Cold start issues even after various bits of work

[Tidgy]

Hoping to get some help. Having an issue with my 2006 V50D on cold start. Simply put it doesn't seem to want to. Colder the temp the worse it is.

It sat for about 5 days and when i came to fire it up yesterday morning it was really grump, wouldn't rev (guessing it may have dropped into limp mode) and seemed to occasionally be missing. Drove it about a mile, pulled over turned it off, turned it back on again, instant fire up, running fine, power back and drove to work with it running totally fine.

This morning was -2 and it took a good 10-15 seconds of cranking to get it to fire, really didn't want to fire up. After it did fire was running fine (well as fine as a diesel is on cold start lol). Scraped all the ice of and by the time i pulled away it was fine and back to its quiet usual self.

It's never been the best of starters when cold, but never this bad. Have had a few bits done to try to solve the problem, sort a fault and service bits and bobs.

New alternator (fried itself)
New battery
Leak of valve pipework done (one of the t pieces broke)
Injectors were cleaned while the leak off was done
New Maf
Few service bits, fuel filter, oil filter, air filter etc

Car has now done 170k.

Anyone got any bright ideas what it could be? I'm borderline thinking a molotov might be the best way to start it.

[Bloders2]

glow plug test

[Tidgy]

Originally Posted by Bloders2

glow plug test

thanks for the response, can you test them in the car or do they need to be taken out?

[Vfifty]

Worth doing research whether glow plugs can be tested on car first.
If you ever decide to remove glow plugs yourself be very careful as its easy to break them.
Once broken, whole operation turns from bad to very bad.
Watch Youtube re: Removing broken glow plugs, horror movie that is.
That's why manufacturer specifies maximum shear limit or failure moment of approx. 35 newton, torque wrench is a must.
And location for glow plugs is just very inconvenient, to say the least

[Bloders2]

easy to test them in place
remove the feed wire and test resistance of each one. they should all be very similar and very low.
if you have a DC ammeter even better.
also neeed to check they are getting power as well, so put a voltmeter on the supply cable

[Bigchewie]

as mentioned pull the connectors off and test the resistance, if only one or two are gone it will be obvious in the resistances you see

[Bungo]

Check relay too.

[arto]

Do you see any air bubbles in the line just after the fuel filter when you start the engine?

[martins91]

Originally Posted by arto

Do you see any air bubbles in the line just after the fuel filter when you start the engine?

I have similar problem..I have been checking injectors, glow plugs, battery, fuel pump..are all ok
But I have noticed that there are constant bubbles in fuel line. What could that mean?

[Bloders2]

means you have air getting into the fuel system
not an issue when the engine is running, but when left to stand it means air gets in and fuel flows back to the tank a little.
when you come to start car after a while, its slow to start as you have to prime the pump every time
find the air ingress point and/or fit a non return valve in the supplu pipe so it holds the fuel there.