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HandyAndy
7th May 2010, 11:05 AM
I know this is probably boring but ....

Have you ever had a problem on a vehicle that no matter what logical approach you take to solve it you end up still no further forward?

Anyway.......

I,ve been having a problem starting my van, ( some of you may recall the prob at Stoneleigh)

It all began when it was reluctant to show the diesel glow plug lamp on the dashboard when starting, sometimes it would work , sometimes it wouldn,t,

At first I thought it was the key in the ignition barrel not making the contact etc cos if you "jiggled" it a bit it would work....WRONG

next, I thought it was a loose earth somewhere, checked all earth points...all sound,

then thought maybe a loose wire on a glow plug....wrong

Bonzo suggested whilst at stoneleigh that it might be a relay....checked all relays, swapped them for new....still no joy ...

I then methodically checked every wire/connection to do with the glow plug system, cleaned contacts, sprayed WD40 etc etc...still no joy..

Whilst working in the engine bay, I found a " black box" that i didn,t know its purpose???? anyways, unbolted it from the bulkhead, disconnected 3 wires going to it,
Once the box was in my hand I could sense something was loose inside, prised the cover off ( not easy ) to find an electrical relay system inside......AND a tiny bit of muck/pebble about the size of a pin head fell out ( working on a white sheet of paper)............
That tiny bit of muck was stopping the relay from making contact when power was present :eek:
This black box was some form of immobiliser that had at some time been disabled by the previous owner, ( its an ex postie van ).

I put it all back together & hey presto ...turned the key & on came the glow plug light & fired up no problem :)

This has been causing me frustration/ being late for things for weeks :(

but the best bit is the satisfaction that it didn,t beat me :D
Thank Ronnie for pointing me in the right direction of the relays, its just this relay was hiding out of sight.

sorry its boring lol but i feel like i,ve just climbed mount everest LOL.

cheers
andy

Bonzo
7th May 2010, 11:20 AM
Pleased you got it sorted Andy :) :)

Hopefully, I helped to sort of point you in the right direction ;)

Unfortunately, I do not travel with a decent tool kit, otherwise I would have got down n dirty & sorted for you mate :)

HandyAndy
7th May 2010, 11:26 AM
Pleased you got it sorted Andy

Hopefully, I helped to sort of point you in the right direction

Unfortunately, I do not travel with a decent tool kit, otherwise I would have got down n dirty & sorted for you mate

Ronnie.... your suggestion that it was possibly a relay problem was spot on, it just wasn,t a relay that was part of the original glow plug system, thats why it was eluding me :eek:
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction ;) :cool:

Today , i,ve practically stripped and rebuilt the glow plug system so hopefully it won,t happen again :)

cheers
andy

Bonzo
7th May 2010, 11:38 AM
Cool :cool:

At least it is sorted now

This means you can now get back to the serious business of completing your build ;)

Well, that's if you don't have a gazillion chassis kits to cut first :D :D

twinturbo
7th May 2010, 02:03 PM
It's always good to get somethign working again :)

TT