Ford 555C starting problems from cold!

[TrevorJ]

I figured you meant first thing in the day or sitting for a few hours. But the weather up your way, is probably what I'd call cold anyhow. We still use the excess fuel on engines if they've got them for their first start here just to save the starters, unless it's a really hot day.

"For it's age," hah, for me, 80s is modern.

Better one stitch than nine, and a good service is better than to let it continue to be in an "overloaded" state, whereupon if ignored and someone tries a prolonged effort, it is often found the solder in between the segments will melt out. (This solder has a slightly higher temp than normal solder as well.) I'm leaning towards bad solenoid contact, but poor lube, -> stiff bushes can behave in a similar fashion.

[Markwood20]

Well anything above 8C here is shorts and t-shirt, above 15C and its a heatwave

When you say excess fuel do you mean the primer pump above the fuel filter or something else? I cant say that I've seen anything else fuel related that looks like an extra pump or owt!

There is a momentary switch for the heater/glow-plugs in the cab but thats it... Well i say glow-plug but the symbol is not one i recognise as 'glow-plug'!
it resembles an upside down lightbulb with a few vertical lines inside it... Its very similar to the oil pressure light which comes on with the ignition, same upside down lightbulb half full of water with an arrow either side of the 'bulb' pointing inwards... Probably be better to take a photo wouldn't it

I'm used to driving large road vehicles and have been conditioned by years of company mechanics whining to only use that if it's like -5c and below,so its not an automatic thing to hit the heater before cracking it up!
I'll have to try and remember to warm it up first as good practice to help the starter.

[Markwood20]

And here we go.... Far right switch in this bank.
I know i said i didn't recognise the symbol, but looking at it its obvious what the symbol means lol

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I cant take a pic of the oil pressure light on the ignition as i have battery disconnected!

[TrevorJ]

The excess fuel button, if it has one will be on the injector pump. They push in and pop out once the engine has spun up to idle speed. It really depends what pump is on the engine.

Yeah, simplified symbols suck! The three vertical lines are supposed to represent a coil. The better ones look like a continuous wire showing two ends and 3 or 4 "heating coils."

Glow plugs are tricky ... but there is a practice our way of replacing the quick burn ones used in some vehicles, (which are probably great when it's winter) with plugs that actually last more than a few months. There are plenty of diesel utes sold over here, that won't start first thing easily without a couple of seconds of glow plugs - in fact most are wired into an automatic timer on the ignition switch.

[essexpete]

Sometimes the Ford engines have a heater that is linked with the fuel system for cold starting but it is usually connected to the ignition switch. Ford engines also appeared to have switched fuel pumps a number of times over the years but I think you will only find a cold start button on the inline pumps.
As understood from the op the problem is the engine not spinning quickly enough?

[Markwood20]

Nope, its an old 2 point Lucas ignition block (ign on and start)
not a case of the engine not spinning fast enough but a case of starter not turning engine past compression, kind of half way between trying to start with a flat battery and the starter sticking (that's the best i can describe it)

i went over all the leads, starter terminals and small wires for broken and bad connections, cleaned off, copper greased and replaced any poor connections and retried.
room battery to be tested overnight and that checked out 100% ok.
there are no running problems that indicate bad timing, fuel flooding or starving, or a problem with timing advance.

the starter went to a specialist yesterday afternoon to be looked at, and i just got off the phone with him this morning telling me its ready! So i'll be going and picking it up in an hour or so, i will see what the verdict was with that and keep you guys in the loop!

[Markwood20]

We have a winner....
Coil burnt out and as a knock on the contacts were frying too!

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£78 inc vat for new coil and contact unit! So all in all not bad really!

When i asked what could have caused it, wiring fault bad terminal connections etc. all he said was starter being overloaded!

Is it just general usage thats happened over time and just recently got to the point where its caused a problem and thereby sped up coil burn out?

I'm not knowingly doing anything anything wrong when i start it, as soon as it fires i let go of the key so i'm defiantly not over running the starter!

I'd like to have some idea what could have/be causing it so i can try and avoid this happening again if its a 'user' based issue!

I'm just a little as it seemed fine when i went to look at it, when the haulier dropped it off he said the battery was a nearly flat (symptom of problem) as he had trouble starting it...
So i'm thinking it was an ongoing issue that the previous owner had, but since i took collection whatever i've done wrong at some point has sped up the degradation of the coil exponentially??

I know it was a cheaper fix than a new starter but i don't want my ignorance to cost me another coil in the foreseeable future!

[Markwood20]

Ps. No excess fuel button on the injector unit!

[essexpete]

Any number of things I would guess. Operating with a sub standard battery at some point, poor connections somewhere or the engine just not firing very quickly and the starter working too hard for too long. With the repaired motor if it starts fairly sharply then the latter could be ruled out.

[TrevorJ]

Glad you've got it sorted at a good price.

As pete says, there are plenty of things which can cause it. Around my way, there are plenty of times people try to start up after a few months of sitting without first checking or charging their battery first.