1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

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paultintin
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by paultintin »

Ok will give that a try cheers.
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by paultintin »

Just a quick update. Car is starting fine and so far hasn't had an issue when starting up. Changed the fuel filter and now its starting fine.The only thing it has is once started from cold at idle it will smoke (white smoke) which I'm presuming is unburnt fuel but once running the car drives fine with no warning lights etc. Seeing as it's had new glow plugs, injectors tested, new injector seals, fuel filter, air and oil filter , oil change, maf sensor, water pump and cam belt I'm not sure what else to begin looking at as to why it does smoke at idle when cold.
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by spider »

The smoke (migh still) point to slightly leaky injectors but you've had them tested hmm.

The ideal next step would be to watch the live data with diag while it is running to see the flow rates and the like. I do not have any specific ideal data though on what it should actually be.
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by Bick »

As Spider says or do a leak off test this will give a good indication of injector condition.
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by ekjdm14 »

How long does the white smoke last on cold start? if it's just a puff as the engine fires it could still be a (much improved) air in fuel issue causing a misfire until the air is "bled" from the system.

Seeing as how the cold starting apparently massively improved when you swapped the fuel filter, hence disturbing the pipes in the area & which have also been disturbed during your previous glow plug job, I'd suggest there could still be a small air leak into the pipework possibly at one of the fuel filter unions.

How about the primer bulb, does this still feel empty before a cold start or is it full now? and does "pumping your bulb till it goes hard" so to speak, just prior to a cold start, have any effect on whether it smokes or not?

Just to make 100% it's not air related seeing as things improved with the new filter...
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by paultintin »

Cheers for the advice the car has settled down alot over the last few days. The car starts first turn of the key and runs fine no missing etc. The white smoke has greatly reduced but is still present when first started in the morning. A local mechanic told me the injectors can take a little while to bed in something about they need time to set up I think he said so maybe that's all it is. The white smoke will come out the exhaust while idling for the first 30 secs to a minute or so it is alot less and instead of a big cloud behind me(usually it's easilly visible in any mirror) it's just a small amount now and is alot harder to spot. I may give it a week see if it reduces more until it's hopefully gone. The primer bulb has fuel in it now so guessing that air was getting in before and now it's not. Thanks again for all the help and advice will update in a week or so to see if it's sorted itself or if there's been any further developments with it
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by spider »

Good to know things are better and thanks for posting back too, always nice to know how things went. :)
Andy.

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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by paultintin »

Cars alot better starts first time smoke is now minimal to nothing but have now got more problems with it. I have a faulty handbrake / abs / esp fault it's getting more frequent so guessing I've got a dodgy wheel/abs sensor as changed the brake pedal switch( making sure I measured the old one's length and matched it to the new one) really simple and cheap Job which was worth a try first. It's seems to go from one fault to another lol
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by gijoe50000 »

Holy crap, this sounds exactly like my story at the moment. Changed cam, w/pump, filters etc. Still loads of white smoke at start-up, sometimes hard to start and a floppy primer.
In my case it will either start after ~1s, or not start at all, no matter what I do.. repeated cranking pumping primer etc. Then the next morning it might start fine. That was a few days ago. Now I haven't been able to get it started since.

I was initially assuming a crack in the fuel line. I mostly park faced uphill, and I was assuming the fuel was draining back down in to the tank at night. But then it would start first crank the NEXT day so I don't know. I just bought the car and the oil level looked really high so I drained a pint or so, and it's down to the max level now.
There was lots of oil in the air doser, bottom of the air filter and underside of the engine.. but it's not leaking. I'm assuming it may have been overfilled and there was an empty 5L oil can in the boot (think 3.5L is recommended). Not sure though because the guy I bought it from seemed to know his stuff.

I was also assuming a crack in the line because after hardening the primer it would sometimes soften again after cranking, or soften if I kept pumping harder (after it hardened). But it might be a leak at one of the injectors, I'm not sure, I'm still new to this but I'm learning a lot over the last few days.

Anyway, think I'll have a look around the fuel filter again tomorrow, maybe take it off, poke it, and put it back on. Then remove the injectors and maybe replace the seals and see how it goes.
Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas are welcome!
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Re: 1.6hdI fuel injector dripping/bad starting

Post by taffy »

Lol I'm having this problem myself at the moment I'll try pumping primer before start ;) and has my mk1 r 1.6 hdi not got an in tank pump? My xantias did?? Thanks in advance ;)
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