Well, I'm in a pickle. My BJ42 is at a trailhead in the mountains of Colorado, where it now refuses to start. And I think (though I hope I am wrong) that it is not just that I am stupid and can't start a diesel.
Here is the (lengthy) back story. Hopefully there will be some clues in here that will allow some helpful reader out there diagnose what is wrong so that I can get my Cruiser back home under her own power.
When I got the BJ42 about 2 months ago, I had a Cruiser specialist in MN look her over. He did a lot to the front end, the full extent of which I do not know. Most importantly, however, he replaced the fuel pump diaphragm. This (and whatever adjustments he made afterward) allowed the cruiser to idle at a lovely 500 rpms, instead of the ridiculous 2000+ rpms it had been idling at before. After that, it started without fail after glowing for about 10 sec until about a week ago, when it began to need a little more finesse. I found that just a little throttle would keep it going until the engine warmed up (10-20 sec), after which it still ran like a dream. I assumed this just meant the diaphragm was "settling in" and didn't think any more of it.
I probably drove the BJ42 about a dozen times on paved roads until this lovely past Sunday, when I set out to take her on her first jaunt off road. This was a test run. Next weekend, I planned to use the cruiser to get to a hard-to-access trailhead far from home. I figured it would be good to try it out closer to home first. Good thing I did.
The cruiser performed great off road. Do to my lack of experience on technical roads, I stalled it 2 or 3 times during the course of the day. I just couldn't get to the clutch fast enough when I realized I wasn't going to make it over some obstacle and needed to abort. A few hours into the drive I even managed to capture some cruiser eye-candy with my phone:
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At the ~4 hour point, I was at 11,500 ft crawling up a rocky road. When I stopped at an overlook, I noticed that the Cruiser was idling high, 1000 rpm on the dot. I blithely chalked this up to the thin air (with the encouragement of a fellow 4x4er admiring the rig) and continued to crawl up the last 500' of elevation to my desired trail head. I stalled it one last time in that interim. Being good and warm, she started right up and got me to the trail head.
I then did what I fear may make many of the readers on this site cringe: I left her. I left the Cruiser overnight. The whole reason I acquired this rig is so that I can use it to get to heard to reach trail heads, from which I can hoof it many more miles to places where people don't commonly go. In retrospect, it was perhaps silly to do this on a "test" run. But I did it. I camped in the wilderness and got back to my beloved cruiser some 24 hours later. As though she blamed me for leaving her alone in the mountains overnight, she refused to start.
My normal prescription on the first try (10-15 sec glow, throttle button pulled out just a bit) did nothing. It wasn't the battery. The engine turned over and over and over. So I tried glowing longer. Still nothing. I tried pulling the throttle out more. Still nothing. I looked at the fuel gauge: It reported nearly full.
At this point, I flagged down a Jeep passing by. The Cruiser was tilted slightly to the left as I had her parked, maybe 5 degrees (10 max). I thought maybe this was the issue, so I had the guys push her to where the front was pointing up. Still nothing. The guys reported lots of black smoke coming out of the tailpipe as I turned the engine over.
In desperation, I tried turning it over with the gas pedal pushed to the floor. It made no difference. In fact, I think this is the most telling clue: the amount of throttle I am giving the engine makes no change in the sound of the engine turning over. After a few more desperate attempts, with lots of glowing and various amounts of throttle, I gave up and caught a ride home with the guys that stopped.
It would cost loads to get the Cruiser towed out of there. Is there something obviously wrong that I (or some kind soul from the local Cruiser club) could fix if I get someone to take me back up there? If anyone knows what might be wrong, please tell me.
(P.s. I should mention, if I haven't already made it obvious, that I am very new to both Cruisers and diesel engines. I have not done anything but basic maintenance on cars up to this point. I am mechanically inclined (engineer), but I haven't learned the details of how carbureted diesel engines work. Consequently, I may need some patient explaining.)
