Bedford MJ cold start system

[Sean N]

IME a 330 shouldn't need the thermostart in typical British temperatures, as Richard says - should be a good starter if in good condition. Hope it hasn't become addicted to the easy-start.

 

Try the obvious stuff first. Work through it, simple things first; fuel filter etc. Is it allowing the fuel to drain back when standing (check connections, pump)? Is it drawing small amounts of air from a poor connection somewhere? What are the injectors like - does it smoke when running?

[Tev]

IME a 330 shouldn't need the thermostart in typical British temperatures, as Richard says - should be a good starter if in good condition. Hope it hasn't become addicted to the easy-start.

 

Try the obvious stuff first. Work through it, simple things first; fuel filter etc. Is it allowing the fuel to drain back when standing (check connections, pump)? Is it drawing small amounts of air from a poor connection somewhere? What are the injectors like - does it smoke when running?

 

No, as you say it shouldn’t need the cold start/heater, though I don’t think that that works anyway (but will have a look later on today)

 

 

Yea me to – hence wanting to get this sorted before it dose!

 

 

I have had the fuel system mostly apart (whilst I was replacing the filter and the tank I thought I might as well flush it all through – the old fuel that was in it was very dirty!). I am pretty sure fuel is getting in to the engine as it puffs smoke out from when you first turn the key, implying that it has fuel to burn - I am not an expert though.

 

 

It is generally Smokey when running (white smoke), I have some injector cleaner to put in the fuel, but haven’t used it yet as a friend of mine said that when he used it his car was a pig to start – seems as this is anyway I didn’t want to make it any worse! Another friend of mine suggested taking the injectors out and getting them tested, so I guess that would be my next port of call unless you have any ideas?

 

 

 

Any thoughts on the injector cleaner - Could it just make it so the darn thing wont start?

[Mick H]

The ether cold start capsules are not used now and are like rocking horse s**t to get hold of, a can of easy start does the same job, The capsules fit into a cylinder on the dashboard, its about 4" square with a hand primer built in, most bedfords still in service have had them removed.

[Sean N]

Tev,

 

Does the white smoke smell dieselly and sting your eyes and nose a bit? Might well indicate injector problems. It'd be worth pulling them and getting them tested. When replacing them, use new sealing washers and check in the bottom of the injector sleeves in the head carefully to make sure there aren't any old washers left in there. They tend to get stuck in there and it's easy to miss them; if there's more than one washer in there the injectors don't stick into the head far enough and you don't get good atomisation, resulting in a smoky engine, poor starting and low power. I took a stack of three old washers out of one cylinder on a 330 once!

 

The injectors sit in tubular sleeves in the head, which go through the water jacket. It's possible to dislodge these while removing stubborn injectors, so make sure they're still seated properly before putting the injectors back in. If you need to remove one of these sleeves, ask here or read the manual before you do so; they're easily damaged.

 

I've had good results with injector cleaner, but generally only for cleaning up a smoky but basically OK engine for the MoT. In the situation you're in, I'd pull them out and test them.

 

Being a civvy MJ it'll have the distributor type injector pump. I've had trouble with these in the past (though not, admittedly, on Bedfords) where a fuel system fault has allowed them to draw very small amounts of air. It's not enough to kill the engine during the day but enough to make starting difficult overnight. It's a long shot, but it's so easy to give it a quick bleed to check you might as well give it a go. Also check pump timing while you're there.

 

I assume you've checked the fuel lift pump is working OK?

Edited August 15, 2010 by Sean N
clarity

[LoggyDriver]

Sean N covered what I was going to say.

 

I'd check the injectors. Bedford 330 engines smoke anyway when cold. My truck will start first turn of the key even when the temperature is at zero degrees without the use of the cold start. My cold start is different to yours though in that it's an MJ with a flame type cold start system, but as I've said I've never had to use it.

 

If you have been running dirty fuel, and the filters have let some particals past it may well have worn the injectors or clogged the nozzels so that you aren't getting decent atomisation. Fuel injector cleaner is very good stuff. Forget what it says on the bottle about dose rates. Buy a couple of 1lt bottles of Redex Diesel fuel injector cleaner and add to the fuel, but make sure you haven't got much fuel in the tank, this will make the mix pretty strong. Then run the truck and give it a good hammering. If it's been used as a timber truck then I presume the engine has spent a lot of time at tick over. If you give it 2 or 3 litres of Redex Diesel injector cleaner and give the engine a good hammering on a long drive then see what difference it makes. Try this first before you take the injectors out, it may save you some work.

[Sean N]

... My cold start is different to yours though in that it's an MJ with a flame type cold start system...

 

Given that Tev's is a civvy MJ it's probably got a thermostart as well - I think it was only the multi-fuel engine that had the ether system.

[Tev]

An update!

 

The cold start dose work, I even got it to start with out any easy start using it, though I wasn’t expecting it to so didn’t get my foot on the throttle hard enough and it died, and then refused to start again!

 

Put some injector cleaner in, though on Loggydriver’s advice ill just pour the rest of the bottle in next time im there. The lorry doesn’t have tax or insurance atm though so taking it on a decant drive (other than around the farmyard at least) is fairly hard. The old fuel was very very dirty – to the point that I sieved it before putting it in my generator! As I say, I have replaced all the filters and the tank.

 

The smoke from the engine isn’t amazingly pleasant – though no worse particularly than any of my other diesel vehicles when they are cold (I have an 86 MCW Metrobus which is truly feral when cold!). It is white but from memory goes very slightly grey for a moment just after you hit the throttle.

 

On closer inspection, it is only after about 2 or 3 seconds of turning the engine over that smoke starts coming out of the exhaust, so I guess that could show that air is getting in and fuel is dropping back when not being used. What dose anyone else recon?

 

Many thanks!

 

Tev