Taxi Driver Online

WD40 is about my limit! Pretty sure the battery is duff now - charged overnight and only shows 12.46v this morning. Immediately started discharging 0.01v every 2 seconds with nothing connected. I have emailed the garage that sold it to me but sense I will have to visit and prata svenska. Magnus from nearbylandia is coming to look at it later so I have given her a bit of a hoover and a basic wash. Felt quite tearful that I just can't seem to get her going again-she holds such wonderful memories. We have this pipe with a funnel on the end that goes through the inside 'paying' window so that the kids can make announcements from the back like 'more sweets please' or 'I need a wee'. Oh, those were the days.....

But I'm going to have a cup of tea, a think and have another crack. Then I'm going to buy an old Volvo and scrap the Mazda.

Dont be to disheartened ,it will go again.Very rarely do those nissan engines give up.In fact only ever had one go in 15 years and that was boiled ! driver drove it with a leaking rad and no water in it .Good luck mate

Well. That Magnus is a nice man. Together we tried to fix her, but no joy. However, I can tell you that the starter motor goes clickety for a second or two then the engine turns over (clickety stops), then clickety, then turn over, but it does not feel like the engine actually 'fires'. It's just the belts moving. There is definitely fuel. I struggle to believe that the the starter motor is at fault as it is pretty new. I can't wee why a duff battery would have any impact with jump leads attached either.

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Maybe not enough cranking power.

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One last thing are your glow plugs heating ?

I assume they are heating as the yellow light goes out. Can that be relied aupon as a sign? Why might I not have enough cranking power - would I get more from revving the car that has the jump leads attached higher? We had problems jumping her once before on the way to Sweden and had to try several cars before she would start, but I am not sure what noises/actions we got from those that would not work. Tomorrow afternoon I will try with big revs from the Maz. My wife worries it will annoy the neighbours though !

If your not getting enough power going in you might struggle .Ive put jump leads of a car and a portable power pack before now .But give it a go off the car it does seem like it could be that.As for the yellow glow ug light its not a indicator that they are all ok, more of away of telling you they come on and go off again .Im not convinced its whats causing you not to start though.Ive had these cabs start no problems then other times with one heAter plug down no chance .Good luck

Just a couple of thoughts, but a completely logical one,
Could the fuel be contaminated with water??.

Is the fuel getting to the engine???
even hand priming the filter does not mean the fuel is getting to the injectors

Taxi has been indoors since last started so fuel would be OK I'm sure. What confuses me is that the belts actually turn but only after some clickety from the starter motor. When they turn, it stopd clicking. A spray of WD40 and´some high revs from the Mazda make it turn a bit better, but not like it is going to fire.

I'm going to get that replacement battery and see what happens there. It also does this thing when the left front indicator randomly comes on and goes of, which suggests an electrical fault to me, but in my heart I know that it has always done that when the battery is low and I really don't need to fix it !

It really does sound like not enough ppwer coming in to start it,looks like your gonna have to splash some cash .

Interesting Diesel post here

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f24 ... er-212721/

This gives me hope as it is effectively saying that if your battery is duff, you could have problems even if you try to jump. I have jumped the taxi many times before with the prior battery when it was low (but not necessarily duff), so I know it can be done. Wishing I hadn't let the old battery go now!

To the garage tomorrow......

You also need a very good set of jump cables,heavy duty clamps and thick copper wire to jump start a diesel from cold.The battery you're using also has to be big and fully charged.
It needs a lot of current to turn over a cold diesel fast enough to fire.

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.

Magnus from Nearbylandia here

First of all: Thank You for a few lovely afternoon hours with sun shining an'all

Thoughts have matured during sleep... My two öre..

My leads are, as mentioned, not of heavy enough gauge for a diesel, so they helped, but only to a degree.

The clickety sound is like the torque release on a drill, but slightly slower and... lots heavier. think one of the old fashioned wooden handheld "spinners" used at sporting events of old, cogged wheel and flat blade. But all made of heavy metal.

It did not make the spinning, whining sound of the starter pinion missing the flywheel.
The sound is clean, not the horrible crashing grinding sound of a ruined starter ring on the flywheel or busted up starter drive gear, nor the drive gear grinding on the starter ring..
Could there be a sort of torque release incorporated?

When the starter motor does drive the flywheel it does so slooowly, to slow to fire the engine!?!.
One or two compressions and then drive stops and clickety ensues. Sometimes there were drive-clickety-drive-clickety..
The clickety is so loud and crisp that i could not pinpoint the sound to the starter motor, just "down there"

I had problems starting an Escort diesel back in the days... ended up connecting heavy gauge starter leads from an idling car directly to the Escorts starter motor and earth.
That turned out to be a bad chassi earth.

A stupid thought perhaps, but has the starter motor started the engine at normal cranking rpm before? If it IS a brand new starter motor, could it be wired for 24V??

Again, Thank You
It will start

/Magnus

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P-reg with STT Emtec Clean Cab System

Thanks Magnus - it was good to meet you and I really appreciate your help. I am also glad to hear that your views on the noises. Battery has gone back to the garage and I await news.

The starter motor was 'new' in the UK and has been good under all sorts of conditions. The taxi has beed jumped with standard leads lots of times. When I got the battery new, it fired up fast no problem.

I can't see how it could be anything mechanical like compression/torque - why would that suddenly just go bad after 6 months in the garage? It was fine after 12 months in the garage before that. OK, I know it could be, just I just can't convince myself. I'm sure it's battery related. If the battery does not fix, I will still be looking at electrical stuff as my primary cause. I have vowed to conquer that chink in my knowledge. I plan to get out of my job in I.T. and become a sparky ! (dream on RRRobbo!)

I think you'll find the clicking is the solenoid going in and out as the voltage across it drops as the starter motor turns.
Both my Rover 75 diesel and fairway do this with a low battery and a cold start.

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Selling Imperial tools for old cars.