Not a question but progress report with tips
 

1. Valve adjustment: Well couple of weeks ago I at last did the valve adjustment (have been meaing to for 2 or 3 years). Dieselgiant instructions were invaluable, eg that you can use the power steering pulley to turn the engine - just had to tighten the belt a lot to get it to do it. One thing DG didn't mention is you need to remove the surclip to detach the accellerator linkage when taking off the cover but that is easy.
Not sure why he said it's an easy job,seemed quite hard and awkward to me and took quite a while maybe 3 hours - though I'm sure it would be a bit quicker next time. I gave up trying to get them exact, because you get it right and then when you tighten the locking nut it goes out again. So I just got most of them between the setting and the next guage up or down, erring on the loose side for the exhaust since they all seemed to be tight.
I also did not get the special 14mm bent wrenches, just small straight ones and that was not a problem - in fact might be better since you can turn it over to get the slot at a different angle which was useful.

Result: definitely idles a *lot* smoother and runs quieter, can't be sure if there was increased power though, maybe in the higher rev range.

I also didn't replace the gasket. If it wasn't leaking before why would it be after, which proved to be true. If necessary I can put some gasket goo on the gasket.

2. Engine mountings: The idle has become a lot noisier and you can feel the frame vibrating strongly, so I'm pretty sure I need at least one engine mount (driver's side). is that a difficult job?

3. Glow plug light stopped working yesterday and car won't start now, I checked and there are 3 plugs burnt out! I think it will probably start if I use the block heater. I thought they were all good. Light did sometimes not go on for a few seconds in recent weeks. Before, if one plug was out, the light would be delayed and with 2 out it would not go on at all. I think it varies with individual plugs, ie they vary in resistance which affects how many stop the light working. I have a very good easy way of checking the glow plugs if anyone is interested. I'll see how it comes up when the new Bosch plugs get here but should be fine.

4. My nightmare mystery charging problem has returned. I'll probably have to remove the alternator again since have eliminated other possibilities. I'm thinking probably a diode. Still runs (apart from the plugs) and charges minimally, but I have to charge every 3 days or so. SAme symptoms as with the other alternator so just a Murphy's coincidence I think.

Well if it's not one thing it's another goes wrong. That's not really true since it went trouble-free for about 18 months at one stage.

Good point, I thought of that at the time and made sure to loosen it off again when finished. Might check it again and maybe loosen a bit more if necessary - for about +/- 0.5" play of the belt I guess? I don't think it would hurt it significantly just turning by hand a little every couple of years.


Can't picture that right now but the way I did it was very easy - actually not a surclip but one of those sprung end clip things.


How about getting the new one is, is it difficult to align etc? I've done this on another car years ago and it was pretty frustrating.


There appears to be no other posssibility. I've checked for current leak, but it doesn't reach 13.8 V anyway. this week I even checked for excess resistance in the field activation circuit ("ignition switch" (misnomer for a diesel), alternator indicator light and ass'd wires), so there's nothing else outside the alt and regulator that could be causing it as far as I can see. Has a new bosch regulator (tried el cheapo regulators but they are useless) but I suppose that might have burnt out again - so that's another possibility that there's an intermittent fault that is destroying the regulators. I know loose battery connections can damage the regulator but they all seem solid. Anyway I'll see how it is when I replace the stator half of the alternator with a spare.

If you remove your Glow Plugs you should ream out the Carbon from or otherwise clean out the Glow Plug Holes. Doing so will help your Glow Plugs function better and increase their life expectancy.

If you are used to other Cars you are suprised to find that the stock Voltage Regulator does not put out as much Voltage as others do.
If with all of your lights and all of your accessories on you are getting 13.5 Volts your Alternator is functioning OK.

Would a drill bit do and what size? Maybe that's why they don't seem to last more than about a year or is that the normal lifespan?

Well I did indeed get it started easily after pluging in the block heater for about 20 min. Found that with battery well charged, it goes to about 13.7 at high revs, and still over 13 at idle. so I don't know what is wrong but I'll drive it for a while and see if it goes flat again. The only way I can think of to really test it is to measure the charging current when battery is low, using a 100+ amp meter which I don't have. An inductive one would be the easiest and safest of course but they probably are very pricey. I just think it is not delivering much charge when it's needed. Not sure but it seems to go flat with a lot of night driving so probably it is marginal and the lights tip it over the edge, combined with the glowplug oil heater I have installed which must be about 10 to 25 amps. The headlights are probably about 100 watt each so that's about another 15 amp. could be up to 40 amp there so I guess that doesn't leave much if it's a 60 amp alternator but not sure what these alt's are rated at. Even so 20 amp should be plenty to run the rest of the car and leave at least a bit of charging current to stop it going flat. I might think about running on parking lights around town though, all the idling with lights on may be the culprit. On the highway it hopefully wouldn't matter.