This is my first diesal so i apoligise if this is just one of those things you have to put up with put i have never had it on my other two petrol cars.

Any way when i brought the car it was very slugish to start to i changed the battery from a 300 cranking amps to a 680 cranking amps. This did help no end but know every now and again, this can happen once a month or once a week depending on the cars mood it just won't fire it just keeps on turning over and over untill after about 10-20 seconds it starts or if u use the throttle it starts straight away. Before any body says it has happened when the temperatures has been -2 and it happened when it was 22 so outside temperatures seams to make no differance.
I thought that the engine has become sutty and the plugs where dirty so i have ran two tanks of shell posh diesal throught it and i am on my second tank of redex diesal engine cleaner and still nothing.
I am now compleatly stumpted, have any other members had similar problems with there mjets ?

Glow plugs or poss egr?

do you always wait for glow plug light to go out before turning over the engine?

i always start mine in neutral with my foot on the clutch, helps starting as less load on flywheel to turnover.

If you're running the car on the premium fuel, it already has additives in. You adding Redex isn't going to help as you're weakening the mixture down some more!

matty_oakley said:

do you always wait for glow plug light to go out before turning over the engine?

i always start mine in neutral with my foot on the clutch, helps starting as less load on flywheel to turnover.

Click to expand...

The glow plug light is in the rightside of the instrument pannel. Its a little swiggley line. (if you didnt know) and it dose make a big difference if you dont wait for it to go out. Also try as matt say with the clutch pedal compressed it made a difference when i had a couple of my glow plugs gone.

You could also get your glowplugs tested, how many miles have you done?

Mine used to do it, normally in the early am, so moisture in the air may be a reason.
I found warming the glow plugs up twicevworked, I've got in the habbit doing that and not had a problem since, might be that my car has decided to start properly rather then warming them up twice who knows!?

I do notice sometimes the light stays on ages and sometimes it's only on seconds

Glow plugs for the starting, I always wait for mine to turn off unless The car has been on for a while and you turn it on relativley soon after.

And probably the EGR Valve if it is sluggish. Mine didnt get above 1500rpm in 1st gear when the EGR Valve was clogged up. Might aswell get it cleaned just for peace of mind : )

DJSparky said:

Glow plugs for the starting, I always wait for mine to turn off unless The car has been on for a while and you turn it on relativley soon after.

And probably the EGR Valve if it is sluggish. Mine didnt get above 1500rpm in 1st gear when the EGR Valve was clogged up. Might aswell get it cleaned just for peace of mind : )

Click to expand...

as the EGR valve is this engines achilles heal.... i would allways clean it there is a guide on how to do it... shoud take an hour or so...

i allways wait for the lights to go out and press clutch into floor.

Check the EGR solenoid push pin moves freely when you've got it apart and if not replace or recondition.

Keep the clutch depressed whilst starting and make sure the glow plug lights gone out and it will be mainly fine.

Does your car also give you the "Check coolant temprature" error at the same time?
Mine went through a period of this yet the car was always stone cold when it happened.

nickkk said:

Mine used to do it, normally in the early am, so moisture in the air may be a reason.
I found warming the glow plugs up twice worked, I've got in the habbit doing that and not had a problem since, might be that my car has decided to start properly rather then warming them up twice who knows!?

I do notice sometimes the light stays on ages and sometimes it's only on seconds

Click to expand...

Ditto, from new same thing, just had first service and shoulders were pretty much shrugged. I can live with it.

matty_oakley said:

do you always wait for glow plug light to go out before turning over the engine?

i always start mine in neutral with my foot on the clutch, helps starting as less load on flywheel to turnover.

Click to expand...

Yes i always weight for the plugs to warm up, i will try starting it with the clutch in. Its just that it happens so randomly it can go a few weeks and start dead easy in all weather conditions then it can be mardy about starting twice in one week.

Should i consider changing the glow plugs ?