Van Slow to Start

mfceiling

Hi lads.

Jumped into my van this morning and at the first attempt it turned over lazily and stopped. Turned it off, ignition on, waited for the glow plug light to go off then tried again. This time it barely fired into life and I had to feather the throttle before it properly started.

It was chugging into life for about 10 seconds as if it was running on one cylinder.

Bit of background. I hadn't started it in 9 days. It has never given an ounce of bother at all and is very well serviced and not driven hard.

2015 fiat doblo 1.3 diesel. 125k miles on the clock. Always has good diesel from the branded stations and serviced well before interval recommendations.

John.G

It may have a mechanical lift pump to get the fuel from the tank to the HP pump and oil may have drained back to tank over the 9 days especially if parked on a incline facing upwards.

Sound like glow plugs are gone or starter bearings are fucked. That's where I would look first.

mfceiling

Thanks lads. Was parked on level ground. Started this morning relatively easy. I drove around quite a bit yesterday and there was no bother on it.

I might get my mechanic to throw in 4 new glow plugs as a precaution anyway as it's quite a cheap job and it will let me see then if it needs further attention.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120897537#Comment_120897537

Slow start on a cold engine which has sat for a bit letting the oil all run to the sump sort of points of glow plugs - once the engine is warm and well lubricated it would largely disappear. A good mechanic should be able to check them without replacing.

mfceiling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120897571#Comment_120897571

Thanks Shoog. I'll drop it down to my lad next week 👍