Help! My 1.9D pick up takes 30 seconds to start and creates a lot of smoke if it has been left for more than 4 hours. It will start, no matter how cold it is, straight away if it has been run in the last three hours. It has new glow plugs and a fuel filter. I suspect that there is a lack of fuel getting to the engine and have replaced a few but not all fuel pipes believing there may have been a leak. Is this a common problem? All advice greatfully received.

Help! My 1.9D pick up takes 30 seconds to start and creates a lot of smoke if it has been left for more than 4 hours. It will start, no matter how cold it is, straight away if it has been run in the last three hours. It has new glow plugs and a fuel filter. I suspect that there is a lack of fuel getting to the engine and have replaced a few but not all fuel pipes believing there may have been a leak. Is this a common problem? All advice greatfully received.

I think warm start problems are more common. Mine would start from cold and from hot but if stood for a half hour and restarted it would spin and spin before firing. Thermostat and temperature sender fixed that.

 

I wonder if the temperature sender could be the problem with yours. What you describe reminds me of when my glowplugs were failing so it sounds like they're not being switched on - either the temperature's not being registered as cold or the glow plug circuit is at fault as you've already changed the plugs.

This is normally either the starter motor or the battery. When warm/hot the engine has to crank over at a certain speed before fuel is supplied to the engine. If it doesn't crank over quick enough you get no fuel. This is disabled on cold starts so if it starts ok when cold thiscould be ypur problem. I'd get the battery tested first.

It doesn't start when it's been left for more than four hours. I don't think it has anything to do with temperature. I could run it for 5 minutes and then leave for 3 1/2 hours in a very cold climate and it would start first time, if I left it another hour it would take 30 seconds to start.

black smoke indicates too much fuel or too less air.

furthermore according to your description there is also an engine temperature related issue

starting from simple to complex the probable cause may be:

- dirty air filter

- bad/leaky injectors

- as Red Studii said ECU 'thinks' the engine is hot when in fact it is cold from a bad temperature sensor

- diesel engines are all about compression. measure compression when engine is cold

one last word: don't dismiss up front our advice, if you knew what the problem is you wouldn't be here.

Thanks red studio your comments made me test the newish glow plugs and it appears two of them are not working.