Starting a diesel Bongo - avoiding smoke / misfire

phunni · Post by **phunni** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:50 am

Similar issue for me. Yesterday I started my Freda on cold morning by turning the ignition on and waiting for the orange light to go out, putting the stereo facia and changing the CD and then starting the ignition.

She took a couple of seconds to start and I saw plenty of white smoke. Initially I was very worried - but then assumed it was either because of the time I left before starting the engine or simply because of the cold...

Am I right? Should I worry?

francophile1947 · Post by **francophile1947** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:46 pm

No problem, as long as the smoke stops after a short while. Mine smokes whilst I reverse off my drive, but clears within 100 yards as engine gets warmer.

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 12:54 pm

phunni - It all seems to point to the best strategy being to leave it a few secs after the orange light gooes out, then turn the key (with no throttle). A refinement of this MIGHT be to do as above, but switch ignition off, then on again and repeat the orange light out/few secs wait. The logic of the latter approach (which is not my idea my the way, I read it a while back on BF and have never knowingly tried it myself) being that the plugs get a nice little pre-warm, a chance to settle then warmed up for the big one. Experiment and see I guess, though with the eather getting warmer challenging mornings will become less common.

Mike

phunni · Post by **phunni** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:27 pm

It did clear very quickly - there was a quick cloud initially and then all was fine...

brorabongo · Post by **brorabongo** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:24 pm

I had all above problems with starting (only first thing in the morning) as in taking several attempts and then nice big cloud of white smoke. Then perfect the rest of the day, But since changing glow plugs Starts like a dream, idles perfectly, and no noticable smoke.