Hi,

I've done a search on cold starts on this site and come across a few threads which have been helpful but unfortunately my wife's Skoda continues to remain on the drive (all week!) unable to start - just turns over and won't fire.

Related info is:

1. Glow-plugs changed 18 months ago

2. Changed the Glow-plug relay last night - no difference

3. Disconnected the temp sensor (read this in another thread) - no difference

4. Glow-plug related fuses all intact.

5. fuel is definitely getting through ... get lots of smoke when the engine is turning over

6. Wiring all seems okay.

Tonight I'm going to try and check the voltage to the glow-plugs themselves but I would really appreciate any thoughts that would help in diagnosing this problem.

Many thanks

Paul

I had a similar problem with my 1.9 SDI polo. Starter motor would turn, smoke would come out the back, but would not fire. Eventually, I changed the glow plugs and that sorted it out.

One thing to make sure is the voltage to them - if the battery is a little low in juice, it may not have enough oomph going to the plugs to get them glowing enough.

It could be that the plugs have failed though - when I changed mine, although they were about 4-5 years old (still the original ones), it went from starting to not starting in a week or so. Yours are fairly recent so I doubt it could be that but if they can fail (and not just "wear out")....

I tried changing the plugs on mine, but was a mare to get access. Eventually went to a garage who changed them but did hear some cursing when I picked the car up So you may want to wait for others to suggest ideas before attemtping to remove the plugs. Sorry, can't suggest much more :(

Yeah, I'll second checking the battery as this happened on my old Disco 2.5 TDi and while the alarm worked and electrics worked, the engine wouldn't start. After a few attempts at starting though, the electrics stopped working too, which was a bit of a giveaway

Chris

sounds like glow plugs to me

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'll check the voltage to them and then maybe try and isolate them individually .. maybe one's failed and shorted the others (if such a thing can happen).

I'll try and post the results when I'm finished, as it may help someone else in the future.

Paul

I had same problem on a Polo, it turned out to be fuel pump (a diesel) apparently, part of the immobiliser system is in the fuel pump (its a solanoid apparently) and this had gone faulty. hope you not got same problem coz it was bloody expensive

Fixed!!!!

The voltage was fine on the glow plugs and I took one out and it was fine.

Had a friend and his family around this evening who's a mechanic and he thought it could well be lack of fuel (even thought it was "smoking" while turning over). So he suggested spraying WD40 into the air intake (direct into the engine) as with diesels they will start on WD40 (I didn't know this!) - lo and behold it started. Put all the bits together again and restarted it only to have the same problem. So there must have been some serious junk in the fuel intake path.

Used the WD40 again and this time revved it hard until it "unblocked" and it seemed okay since then.

Planning on replacing the fuel filter (which may never have been replaced before) and using Redex more regularly!!!

A relief though.

Thanks again for all the feedback and advise - much appreciated and proves the value of this site again!

Paul

Just as an update to the previous elation which was very premature.

Got up this morning and the car wouldn't start again. More conversations with a Skoda dealer resulted in them considering it being the Glow-plugs (as already earlier suggested in this thread) - as WD40 has a lower ignition temperature than diesel and so is misleading about the lack of diesel getting through.

Decided to get a set of glow-plugs and replaced them and all is fine now.

I suppose it proves that how the plugs "look" is not a good enough indicator. They need to be properly tested I suppose to verify they are still working.

But the car is now back on the road and starting reliably even when cold.

Thanks again everyone.

Paul

almost 99% of felicia diesels that won't start are as a direct result of glow plug failure now the diesel system in the fel diesel isn't logical like most other diesel's ie. if you crank the engine over for long enough they will eventually start (with lots of smoke) but with the felicia the diesel fuel cut off switch wire doesn't go live until the engine has fired up, thus you have cranked the engine over and over thus expelling all the fuel in the pipe's so you have zero chance of getting it started wd40 and easy start will start the car but next cold start you will be into the same problem. mods feel free to put this in faq section it you deem it nessasary. cheers big k.