2-litre Tdci, 47k miles, mixed use including local, long motorway trips and towing. The car was serviced by the book until about 4 years old, and annually since then. All done by local Ford dealer. Last service a month ago.
Car starts first time and runs well, with plenty of power and nicely smooth. Fuel consumption has been between 40 and 50 mpg since purchase. However, over the last 9 months it has started to smoke a bit on startup. The engine starts fine, but for the first 10 seconds or so it seems to run very rough with a noisy rattle, and it puts out a fair bit of white smoke, which smells very dieselly, like an old railway locomotive. Once the 10 seconds is past, it runs normally. This normally only happens when it has been standing overnight. Subsequent starts during the day are as normal.
I had something very similar on an old Land Rover, and it was one of the glow plugs that had failed. Easy fix. That's my first thought with this one, but I wondered if anyone had any further ideas. It's not a huge problem and I can live with it, but if there was a known issue and known fix it would be good to sort it out. I am reasonably competent and have a good toolkit. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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Edit to add: car has started first time throughout winter, regardless of temperature. No warning messages on the dash. Reading Haynes manual, glow plugs are timed by the CHT sensor. Possible fault there?
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Definately worth checking you are getting 12v at the glow plug rail (when you switch the ignition on). Could easily be a fuse or or a relay.
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Thanks, I'll check that next chance I get.
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Sounds like my problem:
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=99923
There's some feedback you may find interesting but I'd be very interested to hear how you get on.
Edited by Mazda-Man on 07/04/2013 at 15:13
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" Definately worth checking you are getting 12v at the glow plug rail "
Also while at the glow plugs, disconnect each one & check there is continuity from the metal end to earth. Good ones will show about 1 ohm ( almost a short circuit ). Duff ones will show infinity or much higher resistance.
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Thanks for the replies. I will definitely do a supply and continuity check on the glow plugs when I get the time. I work 12 hour night shifts at the moment, so it may not be for a day or two. Will certainly report back on any results. I am also considering getting a code reader so I can see if there are any issues with the CHT sensor etc. All the signs are for poor combustion when the engine is dead cold, which the glow plug system is designed to avoid, so that is where all my attention will be until proved otherwise.
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I have had this for years on start up of a 2004 2.2 Titanium X estate. Felt conned about the £225 for the EGR which made no difference at all.
It is worse in cold weather but as it is only on start up I will now ignore it until the MOT catches me
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Mine has passed an MoT in this condition with no advisories. It only happens when the engine is cold. As the MoT is carried out with the engine at running temp, it doesn't seem to affect the smoke test. Work has been mental recently, but I will get on with checking this out in the next few days.
With the warm weather of the last few days, the problem has almost disappeared.
Edited by Rich53 on 26/04/2013 at 16:09
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