207 1.4 hdi hard to start cold

[doctle]

Hi Guys
My 207 1.4 HDi is hard to start from cold even on quite nice days. Once it's going it will start easily until it goes stone cold again. Years ago I had a Passat tdi it was the devil to start cold too. I got the timing checked and it was slightly off a diesel specialist reset it and car started easily.
Could the 207 be slightly off the timing? Is there a timing position on the HP pump? I can't think of anything else. The glow plug light never comes on mechanic reckons it only comes on in really cold weather. It drives well dash, says 64mpg. Any suggestions ?

[JohnD]

The Mk11 C5 I used to own became difficult to start once it got very cold. Once started, it was fine for the rest of the day. Finally I left it with a Citroen dealer overnight. They diagnosed that the starter was not turning fast enough to build fuel pressure high enough to start. I replacement starter cured the fault.

[ekjdm14]

No timing mark on the HP pump (well, there IS a locking pin position for changing cam belt, but position is not important. Ours was about 90* out when I did the cambelt & made no difference)

Also from (bitter!) experience I can assure you that the HDi will start in sub zero conditions with dead glowplugs just fine, you'll just get an "antipollution fault" message and limp mode! As mentioned it's possible it's not spinning over fast enough, Diagbox live data would confirm. Could be a bad earth strap though rather than starter on this smaller engine, wouldn't be the first time the engine earth has fractured on an HDi. Worth checking/eliminating that with a jump lead between battery -ve and the head/block before spending on either a starter or battery (that's the other option, dead cell in the battery causing subtly slower cranking when cold).

Bit late to the party as I've not been online lately but hope it's of some help.

[doctle]

I will try the jump lead today thanks for the tip!

[white exec]

Check both battery connectors. If either gets at all warm after a bit of cranking, there is a poor connection there, which could be dropping starter motor revs.

[doctle]

I tried the jump lead on cold start made no difference so I took off the earth strap and cleaned the ends, it was pretty clean. I followed the procedure for reconnecting the battery now i have a different problem. The low fuel light stays on until you release the handbrake and the door open light stays on until you plug in your seat belt. Any ideas?