Xantia 1.9 TD Cold starting problems

pete woods · Post by **pete woods** » 13 Oct 2003, 22:03

Kev, the poxy thing is still a sod to start from cold. damper was holding the throttle (for want of the proper term) open. tickover is now 1000 rpm. the diagphram is buggered but from reading the replies from all of you that would not cause the starting probs. I just put a volt meter on the battery. the engine was warm as my wife had just picked the kids up. the reading was 12.26 volts with the engine off.
I then checked the voltage at each glow plug. The glow pug light only came on briefly as you would expect but the plugs were live after it went out so that all seems ok. with all 4 plugs drawing current the reading at the plug was 10.56 volts. Is that enough to give a nice red hot plug on a cold morning?

pete woods · Post by **pete woods** » 13 Oct 2003, 22:30

As you were! the diagphram is working. I just watched & with the engine warm blipping the throttle causes the cable to be pulled to the. I suppose this means that it,s a faulty electro valve causing the tickover to remain high on a warm engine. Another fault resolved but unless I can get the starting sorted out soon it's going through the next auction. Incidentally my VW Passat starts instantly whatever the temp & seems not to need preheating. How do they do it?

DLM · Post by **DLM** » 13 Oct 2003, 23:10

But how old is the Passat - is it a direct-injection diesel?
Can't remember from the start of this thread (I'll just check) but if there was any suggestion of leakback to the tank emptying the pump I'd be very suspicious of this. I've had 2 diesel BXs acting totally differently on the starting front - and the one I had the problems with (both cold and warm ambient temperatures) has the the Xantia-style fuel-feed&filtering arrangement. It consistently empties the the fuel filter when the car is left standing - and use of the priming pump brings a considerable improvement....
Apologies if this has been covered already - as I fear it may.
David

sandancer · Post by **sandancer** » 13 Oct 2003, 23:43

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by pete woods</i>

... I suppose this means that it,s a faulty electro valve causing the tickover to remain high on a warm engine...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Just had a similar problem with mine. High tickover when hot. Traced to the electrovalve going open circuit when warm. Checking with the EGR valve next to it, it's resistance should be about 25 ohms. When cold it was, however after it had been energised for about 10 minutes it was reading in excess of 1 meg ohms. Have currently bypassed the valve until the local Cit dealer gets me a new one (should've been today). Cost about £24 + vat. Tickover is slooooow when cold but ok when warmed up.
Another problem I had was with the vacuum pipes. I know you've said you've checked them, but have you looked at the one that goes to the EGR valve. That's located underneath the inlet manifold behind the cylinder head. It gets pretty warm down there and causes the rubber to perish quicker. All you need is a small spilt on the end of the pipe, and hey presto, no vacuum.

pete woods · Post by **pete woods** » 13 Oct 2003, 23:43

Yeah it has. the primer makes no difference. The only thing that effects how it starts is the ambient temp. The hotter the day the quicker it starts. The passat is just coming up to 3 years.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 14 Oct 2003, 00:14

Pete - I guess your Passat then is fitted with WV's version of the HDI engine. The new generation high pressure direct diesel injection starts instantly w/o needs for preheating.
It's like coming from steam engines - to petrol combustion engines [:p]