Help needed with citroen zx

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igotastaff
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Help needed with citroen zx

Post by igotastaff »

I have a 1996 citroen zx 1.9 diesel automatic. I have started to have a problem in the morning and don't know what to do. It takes about 8 turns to start it , it used to take 2 . When it does start it idles rough then stalls. When it has been running about 10-15 minutes this stops and starts running ok. I have checked the glow plugs all seem to be working.Any help greatly appreciated, also don't know if its significant but it seems to be losing water somewhere with no obvious leaks :cry:
Thanx
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Post by Dommo »

What check did you do on the glow plugs? The best test is to take them out and use some jump leads on one to see if it glows, put the positive lead on the small thread on the end, and the negative lead on the bigger thread that screws into the head of the engine. It should take <5 seconds to start glowing, and the tip and first 1cm or so of the plug should glow in that time. Any longer, or no glow at all, is the sign of a duff plug. Replacing them with Bosch Duraterm plugs is my suggestion, I've had some fitted to my 306 for nearly 3 years and 35k miles and the car still starts perfectly.
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Post by Peter.N. »

When you say you have tested the glow plugs, have you disconnected them and checked them individually? They should read one ohm or less, or if you connect an ammeter in series with them they should draw about 15 amps each. If they are OK check that you actually have a 12 volt supply arriving at them, it will actually read about 10-11 volts when you put the switch in the glow plug position - for about 20 seconds.
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Post by igotastaff »

Hi yes I did check individually as you said,
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Post by Peter.N. »

Is there voltage on them when you turn the key?
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Post by igotastaff »

yes, but I have had glow plugs go before on another car and they didn't cause the stalling/hunting problem like I have now
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Post by tonupteabag »

does yours have the thermostat controlled fast idle? reason being if its not working it could cause the hunting untill it gets warm also the water loss could be a suspect head gasket which would also cause poor starting if its blown between the liners due to compression leaking into the next cylinder which as it gets warmer will allow for expansion of the cylinder head causing a temporary seal which although its still leaking will allow less compression to leak
the reason i'm trying to cover all the bases is i had a simaler set of woes with a peugeot engined rover diesel
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Post by igotastaff »

I don't have the thermostat controlled fast idle on mine..Thanx for the idea about head gasket hope its not that :cry:
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Post by tonupteabag »

head gaskets not to bad a job its not that expensive if you can diy as long as the head is ok for skimming aimho i always get the head pressure tested just to be certain if i remember rightly it cost me less than £200 all in skimmed pressure test and top end gasket set plus the use of a car while i did mine :D
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Post by Peter.N. »

Could be that that you have air ingrress in the fuel line, try pumping the primer until its hard then see if it starts OK.
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Post by CitroJim »

Sounds more like air leaks on the fuel supply to the pump to me. [EDIT: Thee and me typing at the same time Peter!]

Quick test: If the glowplugs are ineffective but the fuel supply side is Ok you'll see white smoke from the exhaust during cranking; this indicates unburned fuel is being blown out of the exhaust.

If the exhaust remains crystal clear during cranking, you have air leaks and the pump is having to draw fuel up from the tank before there is sufficient fuel available to allow running.

Water leaks. Do the normal XUD bubbles check. When cold, remove the expansion tank cap, peer in, rev the engine and look for streams of tiny bubbles in the coolant. Bubbles suggest the head gasket may be a bit suspect as the bubbles will originate from combustion gases leaking into the coolant circuit. Another test is to check to see if the cooling system is pressurising. Again, from cold, with the cap on, rev the engine whilst feeling the top hose. If the hose goes hard the system is pressurising and the head gasket is again suspect. In this case, leaking combustion gases cause the pressurisation.

So often these unexplained coolant looses that are certifiably not caused by the head gasket are usually a result of pin-holes in the rad. Hot coolant sprays out but immediately evaporates and leave no trace. A clue can be got by sniffing the rad area after a long, hot run. If you can smell coolant you have a tiny leak somewhere.

The heater matrix can be the guilty party but you usually smell it pretty quickly. Hot antifreeze evaporating has a vague curry smell and is pretty much unmistakable.
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Post by Xaccers »

Another source of airleaks are the leak off pipes between the injectors. If they're stiff and hard then it's best to chage them even if they look ok.
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Post by igotastaff »

:lol: Found one problem, borrowed a friends pressure tester for the water and discovered the leak, very slight on the pipe to the rad..
I think the air in the fuel pipe is the next thing to try to rule out ,thanx a lot for helping out a newbie to the forum guys
-xLynn-x :wink:
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