New here- Stupid Q. Time - Starting my 3B

[Rufus 84_BJ42]

Hi All-

New to the boards, great to see all the knowledge here and friendly people!

Especially happy to see the Diesel forum- I have been into Cruisers for some time and owned a number of FJ40s- I have pretty basic mechanical skills so with the gas engines I at least could do some basic work. However I now have a BJ42 with the 3B and it's a bit of a mystery to me a times.

My machine has just over 350K on it- over the last few months it's gotten more and more balky to start- lots of cranking and a big cloud when it finally catches. Now I've had it parked for a few months and it will crank, but not fire up. Is this likely to be an injector problem? If so, is there any method I can use to fire it up so I don't have to to tow it to someone who can do something about it? (this is waaay beyond my experience level) I'm also a bit concerned as I believe that it is sweating a bit of diesel from the gasket where the fuel pump meets the block- don't want to damage anything by cranking it.

As a PS- those of you in the Vancouver, BC area- any recommendations as to a good tech to do the work, and / or have a general eyeball over the truck?

Thanks a ton in advance all and look forward to speaking with you more in the future.

Cheers, Andrew

 

[crushers]

glow plugs or system, switch it out to manual and new plugs and you will never look back...
cheers and welcome

 

[Snaggin Wagon]

Mechanic

If you're still lookin for a mechanic, Ciaran Wilson is the best TLC mechanic I know. His shop is called CruiserLand 604-514-3716. He specializes in 60s series diesels, but he knows a thing or two about BJ40s as well.

BTW he's in Langley.

welcome to the board

 

[cruiser_guy]

Just swap out the glow plugs with new! Don't bother with Toyota, they are EXPENSIVE. Any diesel shop in the lower mainland can get the Nippondenso plugs for you, just bring in an old one.

 

[rove_mcanus]

if it's been sittin for a while, the fuel may have drained back into the tank. there should be a handpump near the injection pump you can use to prime it up. Otherwise it will take ages for the inj. pump to suck it in.

 

[cruiser_guy]

Andrew, don't dispair! Diesels are simpler than gassers in my opinion, but then that's all I've driven for the last 15 years! You are glowing it long enough? I glow my BJ60 till the volt meter jumps up to normal (probably 50% longer than the "Glow" light.
If I was you this is the checkout sequence I would use.
1. Ohm out each glow plug individually and replace all plugs that show an open circuit. Check for 24v at the glows WHILE glowing. Test start!
2. Loosen bleeder screw at the fuel filter and pump the primer till ONLY diesel comes out. Test start!
3. Loosen each injection pipe about 1-2 turns at the injector ONLY and pump the primer till diesel comes out, then tighten pipes. Test start! If it starts crack (not more than 1/2 turn MAX.) each pipe one at a time with engine running until ONLY diesel dribbles out then retighten. The engine will run rough (like a missing gasser) as you loosen each injection pipe but once you tighten it should come back to normal or even better.

Bad injectors, unless they are REALLY bad should not prevent starting.

 

[jzilla]

hey welcome,
im in north van if u want to get together, send me a message if u do

 

[Stone]

Ciarran Wilson as already stated is a great Cruiser mechanic. Another good one is Rob Milson (Land Cruiser Industries) in Richmond. Let me know if you want his number.

 

[Greg_B]

Andrew. The local Cruiser meeting is this Thursday (April 6th) in Richmond. Rob Milson lets the club have our monthly meetings there. You can kill two birds with one stone: Talk to Rob and meet the club). The address is posted in our club forum on this site.

hth's

gb

 

[Eric Winkworth]

A complete tune up on a diesel is injectors and glow plugs, do the plugs first, if you still have excess smoke injectors, then she should be all set, as long as compression is still exceptible.

 

[Rufus 84_BJ42]

Thanks All

Hi All-

Belated thanks for the advice and info- I don't yet have a working truck but hope to do some further troubleshooting in the next couple days...

Cheers, Andrew