Does it hard start when the engine has been warmed up a bit ? . when warm , the engine should roar into life in less than one revolution .
I've been pondering this one , you said you knew the plugs were good without removing them , how did you know without removing and testing them ? .
It sounds to me like GP's not heating properly .
A 20 second glow cycle and 1/2 throttle should cause it to begin to fire as soon as the starter operates , even my old totally worn out NA Diesel's engine began trying to start *instantly* in the 40° F temps as long as I cycled the glow plugs twice and held it to 1/2 throttle until all 5 cylinders were firing .
Give that a try ~ cycle the glow plugs once until you hear the relay click off (30 seconds Min.) then quickly turn the key off then on again and wait for the glow plug lamp to go out before cranking it , at least _ONE_ cylinder will begin firing if the glow plugs are heating .
If it just cranks and doesn't cough or chug , there's a glow plug problem .
The black puff of smoke is unburned fuel , not oil , might be a bad injector issue .
-Nate
Lawrence wrote:
>
> If glow plugs, fuel, valve adjustment & diesel purge are all done and the car
> has good power climbing hills what is left that cause it not to start well.
> It's worse in the cold and that's just below 50°F. What could it do to cause a
> black puff on starting. Well that is unburned fuel but why she no fire up. Can
> a working set of glows have another reason why they aren't heating up enough and
> how do you check? Hard starting no matter if I use diesel, biod or veg oil. I
> had an older lower compression didn't run as well 240 and it always started
> right up with half throttle. Lawrence Rhodes....
>
