Starting Problems

[Guest thecodfly]

hi all have not posted for a long time, as sold my galaxy, i now have a escort 1.8 diesel van with which i have a problem with, as there is no board for an escort i have put it on this one, so here goes

the problem i have is i went to start the van, after a littlte bit of slow cranking and throttle pumping it started, it then made a very strange noise and stopped, on trying to restart it it turned over but still made strange noise. now it wont turn over at all just whirling noises from starter motor, changed motor with one from halfords but did the same thing, the starter motor was slightly diferent to the one i took out, so am getting another one to try, what i am after is any clue to what might be wrong if the replacement motor does not achieve anything,

thanks waine.

again i apologise for posting on this board but am sure someone has a lot more knowledge than me

[Alhambra]

if it were me i'd be looking at the timing belt or chain make sure its ok.

 

if the nosie is from the starter then check the battery & earth connections

[Guest greenfingers]

You can tell if it's the engine or starter motor by seeing if it will bump start.

[littledaz]

1.8 diesel Ford engine is notorious for cambelt failure. Just in case this is your problem I would not advise bump starting as this could cause irrepairable damage. Before trying to bump start it, I would try to turn the engine by hand and view the cambelt to see if it is turning. If this is OK then try bumping it. My concern is the fact that the engine just stopped whilst it was running, the starter should not cause this unless it is constantly engaged.

[Richard gal]

You can unclip the cambelt cover and pull it far enough away to see if the belt is ok.

[NikpV]

if my experience of knacked cam-belts is anything to go by (3) it can still be intact but lose half a dozen or so teeth so it still looks whole but the pullrys don't stay in sync

[littledaz]

NikpV

 

You're right, the cambelt can snap which is obvious when the top cover is pulled back. Also, as you say, the cambelt can strip its teeth which isn't so obvious. This is why I suggest trying to turn the engine by hand when viewing the cambelt. If the crank turns and camshaft doesn't, cambelt damaged. It is rare that the cambelt will fail with stripped teeth and not be noticeable though but, is a possibility. Still wouldn't bump start it though, just in case the damage is, at present, only a couple of valves! Bump starting it could completely wreck the engine. I have seen camshafts snapped in to 3 pieces on these engines after cambelt failure.

 

thecodfly

 

We may be barking up the wrong tree and some more info may help us to diagnose it for you. One thing that puzzles me, is the noise. Can you describe it? How old is your Escort Van? After the initial failure, you said you could crank the engine. Was this cranking faster than before i.e. with no compression from the engine?

The early 1.8 diesels suffered more than the newer ones with cambelt failure. The alternator belt used to fail on them and jump over the crank pulley and get tangled with the cambelt. Modifications were carried out to prevent this on the later ones. Is your alternator belt still on its pulleys?

 

ld

[morticiaskeeper]

I had a 1.8 D escort die on me, while I was overtaking on the Motorway :wacko:

 

There was a valve that needed a 12v supply to keep the engine running, when the wire broke off, the engine stopped.

 

The seat needed a clean as well :rolleyes:

[littledaz]

morticiaskeeper,

 

what you are referring to is the injection pump stop valve. I agree that this would cause the engine to stop but, I don't think you would get any noise and the engine would still crank from the starter. It would be like just turning off the ignition key. It will be interesting when we get more info from thecodfly to try to and help him.

[Richard gal]

Re-reading the first post its possible something major has happened to the flywheel and or teeth.

[NikpV]

I have to say I got as far as posting something about the teeth but couldn't tie all the symptoms together - just wonder now if something came off the bendix - which jammed the flywheel (either temporarily or permanently) now when you try and start it either the bendix is not engaging or it has no teeth on it (I could imagine that a section of the flywheel has lost some teeth(and so the bendix just spins) but can't see how this stopped the car - possibly bits of teeth jamming the flywheel. I wondered about the cam belt reason but don't see why it would make an appreciable difference to the noise, it certainly didn't on a non-interference engine, would a couple of bent valves alter the compression enough to change the noise as it turns over ???

[Guest thecodfly]

thanks for all your help , the problem was stripped teeth on the cambelt, squashed the valves, have got it sorted now,