General 850 TDI 1996 cold starting problem

[wazocus]

Hi. I have just bought a volvo 850 tdi 170k miles 1996. In the morning (being cold) it turns over quickly but does not fire for about 20 seconds until it finally fires up. Once it has warmed up it starts fine and runs lovely. I have replaced the glowplugs and took it into a garage who said the glowplug system works fine. Does anyone have any ideas please??? Thank you!

[outnumbered]

Originally Posted by wazocus

Hi. I have just bought a volvo 850 tdi 170k miles 1996. In the morning (being cold) it turns over quickly but does not fire for about 20 seconds until it finally fires up. Once it has warmed up it starts fine and runs lovely. I have replaced the glowplugs and took it into a garage who said the glowplug system works fine. Does anyone have any ideas please??? Thank you!

i would check all vac pipes and intercooler pipes, also this car has an issue with the dynamic pump timing if its out of the set parrameters you will have hot and cold start issues. this test can only be done with the engine running and hooked up to the volvo scan tool or indi or volfcr or a good bosch diesel garage.
hope that helps.
mike

ps you may have not needed to change your glow plugs

[DarrenK]

Do you get any white smoke from the exhaust and a reek when turning over?

Keep an eye on your top engine mount bushing as I managed to sheer mine turning over all the time with a similar problem...

[Clan]

if you are sure the glow plugs ARE working ( they only work below 5 degrees C ) then its possible the compressions are low ...

[wazocus]

Thanks for your help. It does seem to puff out a lot of white smoke when you start it up in the morning. What does this mean please?

[wazocus]

.....also as it takes ages to start it in the morning the battery goes flat so i was going to put the biggest battery i could on it (800amp) to help it in the morning. I hope thats a good idea....

[DarrenK]

I had this problem with my 855 and still do, sort of. My mechanic told me it was the glow plug rely and I managed to source a second hand one which I'm lead to believe was in good condition. He fitted the relay and the car was fine for several days. After a couple of days firing up without a problem I was back to square one.

Now I just turn on the ignition, wait 5 seconds after the heater light goes out, foot to the floor and fire it up. It starts, but if I try to start it any other way it'll just keep turning over and throwing out white smoke. It's not ideal though, as it's having an effect on my top engine mount bushing, again. I read somewhere that the injectors might need cleaning but couldn't find any more information there-after, plus I'm really not at all mechanically minded.

[wazocus]

Thanks for your help. Any information / tips are a good thing.