Poor starting
 

Afternoon folks,

I've got an issue with a v70 manual D5, 54 plate.

This is a friends car that has a starting problem that takes ages to crank over, and eventually fires.

It recently went in to limp mode and said friend booked it in to a garage to get it sorted. Turned out to be the EGR. Friend was then relieved of £600.....

Day later car is a complete no starter. Me to the rescue. I got it started with a little squirt of easy start and then got it driven to my house so I could work on it.

As part of its EGR replacement, the fuel filter was also replaced.

I've tested the glow plugs with a multi meter and all read 1.1 ohms so in my mind are all ok. As this is a common rail and its 20 ish degrees today I can't see that if the glow plugs will be getting used to start the engine.

On contacting the garage they have suggested that all the injectors are duff and will need replacing to sort the starting issue.

I would tend to agree, however after having done a leak off test (no more than 40ml in 1 minute) the injectors are all returning the same amount, of which is WAY less than 40ml.

I'm aware that some folks are talking about a cylinder balance test to see if the ECU is compensating. What piece of software do I need to do this, and do I need a special cable? Can it be done with a generic bluetooth dongle?

There is also a bit of hunting on idle, only VERY slightly though. I'm guessing something to do with the suction control valve?

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Matt

Hi

The software you need is called VIDA, and the interface cable is called DiCE. There’s a guy on the forum that sells complete tested setups, or you can take your chances with eBay.

Hope that helps.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Do you know what his user is?

I believe cheshired5 is the gentleman in question.

Martin

Check/change fuel filter to start with, often overlooked and can block if left starving car of fuel.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply :)

Fuel filter already changed by the garage at my recommendation

Regards

Matt

VIDA dice is the only way you will find out what’s going on with the injectors. I would get it running and look at the fuel correction in Vida which will show you what the injectors are doing. I take it, it runs ok when it’s running. Does it start again when warm?

Check the fuel filter first, make sure it’s a quality one. Garages tend to fit any cheap crap that the motor factor they use supplies. Make sure they haven’t distorted the plastic housing they can be hellish tight.

A weak in tank pump can also cause poor starting from cold as it can’t prime the system.

You say leak off is good, I still have had a poor running and starting from one bad injector even tho leak off was ok. Local garage couldn’t find anything wrong it was only Vida that showed the fault with the fuel correction. You will be very unlucky to have all 5 dead. A recon injector is about £100 if in dead they are your trouble

Hi Graham,

Thanks for your reply.

Just done another cold start again this evening and got it going again.

I noticed that the fuel rail pressure takes quite a few turns of the engine to start building pressure.

It sits at about 210.0 kPa for the first 5-6 seconds of cranking before rising to about 1580.0 kPa before starting to catch and then it fires up and fuel rail pressure jumps to about 35000 kPa. Rail pressure then fluctuates between 30000kPa and 40000kPa on idle.

Engine cranking speed is about 230RPM.

If I turn engine off, leave for a few seconds and try again it does start up a few seconds quicker. Initial precranking FRP (fuel rail pressure) is 970kPa and it then fires when it hits about 1500kPa.

I'll have a gander at the fuel filter

Thanks,

Matt

ok, just had another driver take it for a spin with me following.

smoking a little, however this could just be condensation evaporating from the exhaust, but it did have a blueish colour to it.

Anyway, driver then gave it a bit of a boot up a slight incline and then it went in to limp mode. Plugged in code reader when we got back and it came up as P0094 fuel leakage detected....

Engine not cutting out but really under-powered.

Update!

Ok, so last night on taking for a drive, was driving ok until giving it a bit of welly up a slight hill and it went in to limp mode.

On returning it had a trouble code P0094 small leak detected.

On returning last night I noticed a patch of wetness where the car had been parked up from the night previous. I had dismissed this as my plus gas flowing down the front of the engine. I'm pre-empting having to take the glow plugs out so have been spraying almost every night a few times when the engine has warmed up.. Anyway, quite a large patch..

Jacked it up this evening, looked underneath for some leaks. I had quite the selection.... -_-. Blue, red and black. Diesel, steering rack and engine oil.

So one thing at a time....

The fuel lines(plastic, rubber or whatever) from the tank terminate just above the front drivers inner CV. On previously inspecting the engine from the top I had noticed that someone had bypassed the metal return line that runs along the cylinder head and plugged directly in to the plastic/rubber return line a bit further back to where it would normally plug into the metal fuel line. I had assumed that the rubber hose had perished and was easier to just extend it in a new bit of hose up to the HPFP.

Turns out the metal fuel pipe for the return line had been squashed by the CV somehow, hence the previous repair. on looking underneath the fuel leak I have is coming from almost the exact same vicinity.

I'm going to get some fuel pipe organised and bypass the metal fuel pipe for the supply and see how I get on.

This would explain the issue with building fuel rail pressure as well as the trouble code. Also there was a pending fuel rail pressure trouble code too. It's all starting to come a little clearer now!

Will keep you all posted :)