Recently had to change the radiator in my 1997 1.9TD Fiat Ducato Motorhome. Obviously to do it, I had to remove all the breather pipes, and water hoses, as well as both fan housings. While I had all that out and had radiator out.

I decided that now would be a good time to finally change the glow plugs, to do this I had to disconnect the fuel pipes going to each injector. I labelled each one before removing them all completely.

I put everything back how it was, the only other thing that I did was remove the starter motor. As when flushing the coolant system, the engine block coolant drain plug is right above the starter motor. I did it once with a sheet of plastic over it. But to make access to tightening the plug back up I removed it.

Now when I start the engine, it violently shakes for 2-3 mins, which it never did before. What could I have done to cause this to happen. I am 99% sure all the hoses and pipes are back in the correct places as I took photo's before hand, and really there is only one way they can all go, due to shape and length etc.

The only other thing that I can think of, that could be causing it, is I removed the thermostat housing to flush through properly and to test thermostat. My thermostat had a cable going to it, which was attached to the fuel pump. I removed it, and maybe when I connected it back, it is tighter.

I posted another thread on here asking what it was for and somebody said it was for the cold start.

Could this be the cause?

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Fiat Ducato Motorhome said:

I removed it, and maybe when I connected it back, it is tighter.

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Did you remove the lever from the pump? If so and you didn't mark its position thengod knows where timing is. Violent shaking as a result of incorrect timing would result in all kinds of damage I wouldn't be running it.

corcai said:

Did you remove the lever from the pump? If so and you didn't mark its position thengod knows where timing is. Violent shaking as a result of incorrect timing would result in all kinds of damage I wouldn't be running it.

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Sorry didn't really touch the fuel pump apart from this cable that yes went to a kind of lever but only went from thermostat to this lever. Was told it was to do with the cold start. Thought you could only mess the timing up by removing the cam belt and not marking it.
Also after a couple of minutes it settles down and goes back to normal. Surely if it was the timing then it would keep running rough wouldn't it? Who knows.
Read on another forum that on these fiat ducato vans quite often an injector can fail which can also cause your van to be noisy and shaky.

If you didn't open the nuts then it shouldn't go too far wrong. If you disconnect the cable and push the lever toward the timing belt side it should stop the advance. Theres a load of variations on the mechanism not sure if yours has the return spring in which cast you'll have to hold it there.

I did open the nuts and removed the cable completely. Have I messed the timing up now then?

corcai said:

If you didn't open the nuts then it shouldn't go too far wrong. If you disconnect the cable and push the lever toward the timing belt side it should stop the advance. Theres a load of variations on the mechanism not sure if yours has the return spring in which cast you'll have to hold it there.

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If you look at my other post on the Ducato forum, titled - Can anyone answer this question? you will see the photo's of the cable and part. And I notice that you have also commented on there too.

The adjustment of this cable is important. Without it, the engine may be difficult to start, or have a problematic warm-up. Too tight may also cause problems. Setting it will be temperature dependent.
You need a workshop manual with the proper setup procedure. If you can't find one specifically for the Ducato, I'd imagine that any application using the same engine will be the same setup.

it sounds very much like a cold engine that is causing the shake,run the engine to normal temp switch off and try to start up,this should tell if it is the sensor that is faulty, if it starts and runs ok then it is the sensor that needs adjustment