Vanette wont start cold - problem known - Advice for solutio

[tomomac33]

Good Evening

Many thanks for the forum and help in advance - I fully appreciate the time people have put into this resource.

My father has a 2000 model Nissan Vanette with a 2.3Ld series engine (non turbo). To cut a VERY long story short, the fuel solenoid sticks when the engine is cold.

Please can someone tell me how to rectify this problem? - This particular model Solenoid doesn’t appear to be able to remove - It is "cube" shape, "Black" and has 3 wires going to it. On the end of the solenoid it has what appears to be two holes for bolts - but on closer inspection these appear to be factory rivets - in other words part of the pump!

A friend has suggested that if i put a wire direct from the battery to the Solenoid via a switch, this may give it a little bit more juice (bypassing the potentially high resistance contacts of the relay) - I can see this logic - but I’m not sure why I have 3 wires on the Solenoid?? - Any advice on this?

Below - I have given a long winded overview of the problems we faced before finding the fault in order to contribute to the forum and for future people searching for similar problems (I'm not expecting everyone to read this!).

Many Thanks
Tom

Initially, Once in a blue moon the van wouldn't start - you could crank the engine for 5mins and it still wouldn’t go. This progressively got worse - until it was noticed that It only happened on very cold mornings (below freezing). The big problem was it was intermittent, and even intermittent on cold mornings - and also, once it started it would them ALWAYS Start.

After 2 different mechanics looked at it (without finding anything) we tried all the obvious.

1. Glow plugs out, tested on a battery to see if they were getting hot - they were.
2. Checked the resistance on the buss bar - and checked it was coming on for 15sec ish - it was
3. Checked fuel to the injectors!!! - it was (because it was intermittent Grrrrrr).
4. Checked for air locks, replaced fuel return pipes in hope.
5. Ran a heavy cable direct from the battery to the Glow plugs to eliminate any volt drop.

The only way to get the van running was to position a mains powered blower heater under the bonnet pointing towards the engine compartment - after about 20mins it would start...........

Then, I accidently noticed one day that sometimes the fuel solenoid didn’t click! - on further investigation i realised that when the van was cold, the fuel solenoid never clicked - on recycling the ignition key 10-20 times you would hear the click, then it would start first turn. Wheyyyy! - If the engine runs for 20mins it is then fine all day - until the following morning.

Currently - every morning we have to position the blower heater onto the fuel solenoid - this takes less than 2 mins to be effective and then the van is fine for the day.

Long winded I know - but hopefully something in this thread will help future people with similar probs.

Regards
Tom

[asavage]

Great problem history

I've never seen the type of device you're describing, but if it has more than one wire, it doubtless is more than a fuel cut solenoid.

On the US LD28 IPs I've seen, we have two electrical devices: one solenoid for fuel cut, and one that alters the injection timing under certain circumstances.

Of course, these engines are almost two decades older than yours, so it's not surprising that the fuel controls are different. It's probably not even a VE-style IP.

I'm hoping that someone with more international experience with the LDs can chime in and offer some assistance.