Diesel not starting: fractured glow plug!
 

Not come across this one before, so I thought I'd share this one with you chaps. It's in the garage now as unfortunately I don't have time to undertake the repairs myself and we need the car :(

The ZTT CDTi (116) with Rover Ron Synergy has not been running too well over the last year - stalling easily on occasion. I replaced the in-tank fuel pump after that failed last year, and I was suspicious of the under bonnet LP pump, so when the car developed starting problems, I replaced this too.
However, it then wouldn't start unless coaxed into doing so with a good puff of EasyStart...

Dropped off at garage. Glow plug fractured. Okay - easy replacement. Except that most of it is still in the head!!! So head off, to machine shop and refit with fresh gasket... nice big labour bill coming up :(

Any one come across this before - and is there anything useful (cylinder head porting?) I can do while the head is off???

Cheers

Glow plugs
 

I doubt very much that your engine wouldn't start because of faulty glow plugs. Mine starts immediately in any weather without waiting for them to heat up. Having to squirt easy start points to some classic problems
which you should find if you do a search.

Yes I would agree with that my 75 starts straight away with out having to wait for the glow plug light to go out,even with minus 4 showing out side:shrug:

dont remove the head you can get the glow plug removed with the head on by a good engeniring company and i would suspect an injector fault causing your starting problems or a fuel pressure fault


andy

would agree with andy on this one, would also explain the stalling .

I don't understand this explanation either - the garage proprietor seems to suggest that the low fuel line pressure can be explained by the fractured glow plug - the threaded section of which is now burried in the head and needs removing.

The engineering company they use are not prepared to remove the remains with the head still in the car due to anxieties over swarf entering the engine.

So two issues here:
1. I thought that the glow plugs are electrical(!) - and the only consequence of a fractured plug would be poor compression. This is odd, as when the car is running, the engine was firing on all four cylinders.

2. Can the plug be removed with the head in situ if the cylinder is protected by inserting something through an inlet port???

All thoughts useful - I am going to contact the garage shortly - and chat to the actual mechanic who specialises in the 75 ZT models...

Glow plug problem was a misunderstanding - nothing to do with the non-starting. It is broken, and they have lifted the head to send off to the machine shop. Unfortunately, I rather suspect a lack of time is going to put pay to any plans I might have had to get the head gas flowed while in the machine shop - we need the car back before Christmas... sigh. With a bit more time, I'd have got Dave Andrews to prepare another head.

I also wonder why they were mucking around with glow plugs anyway when investigating low fuel pressure? Hmm. May be part of a general investigation into non-starting perhaps? I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

They'll be checking the injectors next, once the head has been returned.

Oh, and they've also discovered that one of the rear springs has broken. Oh joy. At this rate, the cost of the repairs will exceed that of the vehicle itself... 8-O

More news soon!!!

Personally I would have ignored the faulty glow plug entirely, the car will start perfectly well with the other 3 working even in artic conditions.. :}

As for the symptoms you have, I also think it's an injector issue. And the work your garage are carrying out wont help with that one iota.. :shrug:.. :mad:
...

Unfortunately I think you're absolutely right James. The glow plug is a red herring. I never had a problem with the plugs until the moment they tried to remove it - and I rather suspect that they broke it rather than them finding it already broken >:( So that'd mean I am now over 1500 quid out of pocket when I needn't have been...

What's the betting that I'll now also need to start shelling out for new injectors??? If this is what it actually needs, then I am going to be pretty annoyed with myself, as this is the sort of spannering I could readily have done myself and saved a small fortune in labour costs!

Probably best not to think about this too much right now; getting angry won't help and the car still needs fixing. But I will ask more questions later.

Agree with James !
What do they mean when they say Glow plug broken..............what they really mean is they broke it.

Wouldn't have been the original cause of your problems.
Glow plugs are the last thing to go wrong on an M47.
Spose you're footing the bill for the head job :(