60 series cold start problems

Q. I’m having problems trying to get my 12HT 60 Series to start on cold mornings. I’ve owned the vehicle since it had 160,000km on it (now 330,000km) and it’s never been like this before, but last winter especially was hard starting the vehicle. When it’s warm it fires straight to life. I thought it was the glow plugs that needed changing, but then a mate told me my engine doesn’t have glow-plugs. Call me stupid but I can’t figure out where they are, so maybe he’s right! Do they have glow-plugs, and if so where are they located? If not, is there something else that does the same job that might need some attention?

A. The 12H-T engine doesn’t use glowplugs. Thats one of the benefits of a direct injection Diesel (although a lot of newer CRDi engines have glowplugs due to the cold climate markets they may be sold to) over indirect injection. But to assist they have a ‘heating element’ in the inlet manifold (depending on year build) that gets hot when the engine is cold effectively meaning that the air being sucked in when cranking is warn/hot assisting with cold start. Check it has one and is it getting voltage. Another issue can be extremely poor injector operation or with high mileage the pump governor can make hard starting if its badly worn (which that pump was prone to have prematurely)