The cold Northwest weather is here. Who else can't start their Delica?

DrMorris

DrMorris

Member
I live in Seattle and I was able to start her up yesterday but today was a no go. It tried to turn over but no firing happened. I put some anti-gel in a few days ago but it might not have been enough.
 
It is not nearly cold enough in the NW yet to have a gel issue. Last year, with all the snow etc. we had I never used anti gel and never had a problem.
You may have something as simple as a weak battery. Or you may have an issue with your glow plug system. Check delica.ca for information on removing and bench testing glow plugs.

That is where I would start.
 
Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure how cold it needed to be for the fuel to gel. It looks like it is just the battery. I used a jump box on it and it started right up. Going to get a new battery in the next few days.
 
Tom Boyd said:
It is not nearly cold enough in the NW yet to have a gel issue. Last year, with all the snow etc. we had I never used anti gel and never had a problem.
You may have something as simple as a weak battery. Or you may have an issue with your glow plug system. Check delica.ca for information on removing and bench testing glow plugs.

That is where I would start.
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It looks like the problem is actually a loose negative terminal. I'm going to head to the auto parts store tomorrow to see if I can work out a solution. There isn't much extra wire though i need to cut the old terminal off.
 
Replaced the battery and the plugs and it starts up
Tom Boyd said:
It is not nearly cold enough in the NW yet to have a gel issue. Last year, with all the snow etc. we had I never used anti gel and never had a problem.
You may have something as simple as a weak battery. Or you may have an issue with your glow plug system. Check delica.ca for information on removing and bench testing glow plugs.

That is where I would start.
Click to expand...
Replaced the battery and plugs and it starts up nice and quick now. It seizes a bit at start but that does not last long.
 
DrMorris said:
Replaced the battery and the plugs and it starts up

Replaced the battery and plugs and it starts up nice and quick now. It seizes a bit at start but that does not last long.
Click to expand...

Fortunately these older diesels are forgiving with low batteries and cranking. Modern diesels like the Ford powerstrokes will suffer computer damage if cranked with weak batteries!
 
even the '90's VW diesels will have that issue. A lot of Passat's with 200,000+ on the car but WAY less on the clock. Crank it with with a dead Batt and the cluster fry's out...o_O what the hell were they thinking? Considering I still have the 1 battery that came from the motherland (Sokoku) she's quite easy to start in the Georgia deep freeze.
Stay warm everybody.
 
Sooo after trying a bunch of different things it turns out I just need to run the glow plugs 2 or 3 times and it will start right up. I did need a new battery and I did have a leak at the fuel filter so I replaced that and the housing. Runs good now but I have a nice list of other things to fix now.
 
You might also consider a block heater. I live in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, and when ir drops below mid 30’s, I plug it in overnight or a few hours ahead and it starts easily even when it’s REALLY cold.
 
sailmonkeys said:
You might also consider a block heater. I live in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, and when ir drops below mid 30’s, I plug it in overnight or a few hours ahead and it starts easily even when it’s REALLY cold.
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I've started doing some snooping for a block heater for my Delica and came across this post. Which heater are you using?

Thanks,
Adam
 
DrMorris said:
Sooo after trying a bunch of different things it turns out I just need to run the glow plugs 2 or 3 times and it will start right up. I did need a new battery and I did have a leak at the fuel filter so I replaced that and the housing. Runs good now but I have a nice list of other things to fix now.
Click to expand...
Where was your leak in the fuel filter? Hoses, housing, bleed valve?

Am thinking my rough starts in the morning have to do with this.
 
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