Car Preps

[itsybitsy]

Rather preps for the car itself, rather than preps to put in the car!

I have an old diesel car which struggles to start in the winter. I do start it every day and run it for a bit (not sure how that helps other than to keep the battery charged as I know cold weather can deprecate it) but is there anything else I can do to try and help the old girl on the cold winter mornings?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Get the glow plugs tested +the relay unit chances are one or two have gone down... And get the battery tested it's one thing it starting but the Mechanic can tell how much actual kick the battery has if it's low on cranking amps the glow pligs wont get as hot as they should...


If it's still struggling get the coil light on let it go out then ignition off then on again try starting the second time the coil (glow heater plug) light goes out

This heats the plugs twice so should start up easier



SHTF and you need the car running locate the air intake and give it a squirt of Start Ya bastard or easy start but don't rely on it cars tend to get addicted to it and it doesn't do the engines much good over time

Even a hot water bottle on the fuel rail to the injectors can help 10 mins before starting at work I use a blowlamp if the forklifts are been stubborn

[itsybitsy]

I had it at Halfords on the diagnostic - nothing came back for glow lights being shot. I do also do that - turn on the ignition and wait for the glow light to go out - repeat a few times so that they warm up.

Battery might need replacing, I guess, but it was new three years ago and it's a decent one.

[Nurseandy]

Probably not a helpful suggestion but if you can park it indoors that'll help massively.

[Nurseandy]

Oh, and of course always carry jump leads so you can sponge a jump start off random strangers in car parks.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Depending on the age of the car the diagnostic system would not necessarily throw up any diagnostic errors for glow plug faults

Good old school mechanic can physically test each glow plug in about 10 minutes using a multimeter to measure the resistance in each plug and outputs from the glow plug control unit

The age of the time served mechanic is over with the laptop wielding part fitters

[itsybitsy]

I'll book the RAC to come out and do a proper diagnostic but they can't come out before I need the car next to drive to Derbyshire next week.