blaven said:

I have never heard of this before. My van is a2003 JTD. How can I tell whether it's a flame start or glow plug please?

Would the VIN number be instrumental in deciding this?

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I just looked under the bonnet.
If you can't see glow plugs, and it has what looks like a glow plug on the inlet manifold then it is flamestart.

The flamestart is two parts. The injector/glowplug and a solenoid/valve thing which has a small diesel pipe leading to it.

These are behind the plastic box top centre of the bonnet area.

You don't need the flame start until at least -10C. I've disconnected mine since 2009 as it came on constantly in the bad winter. Its a filthy starting method produces loads of smoke and soot in the first 20 seconds until the glow plug and intake heatup.

Gromett said:

I just looked under the bonnet.
If you can't see glow plugs, and it has what looks like a glow plug on the inlet manifold then it is flamestart.

The flamestart is two parts. The injector/glowplug and a solenoid/valve thing which has a small diesel pipe leading to it.

These are behind the plastic box top centre of the bonnet area.

Click to expand...

Well I'll be damned! I never knew that before. I'd always assumed there were glow plugs there. That explains why the 'glowplug' light goes out so quickly when the ignition is turned on. I've never started the van regularly in winter conditions at least, not for a long time. The old girl's hibernating in a shed from October to April.

Good News

I just changed the injector today, and the engine started immediately. It was so fast in fact I almost forgot to let go of the ignition key . It has never started this good.

Anyway, I am not a mechanic and this is the first ever job I have done under the bonnet. The hardest bit was getting the injector out without damaging it. It felt like it was welded in. Managed to get a tiny amount of movement by using a screwdriver and small hammer with gentle taps. Then back the other way. Repeated this with WD40 sprayed in every 20 seconds or so and it eventually came lose. Reassembled in 2-3 minutes. Turned the ignition on and waited for the bubbling to stop in the tank. Checked for any obvious leaks around the high pressure pipe in case I had dislodged it. Nothing seemed out of place. Then went to start it. So fast

Thanks everyone for the advice, much appreciated....

FYI in future. If you turn the injector clamp upside down and tighten the bolt it pulls the injector out for you in 10 seconds.