Shoud have said on original post, already changed heater plugs and had injectors tested, fuel pump in tank is producing 2 bar but this pressure is lost as soon as ignition is switched off or relay times out.
does anyone know if system pressure should be retained?

 

Hey tigers7,,, right where do i start,,, I have a combo 1.3 cdti 2005 80000 miles. When i got the van ln the summer it started fine every morning for 2 weeks, then one morning it took about 10 minutes to start and every time it was turned off it would do the same, eventually traced the fault to a perished rubber seal on the fuel pressure regulator, once replaced it started straight away no probs whoopie doo,, The following morning when i whent to start it it chugged for a few seconds then started now it does exactly the same as yours every morning and it does my head in lol, Right here we go ___ in the past few months it has had new injector seals, leak off pipes, glow plugs, filters, fuel pressure sensor and regulator, upgraded starter motor Valeo 1.3 KW, new bosch Battery £100, fuel pump seals,serviced twice with genuine Vauxhall parts had it pressure tested cylinders and low pressure fuel side everything spot on, had it on Vauxhall diagnostics everything fine and up to date, had it on Opcom 2 everything fine, eventually i got so cheesed off i took it to a diesel specialist who told me before even looking at it that the fiat 1.3 cdti engine is notorius for starting first thing and even has a 20 second start time on average and if i can start mine in a couple of seconds then im lucky,, The thing is how do some peoples start at the first turn of the key and some take ages ,,, The point i am trying to make mate is dont go spending fortunes like i did as chances are it wont make a difference !

 

thanks for the warning!!!!!! mrkcnn. Trouble is I hate getting beat and I know that there must be a fix for this somewhere as it used to, like yours start ok. this isnt just a cold start issue as it started happening in mid summer and only after being switched off for less than an hour. have been away on holiday so havn't been too bothered and cant afford to keep trying different things, but will keep trying to get more information on this wherever I can, never know it may be something simple and cheap that hasnt been made public knowledge as yet.

did the scanners check live reardings on your temp sensors (what the ecu is being told)? this would have required a check when engine was cold. read on another post that this can cause starting issues as injection timing does not get advanced.

 

I have same engine and also experienced starting issues, albeit on a warm engine. Fixed mine by adding some Wynns hydraulic valve lifter treatment. Theory was on mine valves were not shutting and were partially stuck open due to gummed up valve lifter weep holes. Also using thicker oil than the recommended 0-5W may make matters worse.

Worth a try for £8

Regards

 

I have same engine and also experienced starting issues, albeit on a warm engine. Fixed mine by adding some Wynns hydraulic valve lifter treatment. Theory was on mine valves were not shutting and were partially stuck open due to gummed up valve lifter weep holes. Also using thicker oil than the recommended 0-5W may make matters worse.

Worth a try for £8

Regards

 

I had a similar problem and I tested all the glowplugs with a meter between the glow plug connector and the engine block and found that 3 showed very high resistance. So I replaced all the glowplugs. When I tested the removed glowplugs again, they were all ok and there was just a spot of carbon on the tip of each glowplug.

So, thinking back, when I was removing the glowplugs, they were stiff all the way and I noticed a lot of white dust coming out of each glowplug socket.

I suspect that electrolytic corrosion had completely insulated the glow plugs from earth and that was why they were not working. If that was the case then just removing them and replacing the same plugs would probably have been the cure, as the threads would have been scraped clean in the process. Or maybe plugs on the way out fail at a certain temperature? Anyway, at the moment my car seems to be starting ok again with the new plugs.