Difficulty starting and lights when accelerating

[Clio 1.5 dci]

Over the past few weeks I've been having issues starting the DCI. Ticks over but it takes a good few attempts to get it going. Glow plugs have been changed, but no difference. When the car starts it works just fine, apart from when you put your foot down too quickly it then presents with warning lights on dash, but keeps going nevertheless. Some people have suggested it to be the injectors.

Today, after the usual wrestle with the car trying to get it to start, I decided to call out RAC to see if they could help diagnose the problem once and for all. The guy came and plugged in his diagnostic reader which came up with 10 fault codes. He cleared them apart from one - fuel pressure sensor. He said this was on the fuel rail and suggested this could be the problem for both issues.

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with the above issues and the possibility of it being the sensor he's talking about? A quick search on eBay looks like it's not as expensive, but more importantly, a quicker fix than the injectors/fuel pump.

 

[GrahamS]

Yeah, loads of experience with this. It's low fuel pressure, caused by two things, injectors and pump.
If the mileage is low it's likely to be an injector and if higher it's more likely a fuel pump.
Do a leak off test on the injectors to disgnose if on injector is particularly gone.
The FP is driven by the cambelt so the faster the engine is spinning the more fuel pressure available to the system.

 

[Clio 1.5 dci]

Do you think the sensor might also need replacing - perhaps it's not regulating the fuel properly when required?
I remember doing an idle leak off test a few months ago. It was a big pain because the car took ages to start and battery almost died. I I got it working I concluded that there wasn't any significant difference in the bottles to suggest it was an injector fault. I also ripped open the fuel filter and couldn't find any metal filings either (unless they are so tiny that they can go undetected easily).
Would it help if I change the sensor?