Technical 1.6 Diesel Starting Problem.

[Les38]

For some time now I have been plaqued with a strange starting problem in that the car [Grande punto 1.6 multijet sporting] does not start well eg.when cold it requires many turns of the starter before it fires up. When the engine is hot similar but not so bad.When the engine is warm say a trip of a mile or so it wont start at all,the only solution at the moment is a squirt of easy start into the air filter inlet.
I took the car to a so called diesel specialist who told me the injectors where over fueling.Some time later I asked them to examine it thoroughly with a view to repair or replace,after leaving the car there for two days they told me there was nothing wrong with the injectors.Well I dont trust them for a minute but it leaves me in an awkward position as to what to do next.Other advice I have taken is to replace the camshaft position sensor,glow plugs, glow plug control box,Fuel filter etc.The fuel consumpion is now beginnig to deteriate.I know there are a host of other sensores etc that could be the cause of this but none of them are cheap.The car is fifteen years old and is not worth spending a fortune on which is a damn shame as it has been a pleasure to own and drive and I dont want to scrap it as it has only done 40,000 miles from new and is in vgc.Any help or suggestions from the community would be gratefully recieved.Many thanks.Oh BTW no error messages of any kind apart from "check fuel filter"and performance is otherwise unaffacted.

 

[HughJarsse]

My first port of call would be to get some diagnostics on it. See what if any codes get thrown up. (preferably some 'live' data too) to see what is happening when you turn the engine over. Better to go that route than just try changing things ad hoc.
Mes is probably the best to try?

 

[Les38]

My first port of call would be to get some diagnostics on it. See what if any codes get thrown up. (preferably some 'live' data too) to see what is happening when you turn the engine over. Better to go that route than just try changing things ad hoc.
Mes is probably the best to try?

Many thanks for your reply and suggestions.I have not tried Mes yet but did contact another local diesel specialist [not the one mentioned in the main text] who examined the car,I dont know what software they used but no fault codes or otherwise showed.A friend of mine recently had the use of a diagnostic tool it was quite sofistcated but once again I do not know the device name.This indicated a problem with the glow plugs and hinted at an ecu fault.Replacement of that unit is a thought to terrible to contemplate at the moment.So I`ll just wait see what gives.Thanks again and Merry Christmas.