Newby, 03 Patrol zd30ddti cold start

[Davesgu]

Hi all,
I'm new on the patrol scene, just bought an 03 zd30ddti from a car yard in Cardiff NSW.
So the story goes: meant to pick the vehicle up Friday, had issues with blue slip and engine number (hard to read) vehicle was delivered to me the following Tuesday, all went well, Wednesday morning started the truck it idled for 20-30 seconds then died and wouldn't restart. I had to prime the fuel primer to get a fire. Ran fine after that, car sat at work all day (8hrs) started perfectly that arvo. Thursday morning exact same issue?? At this stage it's going back to the car yard but I'd rather fix it myself (don't trust anyone else with my new toy) lol so has anyone had this issue before? What was the fix please? Thanks

[happygu]

I would look for an air leak in the fuel line. If you find an oily spot on the line, that will probably be it.

Check the filter, as this is a likely cause, or sometimes it can be the o ring seals for the fuel spill lines on the motor.

If it came from a yard, ask for the details and ring the previous owner to find out if he traded it due to the same issue......

Mic

[Davesgu]

Thanks for the advice Mic, great idea about contacting previous owner, I'll get on to that tomorrow in the mean time I've replaced the fuel filter and fuel lines to and from the filter tonight so fingers crossed for tomorrow mornings cold start

[Davesgu]

After replacing the fuel lines too and from the filter and the fuel filter itself the patrol fired up nicely this morning and kept going. No stall out. Hopefully that's all the problem was.

[threedogs]

Replace fuel filter, check for leaks, fuel and vacuum hoses, Spray Maf sensor,
Do all this with battery disconnected, I perfer doing one at a time .
That way you'll know what problem was/is.
Start getting NADS together as well

[mudski]

After replacing the fuel lines too and from the filter and the fuel filter itself the patrol fired up nicely this morning and kept going. No stall out. Hopefully that's all the problem was.

I had my money on that when you asked me...lets hope it stays good for you.

[Davesgu]

Thank again for your help Mudski, and Threedogs I've cleaned the maf replaced the air filter and am well under way with the NADS gear, I've got my Dawes Valve, EGR plate and oil catch can, just need some gauges and away I go
Have to do an oil change in the morning after work and have decided to go with Valvoline Duramax 10w40 from what I've been reading it one that's recommended and I get it REALLY cheap my workshop manual says 5.7 litres and all the threads and oil reps say 8.3 so is it safe to say I'm running 8.3L of oil in the old girl??
(Sorry for posting this under the wrong heading new to the forum scene as well as patrol scene )

[Davesgu]

Morning two cold start. No good started nice no smoke ran for the typical 20-30 seconds then shut down, had to prime it 6-7 times turned over for a while rough start up with small smoke cloud, I'm thinking about clamping the fuel line before the primer to see if its leaking back past it, my only issue is if it is a fuel issue why is this issue only present after a cold night? Any suggestions anyone??

[mudski]

So its only cold nights it will do it? You could have dodgy glow plugs, the bus bar between the glow plugs could be corroded and not getting a good connection? Have you gone right over the fuel system on the truck to see if there is any wet or damp spots? The is a way to test your glow plugs with a multi meter to see if they are o.k but I'm not sure on how to do that. I don't think this will be a big issue as such, just more of a pain to find the issue at hand.
Also check the glow plug fuse aswell. These Patrols have built in timers for the glow plugs and they are supposed to stay on after start up for a few minutes. Check the fuse for that.
But atleast clamp the hose like you said. It sounds more like a fuel issue to me but I not always right.
If you do need new glow plugs, get plugs with the metallic tip, not ceramic tips as there has been reports of the ceramic tips breaking off and dropping onto the cylinder and causing all sorts of damage.
We'll find this issue. Eventually.

[Davesgu]

I'm starting to worry that the fuel is leaking down into the cylinders from dodgy injectors or injector pump. I believe they have a common return rail i guess its possible it could be leaking as well, I changed the oil this morning and it already seems really thin, I guess that could be diesel in the engine from a leaky return rail!?! Although all these issues don't explain why it only happens after sitting over night. Surely 8hrs in the car park at work would be long enough to leak down/loose pressure.
On the glow plug side, I checked the rail tonight and had zero volts. After playing with the harness/connector and glow relay i had full voltage on the buz bar?? With checking them on a multimeter you have to remove them from the vehicle (so you don't get false resistance reading from the engine) and check the ohms reading between the centre pin and the body of the glow plug, different glow plugs have different resistances but as long as they all fall with in the same resistance range they should be right. (A workshop manual would have the resistance range) as for the leaking down in to the cylinders the 3ltr turbo diesel Hilux/prado engine have a hell of a rattle on cold start up and blow a heap of smoke if the injectors are faulty so id assume the patrols would do a similar thing. Although the 1KD Hilux/prado engines are common rail and run at considerably higher pressure. Maybe I'm just thinking to much into it all and it is just something simple.... I read a post about using good hose clamps so i changed the clamps out on the fuel lines and replaced the rubber hose section of the return line back to the tank. And tensioned the union bolts into the injector pump. We'll cross our fingers for tomorrow's cold start