Slow starting

cavanmaniac

I've an Audi A4 tdi, 2002, got it serviced recently and two days ago it seems to have developed an occasional problem starting.

It sometimes takes quite a few turns of the engine for it to start, and even at that, it will 'rumble' quite slowly to life. It seems to happen when the car has been parked for a few minutes or longer, say overnight.

I've had this difficulty starting it, got her going, went on my journey and then to test it, switched off and restarted again upon parking, with no problems.

At other times, the car starts fine whether it's been parked up or not. I'm a bit puzzled, can anyone help me out here as to what's going on? It's running fine, it's just the starting that's a bit confused...

HJL

Could be the heater/glow plugs from what you describe, as once the diesel is heated the car starts fine-when you said you turned it off and on again after a journey. Does the orange pig-tail light come up on your dash when its trying to start?

cavanmaniac

It comes on with the ignition, goes off and then I turn the key. I never turn the key until it's gone off but it doesn't come on when the engine is actually trying to start. You might be right though...

Run_to_da_hills

Also could be the sign of a dying battery.

cavanmaniac

It's still at it this evening. I noticed that the glow plug lamp is going out much quicker than it used to. Is this generally indicative of a glow plug problem, yes?

And what's the general lifespan of a car battery under normal usage conditions?

voxpop

Faulty temp senders can result in cold startup problems sometimes

bbability

voxpop wrote: »

Faulty temp senders can result in cold startup problems sometimes

I'd be more inclined to agree with this one.

The glow plug light on modern diesels should only stay on for no more than a few seconds at worst. If you had a faulty glow plug your orange light would flash on occassion whilst driving. What milage is on the car and how old is it? Genrally Glow plugs have a life of 100,000 miles.

By the sound of things you need to get it seen to before it lets you down...

cavanmaniac

Yeah it's a 2002 just gone over the 100k. Glow plug lamp stays on for less than a second I'd say, definitely shorter than previously, but is not flashing while driving which is unusual for the Audi because they have warning lights for everything.

I'd best get her looked at sharpish. I'm assuming it's a fairly run-of-the-mill job, yeah?

bbability

cavanmaniac wrote: »

I'd best get her looked at sharpish. I'm assuming it's a fairly run-of-the-mill job, yeah?

Oh yeah. Nothing too complicated.