Xantia TD Hot starting

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 17 May 2005, 12:35

Hopefully a quick one.......
IF I give the xant till the light goes out and a couple of seconds it starts instantly when cold, But when the engine is hot it turns over for ages before it catches.
I have proof of fairly recent (last summer) Beru glow plugs and its got a new fuel and air filter.
Am I correct in thinking it might be a leak off pipe problem, I can't see any air when I pump the primer, the pipes themselves look in good condition

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 17 May 2005, 13:16

Which pump?
jeremy

Post by **Peter.N.** » 17 May 2005, 13:44

The only fault I know of which gives consistent poor starting when hot, is wear in the fuel injection pump. It isn't common in XUD pumps but it is in BMW 6 cylinder pumps as used in the Omega. It can be checked by pouring some tepid (but not cold) water over the pump when hot, if this improves the starting you probably have wear in the actual high pressure part.

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 17 May 2005, 15:16

Peter's post is interesting. I see you don't say anything about white (or any other) fumes coming from the exhaust. I think this may be significant as usually any unburnt fuel comes out as white vapour and with an air leak you often get a poor injection and the unburnt fuel is ejected as white vapour on starting.
I would have thought that the engine should have started as soon as the light went out or before when cold and not needed any heat at all when hot.
I think if it were a timing fault (which can be the symptom of wear apparently on Roto-diesel machanical pumps) you would have had loads of (white?) smoke on starting.
jeremy

paranoid · Post by **paranoid** » 17 May 2005, 19:54

Bosch pump, no smoke at all hot or cold even after it turned over for a while.
It is slightly better when its hot if I let the light go out, but I didn't thing I would have to wait the whole duration when hot.
Perhaps it is the glowplugs after all, Just had a look at receipts I got with the car, I think the glowplugs were changed at 59'000 miles not last summer, its a bit misleading, I think 4 were bought last year but not fitted

Sl4yer · Post by **Sl4yer** » 17 May 2005, 21:12

My ZX does this. It fires first time from cold, although it sometimes misses for a couple of seconds, but takes a few turns when hot.
If it was the glow plugs, it would be a real pig to start when cold, if it would start at all. I also suspect the leak-off pipes may be at fault.

Chrispy · Post by **Chrispy** » 17 May 2005, 21:23

Mine does this too! It's a 99 with 65k on it, and it's been recently serviced etc with no fuel leaks. I'm suspecting the glow plugs to be honest as I don't think it's ever had a set. I had to change them before on my old 405 XUD as that refused to start, but that was a bugger all the time, not just when hot. My Xantia looks identical to your too mate, except it's black....

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 17 May 2005, 21:26

Have a shuftie through the search for "ZX hot start" problems - identical problem, cured fairly easily.

Chrispy · Post by **Chrispy** » 18 May 2005, 03:39

Trouble is, it's not the return pipes as there is no fuel leak. The car starts great when cold so it can't be the glow plugs can it?

Post by **martyhopkirk** » 18 May 2005, 04:20

http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... ,hot,start
http://www.andyspares.com/discussionfor ... ,hot,start
Try these two threads. I had EXACTLY the same symptoms as yours.
Cured for less than £30 - replaced all the fuel rubber under the bonnet and also repaired a plastic 3 way connector under the Lucas pump. Dab of silicone, job done. Ran upto I got shut at about 160k