Bongo Fury

Go on then

Right. The symptons are (in no particular order or perhaps relevance to each other)

Generally when the tank is full it starts OK but not always and becoming less so predictable.
It takes longer to start the lower the fuel level
On first key turn it generally fires up but only for a second (false start) and then takes nearly the whole battery's worth of power before it fires up properly.
It usually always starts at some point but yesterday i had to jump it after draining the battery
After prolonged attempts there are a couple of near starts before it finally will startWhen it starts (after prolonged attempts) it has white smoke in the exhaust for a few seconds which clears
When it starts (after prolonged attempts) the engine is a bit ropey before the turbo kicks in and then its sweet
It always starts when the engine is still hot/warm after a previous recent journey
The greater the time between journeys (days) the harder it will be to start.
The bongo wasn't well looked after before me.

I am convinced it is related to fuel delivery and hence the more difficult to start the emptier it gets and that somehow the fuel line is draining off after stopping and taking longer to refill esp on a emptying tank. Also the false start my be related to there being a bit of fuel at the near engine side of the line even though ther rest has drained back - this is purely guesswork but has some logic to it.
I have changed the glow plugs recently and there appears to be 12v at the plugs when it is failing to start.
I haven't attempted to change fuel filter or strainers so perhaps it is my own fault - are these hard to do?

There you asked for it

From what you've said, that could glow plug symptoms IMO. Are you sure they're working ok? Not unheard of for replacement plugs to fail within a very short space of time, did you put NGK or decent make in or cheap no name ones? Is the glow plug rail shorting out anywhere?
Check all the fuel hoses to make sure they aren't leaking/porous & check the fuel pump isn't leaking, fairly common for the seals to go, factsheet in the memebers area on doing these if necessary.
There are factsheets in the members area for the fuel pump & strainer/banjo filter, not difficult, but if you do the strainer ensure everything is kept spotlessly clean.

As Kirsty said clean the usual suspects.... and check the seals ( this has been an issue on many 90's Diesels) due to the changes to diesel "brew" over recent years..... resulting in shrinking seals, well enough to weep fuel...... For me if the usual suspect and Glow plugs are fine....then I would suspect the fuel pump beginning to fail so would check at least all the joints...in from the tank and out from the injectors as a 1st port of call....in case of air leaks....

Probably been covered but what about the vacuum that can be created in the tank, maybe the breather hose is blocked near the cap, the more fuel used the greater the vacuum .thus causing fuel starvation to the pump. releasing the fuel cap alleviates the problem temporarily.
or just tell me to shut up .

daveblueozzie wrote:Probably been covered but what about the vacuum that can be created in the tank, maybe the breather hose is blocked near the cap, the more fuel used the greater the vacuum .thus causing fuel starvation to the pump. releasing the fuel cap alleviates the problem temporarily.
or just tell me to shut up .

Not in his case I don't think, it'd manifest as starting ok from cold, but then loss of power & warm restarts'd be iffy, kind of opposite to what's happening here.

missfixit70 wrote:

daveblueozzie wrote:Probably been covered but what about the vacuum that can be created in the tank, maybe the breather hose is blocked near the cap, the more fuel used the greater the vacuum .thus causing fuel starvation to the pump. releasing the fuel cap alleviates the problem temporarily.
or just tell me to shut up .

Had already been down the vacumn route and loosened the fuel cap after every journey and not a jot of difference I am afriad.

I reckon that because once the engine is started it runs for miles and miles without evident fuel problems when running and you can stop and start it without issue once hot it must be something that happens once the engine is off and is going or has gone cold.

Is there a test for a dead or inefficient glow plug?

JonWM wrote:
Is there a test for a dead or inefficient glow plug?

Yup, according to the manual, remove the power rail & use an ohmmeter (or multimeter set to ohms) to measure between the tip of the plug & the head, resistance should be 0.5 ohms.
While you're playing, check the glowplug rail isn't touching the fuel line anywhere & that all connections are tight.

If not lashing down tomorrow like today will check stuff as suggested.
Oh and I might look at the dodgy cable loom wrt the leccy window fault which started this all off

if your taking them out just put a good 12v supply to the end and earth the body with the pliers your holding it with because it may/should get bloody hot.they should really glow,and be clean,no carbon.if they only glow a little,bin them.

Hey - guess what. I have now started it 3 times when cold and it started first time every time. It hasn't done that for a long time.
The fuel tank is full and the van is parked on the level (previous times it has been parked nose up on a small incline)

I'll have to wait until it starts messing about again and then have a look at stuff.

I think the cure is to talk about it behind the Bongo's back and it senses it and starts behaving! Technically not a sound analysis but empirically it seems to be the case (for now)