Recently purchased this car, would like to be able to start it in under 5 minutes - if anyone can help or has any ideas what could be causing this I would love to hear from you !
History so far :
Purchased car , drove home , parked up , went to bed .
Got up , tried to start car , eventually started after repeated cranking over , sounded like the battery going flat . Looked at battery , identified it as a fiesta petrol car battery !
Bought new battery , attempted to start car , cranked over and over repeatedly but no start.
Garage tow started car , took it in and tested glow plugs , found 3 were dead ,so replaced all four . Collected car and drove home .
Car started after 2 attempts next morning , drove to work. Parked outside in very cold weather all day, car would not start to go home . Garage came over to start car and tried several things including hand pumping the little fuel reservoir under the bonnet, mechanic said something about "fuel backdrain" . After 5 repeats of this procedure the car eventually started.
Took it back to garage overnight , in the morning they discovered a loose jubilee clip on the fuel pipe , which has now been tightened . Car will start but I have to crank it over for what seems like ages before it starts .
There is a little bit of grey/white smoke once it does start but this disperses in seconds and the car runs and drives lovely once it is started.
When I first got the car a relay was clicking all time ,but since the glow plugs were replaced it has stopped clicking , however when the key is turned to initiate the glow plugs there is a slight faint buzzing sound until the light goes out , sounds a bit like the radio is on but not tuned in .
Next thing to try we think maybe the glow plug relay - but these seem to be quite dear , if anyone has any other ideas please let me know
thanks in advance
Jill
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 04/12/2009 at 00:32
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I would suggest the valve clearances could benefit from adjustment. Other than that you're going about it the right way IMO.
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Try leaving the glow plugs on until you hear the relay drop out, you may see the lights brighten, this could be 10 seconds or more after the light goes out. You can check that the glow plugs are working by connecting a voltmeter between one of the terminals and earth, if they are all working it should read about 10 volts.
Edited by Peter.N. on 03/12/2009 at 22:06
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Hi there cakemaker..whats the mileage on this motor, at 14 years old it could be injectors or poor compressions or even tightened valve clearences....the relays are expensive so make sure you have power to the plugs...your next move is to attatch a 12v test lamp to any wiring or connectors on the glow plugs and then earth the other end, then get someone to turn the ignition on and time the length of preheat until the light goes out on the dash ready for starting. should be 5 to 10 seconds
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Air leak into fuel system. Most common fault is the seal on the fuel filter, or a distorted lid. Regards Peter
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air leak is now strongly suspected as fuel pump has slight leak where the "arm" comes out (thats what my trusty mechanic said)
Mechanic to attempt a repair by seeing if a new seal can be fitted in situ (without removing the pump).
XUD9 engine 1.9 slalom model (5door hatch) - I have been given some massive variations on prices for replacement pumps - £68 to over £1000.
If anyone has any further advice/pointers/words of wisdom I would be most grateful.
Thanks for all the helpful info so far :)
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air leak is now strongly suspected as fuel pump has slight leak where the "arm" comes out (thats what my trusty mechanic said)
The best way to repair this fault is to replace the pump's top cover which includes a new seal - they aren't madly expensive.
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mileage 157000
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car has been assessed by diesel specialist - compression low in one cyclinder !
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poor compression confirmed - car dead ! :(
Can't get it fixed for under £500
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shouldnt really cost 500+ that is pretty expensive to be honest, as ive had to replace my cylinder head and block after bad overheating and that along with a custom head gasket and reconditioned cylinder head and block cleaned up new rings and built up for just less than 500. and year before had engine replaced for £600
but you can usually find these work horses in the autotrader for around these prices in pretty good condition these days
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