Ian C Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Bloody diesels, I've no idea. OK - I've had the car 2 years, it's always started first go after 3 or so turns, no probs. Today I go to move it and it took a few more turns and sounded a bit struggley. I back it out onto the road so I can mow the lawn it was parked on, I then go to move it back and it just turns over, won't start at all. I tried a good 3 or 4 times, bit of throttle etc, then gave up. Popped the bonnet, nothing obviously wrong apart from the usual bit of oily crud around the top of the engine. After a rapid google I cracked the nut on the top of the left hand injector and tried turning it over, and diesel did come blopping out, so it's delivering fuel. However, I've no experience of how much it's supposed to deliver - if it should have been a high pressure jet, it wasn't!. It is the old TDDi engine though, and not common rail. The battery gave out at this point so it's on charge, I haven't checked the other cylinders but if one was working it'd be trying to catch, surely? I always wait for the glow plug light on the dash to go out before trying to start, and it is still behaving normally. Can the glow plugs be shot but still report back OK? If they were buggered, it'd fit in with the sudden failure, as it's the first proper cold day for ages, and it'll be needing them to start. They've got 110,000 miles on them. Also, er, embarassing this, but where the hell are they on the head? I can't find them -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Does it have an EGR valve Ian? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 i dont know much about diesels but my old man had something like that and it was the fuel filter and so did my sistors feista Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've never changed the fuel filter - where is it? Tank or engine end? I can do that now Scott - Not sure if it has EGR. I'm very unfamiliar with diesels and I feel a complete pudding asking these questions. Do you know where I'd find it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 Oh wow, the fuel filter is the coke can thing at the rear left of the engine bay? It looks almost accessible! Good lordy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 yes that could well be it they normally come as a hole unit to just connect, but thats on the 2 cars i have seen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 I've never changed the fuel filter - where is it? Tank or engine end? I can do that now Scott - Not sure if it has EGR. I'm very unfamiliar with diesels and I feel a complete pudding asking these questions. Do you know where I'd find it? Unfortunately I'm going off of my car which is a 2007 so quite a bit different. However, the EGR valve is a VERY common fault across the Mondeo range as far as I know. On my car it's at the front left as you face the car. http://shop.mondeospares.co.uk/ekmps/shops/mondeospares/images/ford-mondeo-mk3-egr-valve-petrol-1.8l-or-2.0l-2001-2005-566-p.jpg Is that maybe yours? 2001-2005 model? They are known for sticking open and when they do the car won't start. I had this trouble last christmas time just after I bought it. I was going absolutely mental. I ended up buying a plate and blocking mine off. An easy way to check if it is your issue is to unbolt it and stick a piece of cardboard in to block it off temporarily. Fire the car, if it starts up then that's obviously your problem. You will need to take the cardboard out though, obviously lol, and replace with something a bit more heavy duty. On my car I have the engine management light on but I don't think it's an issue on previous models. Oh, and yes the fuel filter is the coke can looking thing. I did all manor of things with mine before finding out it was the EGR valve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Firstly I would check the voltage on the glow plug relay and then each of the glow plugs individually to make sure they are getting power. You can take them out to see if they have carbon build up on them and test them (be careful they will get VERY hot). They should be on the front on the engine and will have pipes going to the injector pump. There are many things it could be, my problem was air getting into the fuel system from the auto choke that diverted the cold diesel to the thermostat housing to warm it up initially this was on a saxo though. It would start after a few goes and it gradually got worse until it wouldn't start this was over the space of a week so check for air/fuel leaks. It could also be that the injector pump timing has skipped a tooth (unlikely), valve clearances, dieing injector pump, dead fuel pump, blocked fuel filter etc Is the fuel pump priming? Start cheap and get some new glow plugs, try and get OEM ones as aftermarket ones last no time at all and usually are crap from what I have found. Check the injector pump timing also. As you probably know diesel combustion is based on compression and not a spark so I would do a compression test on it to see if there are any problems there next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 ian is there a black rubber squezable pump looking thing, give it some pumps and it might start as when the happened to my sistors car doing this got her out of trouble a couple of times before it would not start at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 ian is there a black rubber squezable pump looking thing, give it some pumps and it might start as when the happened to my sistors car doing this got her out of trouble a couple of times before it would not start at all This is the manual priming bulb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 i know more then i though i did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Supra_boy Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 If it dont start get diagnostics machine and get it plugged it so find the exact fault. Ive had a look on autodata and the list it gives me for what to check is huge. Get it plugged in and find out what the problem is instead of spending money on a problem that might not even be there! Where are you located mate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian C Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 Fixed \o/ You absolute stars, it was indeed the fuel filter. The old one did look a bit, ahem, unclean It's been in there since early 2008 mumble mumble. Swapped it for a new one, had to get 5l of diesel using the Supra so I could prime the filter, how embarassing, put it all back together and slapped in the charged battery and it fired up after a bit of throat clearing. Thank you all very much for responding so fast and in so much detail. I thought this was going to be a long term one or forking out £££s to a garage -Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Woohoo, nice save Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyson Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Fixed \o/ You absolute stars, it was indeed the fuel filter. The old one did look a bit, ahem, unclean It's been in there since early 2008 mumble mumble. Swapped it for a new one, had to get 5l of diesel using the Supra so I could prime the filter, how embarassing, put it all back together and slapped in the charged battery and it fired up after a bit of throat clearing. Thank you all very much for responding so fast and in so much detail. I thought this was going to be a long term one or forking out £££s to a garage -Ian Good stuff its always nice when its an easy fix. I bet its made your day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.