Startup Thud on 3.0l Turbo Diesel Super Custom

Hi,

I have a 95 Super Custom Auto 3.0l, and everytime we start it, it makes a thud towards the rear middle of the engine bay. Has anyone else had this experience. it's done it since we owned it 1 month ago.

Any help appreciated.

John

Sounds like a worn engine mounting maybe?? It maybe doesn't thud on normal driving but a diesel engine can shake a bit as it catches on startup. My 3.0DT doesn't suffer, but had an old diesel Ford Fiesta once that did this.
Al

My 2.4 has done this since I adjusted the fuel pump timing, maybe yours has been 'played with'

I have a 95 super custom and mine does this aswell...not every time, only about once in every 20 or 30 starts, and hasnt done it for ages actually....

Tends to do it when the starter takes that lil bit longer to start the engine...dunno what it is, but it sure looks like the engine moves a fair bit when it happens, which may indicate engine mount somewhere? I plan to ask my mech next time I take it in, or ill get under it and take a look, my front ones looked ok last time i was under her tho...hmm

I am keen to find out what this is tho, as its pretty loud.

Could it be something as simple as a duff glo-plug? One cylinder firing 2 or 3 revs late - on twice the fuel?

This is caused by the rear gearbox mount failing. The rear end of the box hangs on a ring shaped mount with the mounting bolt through a rubber doughnut held by the metal ring. This rubber fails allowing the mount bolt to contact the metal ring,but also retains it securely. Not at all unsafe ,but as the engine starts up the mount bolt kicks against the metal ring causing what seems to be an alarming noise.A common fault on this model and easily fixed. On an MOT test this is an advisory fault not a fail.

Thanks heaps for your responses. Ill let you know how i go. By the way, with the glow plug response, I notice that when I turn the car to get ready to start, the glow plug light on the dash stays on for less than one second. My experience with other diesels is a bigger warming time. Is this a sign of a bad glow plug?

I think they have fast warm-up gloplugs - my light stays on for a couple of seconds, though......

the length of time the light is on has nothing to do with the actual glow plugs being on or off..... if you listen .... you'l hear the glow plugs switch off.... a distinct click usually about 2 -3 mins after engine was initially started....

Aha so that's what the click is!