taking forever to start

I've got an 85 190D 2.2. She takes up to a minute of holding the key to get her to start in the morining. Of course I do this incrementally. I've been told not to give it diesel but I don't think she'll start if I don't press the diesel a bit....obviously w/ tlc. I just changed out the glow plugs. I'm sure the charging system can't keep this up. Other than this she purrrrs. yelrah32

Also, I get some white smoke while starting, then quits smoking after the original smoke bomb.

[psfred]

Check to make sure the glow plug light comes on, stays on for a while, then goes out. Don't crank until it has been off for a few seconds. Make sure voltage is going to the plugs.

If the glow system is in order, check the o-ring on the fuel inlet to the IP -- the hose will swivel. If this 0-ring is bad, fuel leaks back into the tank and air gets into the IP, causing serious hard starts, since you have to prime the IP every time.

You can test this if you can find a steep hill -- run enough to get the engine well warmed up (leaks worse hot!) then park with the nose down on the steepest grade you can (or jack the rear as high as you dare on jack stands). -- check after an hour or two -- if there is fuel on the fitting, replace the o-ring. You can do so anyway if you like, won't hurt a thing. Also check condition of the fuel line -- they tend to get brittle with age and crack underneath the fabric cover, leaking air in. Won't usually leak much fuel out.

If that is fine, blow back down the suction line witn compressed air GENTLY, with the tank cap off. You must hear air bubbling into the tank with low pressure -- if not, you have algae in the tank and need to have it cleaned. If this fixes the problem, and it comes back, ditto.

Are you having any other symptoms of low compression (excess blowby, excess smoke at full throttle, low performance, oil consumption)?

Peter

[psfred]

Yelrah:

Your last post indicates malfunctioning glow plugs or low compression, the later is more likely if you also have excessive smoke at full throttle. No smoke, suspect the glowplugs.

Peter

I don't rev it too high, simply because it's pretty old. I notice a very small, very light amount of black colored smoke that trails when I'm accelerating in low gears. The cold, hard starts bring big white puffs of clouds....not really excessive but very present.

It sounds like it could be a vacuume problem because while starting I hear a door of sorts...... opening or a seal bing broken to allow air in and then usually starts pretty soon after that happens.....***sometimes***

What special tools am I going to need to work w/ vacuume lines and how am I going to know what is what? I'll start off testing the glo plugs when I get my ohms meter back this week, I have to pull that air intake manifold off again....yelrah

[leathermang]

We have a good search feature on this forum.. here are 50 threads about 190/vacuum problems...

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=232321&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending