Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hi again everyone
94 l400 2.8 super exceed 157K,
IP seal replaced, checked glow plugs and they are ok, checked wiring for voltage to glow plugs and that checked out ok, had injectors done less than 5000K ago.
Wondering what else could possibly cause cold start symptoms.
Turns over good, starts good (after at least 1 13sec cycle of my timed manual glowplugs) then right after it starts it idles rough and puffs out smoke and wants to stall so I have to fight with it no matter how hot it is out side. Plus 20 equals to about 1-2 cycles of the glow plugs and 30 seconds of fighting and about 5-10 minutes of high idling, 1200-1500 rpm with no AC on, then i can drive it away with a hesitation upon immediate acceleration and then its good after that and runs very well once it has warmed up enough. When its around 5 like it was last week here in Lethbridge i cycled glow plugs 3-4 times, tried once and it just turned over and nothing happened, 2nd attempt 2 days later (+12ish) it started but was idling so low and belching out smoke so bad that i couldnt even feather the throttle to build up rpms to warm it up it was "too cold"

Im at the end of the rope almost and cant think of anything else causing this to happen.
Any help would be great

Ask Stephen at Rising Sun...

Its highly unlikely the glow plug system has been the source of this problem even though the previous owner was sure of it...I recall when you first looked at this Delica.


My delica fires right up most days without te glow plug cycle being engaged.....Anything over 10degrees C and it will always start smooth. Under 10 degrees C and it needs the glow plug cycle but it only runs rough for a few seconds to clear out unburned fuel from the initial start.

I have seen plenty of posts about your situation and most point to the IP timing being off slightly. Even 1 tooth off will make it run terrible.

The other more frequent post points to compression problems from bad head gaskets, damaged valve(s), broken piston rings; but a leak down test will tell you if this is a concern for your beastie. If you want to try a compression test keep in mind the diesel engine may try to start even if you pull the glow plugs! The trick here is to disable the fuel by keeping the injectors off.

Diesel ignites under compression....all the glow plugs do is get the smaller pre-combustion air space hot so that the fuel will ignite easier in the cold.

Timing or injectors.

Who did your seal? I had to take my van back to the shop twice for timing afterwards...even though they swore up and down the timing was set to "factory specs". In the end, it had to be advanced a bit...I still get a puff of raw fuel when starting at operating temp, I just couldn't give them the van for another whole day...timing is my bet!


Brad.