Hi,

I have been a passive member of this forum for sometime so am pleased if this thread can be of use to someone else in the future.

To set the scene, I have a 1997 Peugeot 106 1.5D, and it has done approximately 110,000 miles without major hiccup to my knowledge. Last year when I had some winter starting problems I went to change the glow plugs and found that one of them had been snapped at the insertion point to the engine, I tried to bore it out but could not and did not want to risk the glowplug element breaking and falling into the engine block. So I changed the remaining three plugs and it has been running without problems since, though the weather is milder (a plume of smoke at startup but I understand that this is to be expected with three glow plugs). Throughout the year I generally have to turn the engine over for several minutes before the engine starts to catch, it stutters into action, but I expect as the weather was mild it wasn't a problem especially as it always started. Once the engine was warm it would start as soon as you turn the key (so quickly that you wouldn't even hear the engine turn).

Now the cold weather has set in again and starting has become difficult without draining the battery so I thought I ought to do something about it!

My question is regarding how to proceed on my diagnostic journey, thus far I have changed:

the battery - no benefit

the glow-plugs (albeit only the three I can) to beru ones - no change

I have tested the voltage on the glow-plugs and they do indeed receive power (between 10 and 12 volts), unfortunately I do not have a heavy ammeter so cannot easily test the current.

Importantly I have found that the glow-plug coil light on the dash stays on much longer than it used to (approximately 20 seconds whereas it used to be circa 6 seconds). Once the engine has been running for a while though the light doesn't even come on (so presumably the temperature sensor is working).

I have also checked the connections to glow plug controller and a couple of the wires in the wiring loom connecter have a worn plastic sheath, I have wrapped them in insulating tape but this has not helped. The wires themselves look difficult to replace.

So my question really is where I should go from here. My next plan was to put a jump lead from the positive terminal on the battery onto each glow plug (individually) for 6 seconds and them try starting. I suppose that this would prove that the problem was that the glowplugs are not getting enough current. I read somewhere about rewiring a positive terminal from the alternator ? to the glowplug relay. Does anyone have any other ideas? either to diagnose or cure (or both) the problem? Could it have something to do with the engine earthing?

In addition I am going to keep the fuel tank full (to prevent condensation) but I really think that it is a problem with no enough current getting to the glow plugs for some reason.

Thanks in advance!

Gavin