General Fiorino Nightmare

[mickety]

Hi Guys, I have a Fiorino 1.7D van, it used to fire up first time on the coldest day until a few weeks ago, I had to warm the glow plugs on/off a few times before it fired up, now its a no go, battery is fine and turning over but it wont come to life, a few mates said 'glow plugs' so I went ahead to buy new ones and proceeded to fit them.

Well:bang: I wish I never bothered, viewed from the grill the two to the right were fairly easy, but damn me there is no way I can remove the other two due to restrictions, I decided to remove the rad but that doesnt really help to gain access to the two on the left, the injection pipes from the block go to a unit close to the cam belt, this is in the way to get a 12mm socket onto the glow plugs, a open ended 12mm just rounds off the nut although I still have enough grip with a 12mm socket but can no way attatch the rachet bar.

Does anyone know of a thin enough tool to slip into the gap? maybe a all-in-one swivel socket or a thin stilson? these plugs are well and truely seated.

If as a last resort I have to remove the unit near the cam belt will this effect anything? i.e. timing or a need to re-bleed like the old deisels.

Any ideas would be well apreciated thanks.

 

[tony_m]

TBh i got someone else to do my glow plugs as at a glance it looks a nightmare. He looked at the job and quoted me 20 quid. I said fine. After the job he wanted 45 as it was a right pain. I gave him 25 as he looked at the job already. When I looked at it the fuel pump mech was in the way. He did it without removing the fuel pump so it can be done. You could try a knuckle joint 3/8 ( not 1/2" ) or at the worst mole grips or try to knock an mm onto it or try an imperial spanner. Good quality tools also help as that fraction of a mm makes the difference between rounded heads and heads that move.

 

[mickety]

Thanks for the interest Tony.

I finally managed to change all four plugs in the end, I removed the injector pipes to give me enough room to lever them off with a large stilson.

Still got the cold start problem though

So I have new plugs and a new 700 cranking battery and it still wont have it, someone suggested to me to only use Bosch plugs cos unbranded can pack up within weeks of fitting, my fault there then.

Tomorrow they will be changed to Bosch, new fuel & air filters and a good diesel treatment added to the new fuel filter to blow out any crap at the injectors.

Failing that its going in the Trent

 

[mickety]

All sorted now.

Took it to a auto sparky, the small box unit that goes to the glowplugs was faulty, he split the multi plug added new spade ends and then attached them indivisually, put a new earth strap on the battery, also the fan belt was slipping thus not charging the battery.

Cracked up lovely this morning in a biting wind and an inch of ice on the bonnet

 

[T14086]

glow plug relay?

Thanks for letting us know

 

[mickety]

Yes thats the one T, although the relay was fine it was the 4 spade multi plug that was faulty.

For those that dont know its location, its the grey box stationed between the spare wheel & nearside headlight.

40 quid for the rapair was pretty good I thought for an annoying mystery, if you consider that just two Bosch glowplugs in Halfords are £30 and I was about to change all four again.

 

[T14086]

If you have a pic of your van post it up.........I think its about time the fiorino section had some pics/colour

 

[mickety]

I'll take some pics at the weekend T, I did my own signwriting for it too and folk say it looks pretty cool, she'll need a winter wash first though

 

[T14086]

LOL pre & after wash pictures would be great

 

[tony_m]

Thanks for the tip on 4 plug multi plug. I had the same problem as you with poor starting bit the glow plug change worked ok for me. As its still cold some mornings I am gonna check that multiplug and just change it as a preventative measure. Thanks again for taking the time to post up the reply.

 

[mickety]

Since the multi-plug was changed shes started first time every time on the coldest of mornings, seems not enough kick was getting to the plugs.

To test if it is a faulty multi-plug, get someone just to put the dash lights on, glowplug light normally stays on around 12 seconds, as soon as the light is on have a fiddle with the multi, if its gone the glow light will go out after 2 secs or so, just wobble it about but tell the guy to say when first on and glowlight off just to gauge time on for.

Also it wont harm if you flip the relay round while still attached to the bodywork, you can then wobble the plug to see if its loose or cracked. we did away with the plug and did spliced joins and new spade ends to the relay, pay attention not to get the wrong sequence if you use that method, if you do give me a shout and I'll give the colour scheme from mine.

 

[Peter Pick-Up]

Bosch Duratherm-Chromium 0250201045 are state of the art glow plugs for the 1700 Fiat engine.
They are a few mm shorter on the outside, so it's a little more easier to mount or dismount them.
Before dismount, soak the glow plugs with penetrating oil, after turning them a half turn, blow them dry with compressed air, by doing so dirt won't get in the way.
Altough space is limited behind the fuel pump, it's an easy, straight forward job! (you don't have to dismantle anything!)

As for the relay: Bosch 0281003005.
Glow time, about 7 sec. tip: when it's real cold, wait some more seconds after the glow lamp stops, before starting.
And always at a cold start, use the manual "choke" for about 10-20 sec.