I have been having problems starting my townie in the mornings and during my investigations i found two cables joined to a ring terminal hanging in mid air just at the back of the fuel pump. one cable is a thick brown and the other is a white and black. i can't see any connection where it could have come from
and the ring is shiny as though it had been connected recently. any suggestions

- (#8773) brian squire, 28 May 03 0:14

Well, they're meant to go onto the glow plug resistor that sticks out of the manifold above the pump. Maybe the retaining nut has fallen off. Be careful tho, a pair of insulators are needed to locate the wires in the right places...

- (#8774) david miller, 28 May 03 1:19

The colours you quote are likely to be the earthing part of a circuit. Hard starting, does your glow plug relay click when you turn the ignition on? If not may be the earth for that?

- (#8775) Clive, 28 May 03 1:21

pretty sure it's the resistor, Clive. Not unknown for people to misconnect them...

the earth wires that go onto the injection pipe clamp are white/ black but some of the glow stuff is black/ white IIRC. The big brown one is the preheat feed straight to the plugs through the current sensor as I recall

- (#8776) david miller, 28 May 03 3:13

David,I bow to your greater knowledge.

- (#8777) Clive, 28 May 03 4:54

Don't do that Clive, you're making me feel paranoid :-(

You want to look under yours and confirm it? The Japs have this habit of using unusual codes and changing them when you least expect it, but I expect earth to be white/ black, sometimes with a red ring on. If I'#m wrong I'll buy ya a pint sometime ;-)

But at least they use colours, the French seem to use bundles of identical wires these days...

- (#8778) david miller, 28 May 03 6:31

Dave
Many thanks for your very prompt reply, and i have connected as you suggest but all i get when i switch on the ignition is a very dim glowplug indicator on the dash which does not go out. Ive also tried clives suggestion regarding the earth theory but i still get poor starting. There is a plastic cap on the glowplug resistor which, i would have thought, would be missing if the cables in question were previously attached there. The engine did start as soon as the glowplug lamp went out when i first aquired the vehicle some four weeks ago but a couple of days ago i actually flattened the battery trying to start her. and i wouldn't worry about becomming paranoid, that spot is reserved for me!
Many thanks to you and clive
regards
brian

- (#8779) brian squire, 28 May 03 14:40

This sounds rather like a problem Ian Dunse has at one stage...
On the glowplug resistor there should be two wires coming up from the loom, one with a big eye, one a small. The bigger one should be to the inside of the resistor, with a wire coming from same place and going to the (insulated) stud atop the manifold. A black spade terminal comes off here as a current sensor.

Do you have an earth to the injection pipe clamp?

When you mention the light being dim and not going out if the wire is connected to the resistor, does the light come on at all when the wire is earthed?

Are both relays pulling in (on bulkhead and in "B" pillar)?

Are fusible links OK?

- (#8780) david miller, 28 May 03 15:53

re- your last message i would confirm that there are no cables attached to the injection pipe clamp. I have attached the offending cables to the clamp as one of the bolts does seem somewhat longer than the other, and the ring fits comfortably on the bolt.
with regard to the relays and fuses, i do have 12 volts on the glowplugs but that is also the case when the glow plug lamp is extinguished. everything else you described re- the resistor checks out ok.

finally which is "b" pillar?
Regards
brian

- (#8781) brian squire, 28 May 03 16:06

that's normal, the lamp goes out halfway through the glow cycle, then theres also a post- heat period when they are energised through the resistor.
The "B" pillar is the one behind the front door, but don't worry too much about that as the important relay is OK.

With that earthwire back on (Clive, seems I owe you a pint...) the control side of glow should be OK. The plugs themselves would be next to check- are you really getting 12v to them? That might indicate a couple being faulty as the 40A or so that four draw normally give a voltage drop down to nearer 10v...

- (#8782) david miller, 29 May 03 1:16

The volt meter i am using only gives an indication of 6 and 12 volts so i've used a proper volt meter and it is actually 10.2v. The engine started somewhat better this morning but this was with the pedal to the metal.
I,ve read another thread on the BoK re- the cold start actuator and i'm in the process of investigating that possibility.I,ll keep you posted re the outcome.
Thanks again David and clive
Regards
brian

- (#8783) brian squire, 29 May 03 16:45

Cold start actuator advances and lifts the idle slightly. Less likely to be that. I'd look for air leaks in the fuel system and test the individual glowplugs.

- (#8784) david miller, 30 May 03 1:00