More problems, 1.4 HDI 16v

Once again, within 6 weeks of ownership, I'm having problems with my C3. This time I'm having trouble starting it first thing on a morning. Everything was going well till Thursday morning, instead of starting instantly it took around 30 seconds to fire up. Once it did fire it was loud and rattly and filled the street with white smoke. Within a minute the smoke cleared and all was well, all day. Friday morning brought the same problem, as did Saturday, and today. Many people have suggested many solutions, ranging from all 4 injectors being faulty, to head gasket failure and glow plugs to name but a few.
Has anyone here had the same problem? If so what was the cause?

Hello gusnjus

With a blown head gasket you'd expect more symptoms, for instance, coolant disappearing, possibly overheating, coolant in the oil or vica versa - do you have anything like this?

Otherwise I'd start off looking at the glow plugs particularly if they were coldish mornings when you had starting problems. You can check them by disconnecting them and measuring the resistance of each but personally I'd take them out and try them on a battery to check each one for a healthy glow.

Missing Lincs wrote:I'd take them out and try them on a battery to check each one for a healthy glow.

Not on a 1.4 16v, please don't try to take them out. They are very delicate and are often seized into the head. They are easily snapped off in the head leaving half in the head and half in the tool

Probably not a glow plug fault in the UK, they are seldom used for starting.

gusnjus wrote: instead of starting instantly it took around 30 seconds to fire up

Slow turning of the starter due to battery or starter can inhibit fuel injection and hence starting.

gusnjus wrote:Once it did fire it ... filled the street with white smoke.

Unburned fuel from the starting problem. Can be due to a poor compression in the engine. Got engine oil in there?

gusnjus wrote:Once it did fire it was loud and rattly

An injector not firing probably, or not firing and spraying correctly. These injectors and build up debris on them quite quickly. You can use some of this Diesel injector cleaner (ebay) used as double strength (or stronger) added to the fuel to help clear them. It can also help diagnose the problem because if it does clear, then just use this in its proper dilution to keep things happy.

gusnjus wrote:Has anyone here had the same problem? If so what was the cause?

There can be many different reasons, even with similar symptoms for each car. Its not a common problem as such.

You will need to diagnose the fault, start with the easy stuff and the work up to the more expensive until you solve it.


Has the diesel filter been changed when it should? this is the filter (on ebay NEW) and it should be changed at 40K or so but I prefer mine at 20K ish because its so important to protect those very expensive injectors

C3driver52 wrote:

Missing Lincs wrote:I'd take them out and try them on a battery to check each one for a healthy glow.

Not on a 1.4 16v, please don't try to take them out. They are very delicate and are often seized into the head. They are easily snapped off in the head leaving half in the head and half in the tool

Probably not a glow plug fault in the UK, they are seldom used for starting.

Good point C3driver52, I'm used to older diesels that rely on glow plugs to start on colder days. I know they can be a pain to remove on any engine.

Thanks for the replies, no loss of coolant, it has got plenty of good quality oil in it, engine turns over at the right speed just doesn't fire for between 20 and 40 seconds. Air filter is clean, I've ordered a new fuel filter (last changed 15k ago though so it should still be ok).
Car has now done 105k. White smoke clears within a minute or two of engine starting but today I was stuck in a bit of traffic, (6mph in first gear) and there was quite a bit of White smoke coming from the exhaust then.
As I understand it the glow plugs, like on my Xsara are not needed for starting unless the temperature goes below -5.

So far I've changed the fuel filter and blanked off the EGR valve but still no joy. I managed to get my Lexia up and running and it said permanent fault injector 3 acyclic, any ideas what to do to fix that?

gusnjus wrote:So far I've changed the fuel filter and blanked off the EGR valve but still no joy. I managed to get my Lexia up and running and it said permanent fault injector 3 acyclic, any ideas what to do to fix that?

Try swapping injector 2 with 3 and see if the fault moves. This will tell you if its an injector or not.

Why 2 with 3? Its so you don't need to know which one is 2 or 3, just swap the middle ones

Bit strange this, everything I did made no difference at all, quite annoying really. I managed to get my Lexia up and running properly, cleared the fault codes and all symptoms disappeared.

gusnjus wrote:Bit strange this, everything I did made no difference at all, quite annoying really. I managed to get my Lexia up and running properly, cleared the fault codes and all symptoms disappeared.

good work lexia

Just a bit of an update, the first time I had this fault I'd just filled up with Costco diesel. All has been well for ages then last week I filled up again with Costco diesel and the problem has come back. Anyone else had trouble with Costco fuel?