ZD30 Hard to start - resolved

[CHOVE]

I've had some great help from this forum so wanted to contribute something back by way of my own recent experience with my 2009 Patrol (zd30CRD) utility. First inkling something wasn't right was it was taking longer to start. Then began noticing a high pitched whistleing noise under load and a flattening of the power curve at around 2300rpm, almost a hesitation, but not all of the time. Then a gradual increase in smoke. Thought the hard starting and acceleration/power issues might have been the pressure relief valve in the CRD so replaced that but it made no appreciable difference but at least I'd eliminated that as a potential problem for a relatively low cost. From advice gleaned from this forum I confirmed that the whistling and possible acceleration issues could be the intercooler, which I confirmed when I removed it and could see multiple oil leaks. Replaced with a fully welded unit with fan and that fixed the whistling and some of the power issues but it was still hesitating under load and by now blowing heaps of smoke. Decided to check air cleaner (it was good), cleaned MAFF sensor, checked all the fuel lines, they were good also. Noticed no difference in hard to start issue when I primed the fuel system. Think by this point I thought I might have an injector issue but knew this would be expensive so kept looking for everything else that could be causing the issues. The vehicle is chipped and when I went looking for the chip unit under the bonnet to wind the power setting back to see if that might be causing an issue I found it hanging upside by its eletrical cord swinging in the breeze around the firewall. I've only recently purchased the vehicle so assume the chip unit was not mounted correctly and had broken away from its mounting. Anyway, the electrical plug was pretty grotty so I cleaning it all up and reconnected before mounting the chip unit securely. It improved performance for sure but I still had smoke, hard starting and some hesitation under load. By now I was pretty sure I had an injector issue and confirmed injector 4 was leaking excessively, the other injectors were within spec. Thought about replacing all injectors but baulked at the cost given relatively low km's (130k). Anyway, replaced the leaking injector and now she fires right up, no smoke and full power under load again. I suspect more mechanically minded folks would have diagnosed this issue sooner than me but I do the best I can with the skills I have. So I think the moral of my story is that sometimes there can be several things contributing to a problem and that persistence and help from the forum proved invaluable in my case.

[jack]

Well done, always good to get a positive result.