dCi struggling to start up.

[withnick1]

its only just started doing this, i went out to it on tuesday morning and tried to start the car, it was trying to fire, but they seemed to be no "spark" ( i know diesels dont spark, but you know what i mean, i hope!). tried to start 2 or 3 times, but didnt want to fire up. when trying to start though, the "engine stop" and the diesel "squiggily wire" light was flashing and the immobiliser light was on.

then my dad came out and tried to start, same thing happened, didnt fire. then we locked and unlocked the car, and tried again. it started up, but run really lumpy for 30 seconds.:S

yesterday, came to start the car, it started no problem, but the engine seemed to cut out straight away, on the next attempt it fired up and ran ok.

does anybody know what this could be. been told it could be the heater plug relay??:S

any help would be appreciated. cheers. nick.

 

[sideways danny]

could be your glow plugs need replacing. worth removing and cleaning out the EGR valve and boot pipes too. Last pipe i took off was clogged up to less than the size of my thumb internal bore, and the EGR valves get very dirty if the engine is never pushed and just pottered about for maximum mpg.

 

[withnick1]

i will check them tomorrow, when i have chance mate.

anybody else got anymore suggestions.

they will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Sean6545]

You can rule out the glow plugs for one. They dont need them for starting at all these days. You say the imob light does not go out?

 

[withnick1]

when i was trying to start it on the tuesday, the immobiliser light was on, yes.

but since then, it hasnt been on. could it be immobiliser then? lol, im usless with cars ha.

 

[Sean6545]

If you turn the ignition on and it goes out, its working as it should. Next step is to get a diagnostics test. Not just fault codes but with someone that knows what they are looking at with the live information.

Not being funny, but you havnt put petrol in it have you? Iv seen it so many times...

 

[withnick1]

no, definatley havnt put petrol in it, only had diesel cars, so a bit of a habbit lol. ill get it to a garage or specialist then, cheers.

 

[shumoboi]

as someone previous said, id have alook at the egr valve mate, we use the k9k engine in some of our nissans and we often are removing them to clean as they have a tendancy to stick and soot up and give bad starting, running lumpy etc.

 

[Sean6545]

My moneys on a fuel pressure problem, or possibly an injector fault.

 

[shumoboi]

you could be right mate, when was the fuel filter last changed?

 

[withnick1]

its hopefully going itno a garage this week for an engine diagnostics check, hopefully that will point me to the problem. me and the old mans going to take the EGR valve off on wednesday and check its not full of soot and s**t lol.

i hope it isnt an injector fault, on of the injector copper seals have gone twice, with loss of power and a black tar type substance surrounding the injector at fault. does anybody know on the off chance, of how much an injector would most likely cost for a 2003 dCi 80 clio? as a last resort lol.

i was going to bang it in the autotrader to see if i could sell it, and get something else, but if its going to cost me a fortune to fix, might aswell keep it lol.
im going on holiday on bank holiday monday, this is all i need lol.

thanks for all the help though guys, really appreciated

 

[shumoboi]

when was the last time the fuel filter was replaced mate? get that done and update from there. i did have a spare one in work mate but stripped it down to use the needle lift plate for a kia sedona lol dont you just love delphi.

 

[withnick1]

i havnt a clue when the fuel filter was replaced, bought the car in august last year, and it needed a service, but i havnt replaced it. only did an oil, oil filter and airfilter change in may(ish).

my dad reckons its not fuel filter related.

do you know where is the heater plug relay located mate?

 

[Sean6545]

Next to the fuel filter

 

[shumoboi]

ive changed heater plugs on that engine before, not ruling out a faulty relay tho, why dont you check the resistance of the heater plugs should be around 0.6ohms iirc

 

[withnick1]

just gone out to have a look and it seems pretty clean, unplugged it and plugged it back in to check it hasnt vibrated loose.

going to bring a tester home from work tomorrow and check the resistances of each glow plug and see if the relays at fault, if not, its going to garage for diagnostics.

is they any specific web-pages about the dCi engines? if so, could you post us a link up :rasp:

 

[shumoboi]

go on google and type in renault k9k dci engine

 

[withnick1]

i will do now, cheers mate

 

[withnick1]

ive hopefully found the problem.i checked if there was any voltage to the glowplug plug thing (plastic plug that connects to the glowplug) when the key was out of the ignition. there was 6.7v going to the glowplug, which will explain why the battery was draining everytime i tried to start the car.

so went to renault yesterday and explained the problem to the technician, and he said, glowplug relay straight away.

he said, they should be no voltage to the plugs when the key is out of the ignition, and if there is voltage the relay is knackered.

are these glowplug relays a renault only part. if so they want £48.00+vat (£56.60 inc vat). the part number is 7700115078.

cheers nick..