Hi,

Recently my Felicia diesel has been struggling to start. It used to be that it only struggled once the engine had warmed up, however now its happening every time with black smoke shooting out the back!! I've also noticed that there is a lack in power when driving and it seems quite lumpy at times! Anyone got any ideas?

Cheers

Jim

Hi Jim,

There have been several posts about problems with warm starting, which you may well have looked at already. If not, a quick search of this forum will give you many hits. I do wonder if one or more of your glow plugs has given up the ghost, which would explain the problems starting. What temperature does the gauge show once the car has warmed up. If it does not reach halfway, the thermostat is probably sticking open which might explain some of the lumpy running. Also, when did you last have the fuel filter changed? If not for a while (and they recommend annually with normal mileage) that might well muck things up. A further thought is that it simply needs a good thrash. I never drive above the speed limit, so winding it up to full thottle had to be done in third. I went onto the A38, and drove with my foot flat to the boards for about 30 minutes in one direction, and then the same coming back. I was recommended to do this by a car dealer, and have seen it suggested several times elsewhere. It seemed to make a difference to ours, although it's a pretty good runner anyway. When we got ours it was a bit lumpy, but I've had it serviced annually by a completely trustworthy garage three times now, and the lumpy running stopped immediately.

Hope some of that helps, and good luck!

Mr Music

Almost agreed, but I'd buzz it hard up and down the gears, rather than trying to cruise it a distance on full throttle.

Thanks for the advice guys. Installed a new fuel filter tonight but can not get the damn thing to start now Maybe some air is trapped? Any suggestions much appreciated!

Cheers

Jim

Is there a manual priming bulb on that engine? If so, keep squeezing that until it goes hard, then try and start the engine.

I can't seem to see one! Is there any other way of manually bleeding the engine?

Oh dear, I feel slightly responsible on this one, since changing the filter was one of my ideas. If you've already sorted it, well done! If not, put "diesel bleeding" into the "Search this forum" button at the top right of the forum page, and you'll get lots more advice. That's the best I can offer, since I get the garage to do mine as part of the annual service. If it ran previously, it will run again!

Good luck, and do keep us posted as to the success.

Mr Music

Hi all, thanks for the advice! I finally managed to get it going by bump starting it at the weekend after my dad gave me a tow! Running very nicely since except its still struggling to start with a hot engine and leaking coolant!

However after a bit of reading up on it, I unplugged the temp sensor and it started perfectly!

I also noticed it hasnt leaked any coolant since!

I've ordered a new sensor which arrived this morning so going to fit that tonight and fingers crossed everything should be sorted!