About Tony Edwards Expertise Can answer questions on british and european diesel injection systems , Limited on the latest electronic and common rail systems but have accsess to technical backup .
Experience I have 27 yrs in the diesel injection repair business. Currently Service Manager at Toyota dealership, but more than happy to answer your diesel related questions.
You are here: Experts > UK Autos > Poor cold starting on peugeot 405
Expert: Tony Edwards Date: 3/22/2003 Subject: Poor cold starting on peugeot 405
Question Hi Hot starting is ok , but cold is very difficult .it will start after 4-5 turnes of the key. I have fitted a new set of glow plugs and tested the voltege with a meter but this did not make any differance. the instrument pannel indicates everything working correctly.What next?
The car is 1990 with 110,000 genuine miles on the clock and is the 1905 none turbo model. there is not a seperate fual pump to go wronge . perhaps its the relay. regards Martin.
Answer Hello Martin thanks for your question. Several things may be at fault here. I am assuming that you are cranking it over and it does not start. then you give it more heat and then crank and it does not start etc. etc. then off it goes. Would i be right in saying that when it does fire up there is quite a loud clatter/knocking noise and a lot of white smoke? If so it proves that it is injecting fuel on cranking and when it fires up it has to burn all that diesel. the problem then is why is it not fireing straight away. I assume that by checking voltage you mean that there is current coming to the glow plugs when you turn ignition to heat. you should check this, positive on any glow plug, neg to neg on battery. Dashboard indicator is only guidance to suggest plugs are hot enough. Wait until you hear click from relay ( approx 25 secs) before turning key to start instead of starting when light goes out. This will keep the plugs on for longer.
If your engine starts quietly , i would then wonder if fuel is running back to tank when vehicle is idle for long period which means that your injector pump has to draw fuel up and prime system. You could try using hand primer for a while before cranking , at least you will know that system is full. 111'000 is not a great deal for a petrol but it is for a diesel , especially a french one ! There could be an underlying compression prob here. If there is diesel getting to the injectors(clattery/smoking when starting) perhaps you could try to prove the compression point by parking on a hill overnight , give it heat first thing and roll down hill in 3rd to bump start. If it goes off then it is very likely that comp. is low and because piston comes up faster on roll down hill gives it better compression. you are right in saying that there is no other pump to go wrong but there are hand primers/filter heads that do, so the priming until plunger goes hard will diagnose that. injectors are not responsible for this type of fault , they would usually cause smoke , low mpg, noise etc.Bosch system is most reliable , Lucas system is not that clever. If there is a compression prob , the reason it eventully starts is that all that diesel helps to seal possibly worn piston rings thus improving compression.Unfortunately these trials will prob take a few cold starts do diagnose as inevitably the engine will start well when hot thus not allowing you another check until it gets cold again.
hope thats enough for you to play with for now. Good luck!
Tony
