diesel help

hi,
there are quite a few knowledgable car peeps here so i thought i'd ask...

i have an old 420 diesel which for one reason or another i need to move tomorrow morning. the cars been sat since before christmas so the battery is deader than elvis however a charger seems to be taking care of that - it's turning over slowly now so i'm going to leave it for another few hours. the thing is i seem to remember that diesels need their fuel systems priming is it likely that mine will need to have this done? there is a 'rubber' bulb which i believe is the manual fuel pump so i guess i just give this a squeeze a few times. anyone have any advice or tips on this one?
cheers


julian

 

Why not just give the old glowplugs time to warm up, and then take it on a long drive?

 

You could do but I suspect youd have no problem starting it. Diesels are amazingly simple engines really and so long as your glo-plugs are up to it the faintest wiff will have it running, those pug diesels that Rover used are as tough as they come.

 

it's not the pug version (that's the 418 sd) it's rovers own. i think the battery is farked it's been charging all night and doesn;t turn over very quickly. i've let the glow plugs warm things up a few times and it's still not turning over. looks like a new battery is in order. bugger....
cheers


julian.

 

Either that or the starter motor and/or its associated electrics are damp/farked, would the battery from your seat not work, to at least eliminate the problem, before shelling out for a new battery.

 

Yep, a running motor should get it going, then just give it a good run. Is that the L-series then?

 

yeah i think it is the l series.
i did think about using the battery from my seat to jump start it but they are parked nose to tail which was a bad idea when i think about it. so jump leads don;t reach so halfords have just lightened my debit card by 65 quid for a new battery - robbing cnuts. it coughed, spluttered, ground and then sparked into life so i've now moved it out of the way. thanks for all the suggestions.
cheers


julian.

 

65 quid :cry:

 

Might of got a bit of air in the fuel system by now. Get the battery fully charged crack crank it over for 30 seconds then stop for 30 then keep repeating. Once it starts to run it will probably only run on 2 - 3 cylinders just keep it running it may take a couple of minutes for the others to come in. If it is manual bleeding (sorry can't remember) it will be dead easy just follow instructions, i always prefered manual bleeding.

 

i know and that was the cheap one. the 'calcium'??? one was 75+ quid!!!!
still at least now it bloody works again and i can move it about . i'll have to connect it up on trickle charge or get one of those solar chargers to plug into the cig lighter anyone know if they work?
cheers


julian.