I was just thinking about the early 80s, 81/82 and 82/83, we had 15ft snow drifts where i lived then. Totally off the beaten track so no snow ploughs or gritters and the whole village was in a time warp while it remained.

Yeah, I was in a cut off village called Knossington, I was only 10/11 at the time :)

Went to start it yesterday morning, it was below -2C, it struggled to start, not only that but where before it felt like it was firing on only 4.5, it actually felt like it was only firing on 3.

Im wondering if there is a link with the above and all the glow plug boots falling to pieces?

Unless i've totally missed something here, the glow plug boots are mainly cosmetic and to prevent metal things falling on them and causing problems when they are powered up.

I wonder what the main contacts are like in the glow plug relay? Could well be they are burned so if you can identify the glow plug relay, remove it, open it up and clean the contacts (an emery board is ideal, usually found in your wifes handbag for filing her nails or Boots/Superdrug/similar for a couple of quid) then refit it might solve some problems. If not, it's another thing off the list of possibilities!

I am now wondering if the plugs I got are wrong or bad, cause it really is a pig till its warmed a little

You remember that screenshot you got of VIDA showing the individual injectors and the engine rpm associated with each? What are the chances of getting another on a cold start?

I'm really beginning to think this is an injector problem with the two that were low on the previous VIDA screen, #3 and #5 and if they're not flowing enough when cold, won't be firing properly. The glow plugs are only used for starting so the disel doesn't need much more heat from compression to get it to fire.Once it's running and warm of course the heat from the engine preheats the diesel, intake temperatures are higher so the cylinder temperature gets that much higher under compression and so on.

That's what made me think that the plugs are off somehow, or broke a lead, when I changed them things got much worse, plus I've only every touched injector 1 (far left), and there's been a noticeable change each time, it's on its second one) once the car has ran for a minute or 2 (when it was sub 2C) the misfire went away.

Just thinking out loud here, but if it was an injector would that not play up all the time?

My back has done one on me so I can't check or experiment at the moment. The mud in the ointment is that I changed 2 things, the plugs and injector 1 at the same time, should really only do the one so it can be eliminated, doesn't help that I won't know till the next morning :/

If those injectors aren't flowing right, the cold will show it up more. After the engine has heated up a bit, it won't need as much extra fuel to compensate for it being cold and can probably get all 5 pots running with fuel trims. Hence asking for another VIDA screenshot when cold.
If you have some Ezi-Start, once running you could give it a gentle squirt into the air intake, if the engine becomes smoother then it's almost certainly a fueling problem.

My back often does the same so i feel your pain (almost literally) on that one.

Hello Bashy, sorry to hear you are bit Iffy again , if it is any help why not go down the Pre heat route, i.e the small heater fitted into the radiator hose and plugged into a mains socket, at least your engine would be warm at all times . Hope something works out ok, wrong time of the year for repairs !!

That's something else I do not have, I will order some, so basically, I spray it into that thing that's got a flap that's thermostatically controlled in the grill?
Suffered sine about summer 2010, blooming Carp fishing, trying to take a photo on your own before the timer runs out......

Cheers Willo and I will look into that too thanks, sommat tells me it might be cheaper fixing the issue though :shocked:
Oh, i see what you mean, found sommat like this not sure if it will get the engine as hot as it needs to be to fire the fuel up though