I have only recently bought this car but it seems to have a disconcerting habit of sometimes, though not always , behaving oddly at startup...

I turn the key to the 'ignition' setting and watch warning all the lights go out normally. When the glow-plug light has gone out I turn the key to the final position and the engine promptly clatters into life and idles happily. About a second later it then cuts out. I then repeat the above process to start but, instead of immediately firing up, it takes 30-60 seconds of cranking before the engine graduallly and begrudgingly coughs into life. Following a good rev to clear its throat it then stays running.

That begrudging and weak coughing into life on the second firing is reminiscent of a petrol engine trying to start from cold without choke, or a diesel engine with faulty glow-plugs. Yet I don't think it can be that because it has already been running happily for a few seconds before cutting out, and on the first attempt started immediately. Note that it will cut out even in neutral and without any load.

Has anybody experienced anything similar, or have any ideas?

Hi,
Try bleeding the fuel filter you may have some water in the system. You may also have a problem with the glow plug timer cutting out too early.

I'm guessing that this only happens when it has not run for several hours (ie over night) and if you get it going, stop it for say 15 minutes and then try to restart it also starts ok?

If these symptoms are correct, I would look for air getting into the fuel system. The best places to look are the fittings on the fuel pump (fuel feed, not the injector high pressure lines) and fittings on the fuel filter.

polecat said:

Hi,
Try bleeding the fuel filter you may have some water in the system. You may also have a problem with the glow plug timer cutting out too early.

Click to expand...

Will do, thanks. Should I bleed it with the engine running or switched off (I know it differs between cars).
How can I check the glow-plug timer to see how long it stays on for, is it as simple as timing the light on the dashboard or is the connection not that direct?

RS Pilot said:

I'm guessing that this only happens when it has not run for several hours (ie over night) and if you get it going, stop it for say 15 minutes and then try to restart it also starts ok?

If these symptoms are correct, I would look for air getting into the fuel system. The best places to look are the fittings on the fuel pump (fuel feed, not the injector high pressure lines) and fittings on the fuel filter.

Click to expand...

No, far from it in fact. It happened again today at the tyre shop when I was getting the tracking redone. The car had been running for about 30 minutes with me nipping out on various test drives to establish whether the steering wheel was straight or not. I then turned the engine off to pay, which took 2-3 minutes. When I got back in I started the engine which then cut out again a second or two later.

It did similar things yesterday following a two hour drive when I switched off and got out for 5-10 minutes to talk to somebody. It then cut out a few seconds after I had restarted.

On both occasions once started for the second time (i.e. after the cutting out) it ran happily and without problems.

Mind you, its also behaved like this after being left standing for a few hours too. Its not actually played up on a cold start first thing in the morning ... yet.

Hi,
You bleed water from the filter with the engine off. Loosen the bottom screw followed by the top screw and drain until all the water is gone. Tighten bottom screw first.
Check the feed lines as RS Pilot suggests. You can also bleed the high pressure system by loosening the unions on the injectors, starting the engine and then tightening the unions back up with the engine still running. Be careful here as high pressure fuel can be dangerous.
RS is the expert on diesel, some systems keep the glow plugs on for a few seconds after the engine has started until it reaches operational temp. Not sure on the Marea, any pointers RS?

Thanks, Polecat. I found the instructions for bottom drain and top bleed screws in the Porter manual ine this morning. As it didn't specifically say to have the engine running, I did job with the engine off (as you suggested). I also gave the bulb in the fuel line a few squeezes for good measure, until diesel came out of the air bleed screw, after tigtening up the water drain screw.

Thus far I have had no more problems, today, but I'll let you know after a couple more days whether the problem has really gone away or not.

Thanks to you, RS and Ozric-Al for all your good advice, this really is an excellent Forum.

If it took a few squeezes to get diesel out of the fuel filter bleed screw then air getting into the fuel system is almost certainly the reason for the engine stopping.

Even if it starts ok for the next week or so, I'd still double check the bleed screw to see if any more air has got into the system.

Thanks, will do. Although I'll also be changing the diesel fuel filter just as soon as we get back from half-term holiday in 10 days time.