right, a long over due update. Apologies to those who have been following the thread.
So good news, managed to get the solenoid working. Ending replacing both these 2 relays, it was the left one that was the culprit. The other one needed changing anyway where i pryed open sealed unit.
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So the solenoid was operating as it should again, so we were just back to the issue of non-start, and since we were convinced on lack of compression i was working up the courage to open her up. However before we got to that, our mechanic gave us the number of someone who works on lorries and other diesel engines so we gave him a call and got him down to have a look.
Turns out he works with these engines and similar lot for generators and other machinery. He turned it over, done the usual checks, had a listen, sprayed some easy start and fairly quickly came to the conclusion that it was a piston ring (or related to that). Was quite a relief, he seemed to know more what he was talking about than the other engineers that came down, and seemed to come to the same conclusion that we did (us in the forum).
Few days later he came down, ripped out the engine...
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gave the chassis a good clean out, as you can see was full of dirt, oil and muck. Don't have the after photo unfortunately.
He took it away, opened it up further and confirmed it was the piston rings, there was a crack. Gutted i forgot to take photos of it to show, think i was just relieved that we had diagnosed the problem. Had to wait a week or so for the replacements piston kit to arrive. He swapped out the parts then brought the engine back to refit...
and there she goes, finally back to work.
A huge thank you to all of your input, seems like one of the few remaining forums that still offer genuine advice and support.
Much appreciated, and sorry again for the delayed updates.
