plunge pump on the top of the fuel filter you use if you have to bleed the fuel, maybe that one?

hey what sort of economy or kms per tank do you get? just out of curiosity

cheers

Use a test light on the glow plug rail,turn key to IGN, light should turn on for several seconds when engine cold,and only momentarily when hot.
ROBERT

Do these run the same motor as the Wizard?

i'd be checking the power to the glow plugs. i had same starting issues with my 2.7 terrano

the wire to the glow plug rail goes on the the no.4 (rear) glow plug and it had come off. new nut and all good.

The symptoms were the same. hard to start cold and big cloud of white smoke.

mechanic mate picked it in about 2 secs and had seen the wire come adrift before.

I checked wire to glow plug rail and it seem fine. Unfortunately í've smashed my leg so wont be able to get under the bonnet to have geezer for a while

As for fuel consumption, I get around 550-600km with atleast half open road driving, generally costs about $60 to fill from empty light

I dont think they run the same as the wizard but could be wrong, from what i knew that wizards of the same year had a 3.0

Cheers