avendoor

Hi all, forgive me if this has come up before but I'm in a bit of a pickle...
I recently became the proud owner of a mk1 1.8 tcdi focus and have been loving the car apart from one thing. When the car is cold, its hard to start. Now i have a small idea about cars but I thought to ask as we all hate parting with money...

The problem I have is that even on cold mornings the glow plug light on the dashboard lights up for 1 second and goes out... now its my guess thst something is a little wrong as the car is hard to start...
What I have tried;

Tested glowplugs, (via taking them out and jump leads on battery... nice and hot in 5 secs)
Checked glow plug relay with rear window heater relay (both working)
Checked engine fuse box fuses for glow plugs


Now on that last note I noticed that there seemed to be a symbol in the fuse box with a glowplug and water like symbol... i am guessing this is some kind of temperature sensor fuse, this was also ok... but I also noticed R1 was a relay with the same symbol but was missing...
now the fact question is.... is there meant to be a relay there and would it solve my problem if there was a relay there ad I am assuming that a relay unit would switch the glowplugs circuit on or is my 1 second wonder related to something else?

Also... activating the glowplugs several times on cold mornings cures the starting problem before cranking it over... simulating a working propper time for glowplugs to be on for...

any help is much appreciated

Kurt458

Dude mine was doing the same all I did was remove all fuses linked to glow plugs turn ignision to position 2 then PDF again then ensure all fuses for glow plugs are placed back in the right place use the owners manual to find the right places and hey pressto

Kurt458

Dude mine was doing the same all I did was remove all fuses linked to glow plugs turn ignision to position 2 then back again then ensure all fuses for glow plugs are placed back in the right place use the owners manual to find the right places and hey pressto

avendoor

Thank you for your response, I tried this an no change, car still hates starting, new air, oil and fuel filters and full new set of glow plugs installed, tested before they went in, the car still struggles to start, turns over quite a bit before firing, made sure I am not just turning the key, waiting for all lights on dashboard to go out and have checked the fuses :-(

uruk hai

Perhaps your starter is getting a bit tired, when mine was going it would be a pig to start first thing but once it had been running for a while it would start easily for the rest of that day ! If the starter doesn't turn the engine over at 750rpm the injectors won't fire and the whole thing just shakes like its about to fall apart, also worth charging the battery if you've only been doing short journeys in the colder months.

Good luck

avendoor

Thx for your response battery is quite old so might look at changing that 1st as its easier and the cheaper option, failing that I'll look to changing the starter motor last, partly because its a pig of a job and so far, the cheapest quote I got was 268 quid part exchange. :-( for just the part. Any other idea's are welcome though

uruk hai

Shop around and I wouldn't be bothered about having a recon starter, here's one I found.

http://www.startermotor-alternator-s...163-1167-p.asp

What you describe regarding starting the car does seem to be something that happens with the starters on TDCI's. One of the main reasons mine went was put down to lack of use as over time the steel shaft that runs through a phosphor bronze bush gets dirty and some of the dirt gets in between the bush and the shaft increasing the friction and putting more and more load on the starter, eventually getting to the point where it really struggles and ultimately fails to crank the engine fast enough. The problem is that without testing the starter or putting a known good battery on the car some people will put the sluggishness of the starter down to a failing battery only to fit a new one and find there is no difference when trying to start the car.

tdmike

you can tell when your battery is past its use by date when it cranks over your dials will shoot all the way over to the right if it doesnt do this the battery is fine

uruk hai

Sounds resonable to me, my dials were always fine and as I said it turned out to be my starter !

donut2k13

i changed my starter motor myself which took me about an hour and i went to unipart automotive for the starter motor and cost me £90.00 so in all cost me £90.00+an hour of my time. so £268 is a complete ripp off your better off doing it your self and its a piec of cake to change.

Sooty999

Hi everyone. I'm at the point of breaking with this car and please can someone try and help. Many thanks.

Purchased a 2002 1.8 TDCi Focus Estate 6 months back for a top price of £1950.

It was one owner and 61,000 miles. After 2 months the glow plug light kept flashing under load. I took it to a garage and they tested everything. Eventually found lack of pressure in the fuel pump. So that was replaced a long with the belt. The crank sensor was also replaced as the fault code was coming up. This cost us £1000.
The car has trouble starting in the morning as described above... Seems plenty of juice in the battery but car seems to shake like mad. Once started and run for a little it then starts ok. There does however seem to be a little 'screech' sound when the engine finally starts.
It wouldn't start at all one morning so off to another garage. Injectors were taken out and tested... 3 were goosed so we bought 4 and had them replaced costing today £916. (We were in too much to sell a non starting 52 plate Focus!)
Guess what... Still won't start until the 3rd time.

Now the glow plug light comes on but goes off almost straight away but after testing (and replacing) the glow plugs they are being heated for the required time.

We are now about £4200 into a 52 plate Focus and it still won't start. We have no money and can't borrow any more.

Please can someone help?

Cheers Jake.