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Our van has been progressively getting worse at starting up in the morning. It only has issues when the engine is cold.

Initially I thought it might be the glow plugs. I tested their resistance and they are all at about 1 ohm. I have also voltage tested them and found similar value to battery reading ie. about 12.5v. So I then thought to check wiring and relay by putting my meter between the glow plug and the glow plug cap. Here I get a 11v reading... Shouldn't this be 12v? Is there anything else I can try to troubleshoot the problem?

My van is a Renault Master 2003, got 80k miles and no service history so don't know what jobs have been done...

Any help is truly appreciated.

Leo

Zaid
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Leonardo Seccia
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2 Answers2

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One possibility is low cylinder compression, either due to gases getting passed the piston rings or passed poorly seating valves.

If gasses are getting passed the rings, this could possibly be detected by removing the oil filler cap while the engine is running, if you then put your hand over the filler and feel a large volume of gas being blown out of the filler, you likely have worn piston rings.

HandyHowie
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Quick update: After months of fighting with this issue. We took it to the mechanic. He could not replace the glowplugs but he proceeded with chiseling off the black gunk off the leaky injector and replacing the seal. The van now starts perfectly.

Leonardo Seccia
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