Starting beltch

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Yikes. This morning my car really struggled to start. I'm assuming the deep wind-chill overnight was the main factor. My battery is only 2 months old! Anyway, it barely turned over, must have taken 3 seconds of cranking before it "caught", and when it did, it chuntered to itself for about 10 seconds like it was only firing on 1 then 2 then 3 cylinders, and all the while emitted quite a lot of whiteish smoke!
After that all seemed fine.

Anything to worry about do you think?
 
I've had this too a few times recently, Dan, always after a really cold night. The longer the cranking time, the bigger the belch.
I'm not too concerned about it.
 
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It is quite common up here too....
I am wondering if it could be worth changing the glow plugs as mine take 15 seconds to to warm sometimes.
Mine usually cranks instantly once the glow plug warning has gone off. If the radio comes on with the ignition does turning it off make the car start easier?

John
 
Popped out about 10pm last night when the wind chill had the temp down to 'feels like' -7 and the car had been standing for over 24 hours and it sounded very poorly when I started it. All squeaky, rough and rattle-y, with some very noticeable vibration coming from the bonnet area just in front of the driver :confused: bad enough for me to get out and check things over, was fine again after a 20 minute drive. Should I be worried about these sort of noises?
 
Hi All

I have been away for a week and got back yesterday went out to start the car and it cranked for ages before firing up. I just put it down to the the low temp and damp in the intake air-filter etc but I was wondering how long should the glow plug signal illuminate for? Mine only seems to come on for not even a second, is that normal? My Polo used to stay on for a few seconds and previous cars I have driven you dont crank them until the glow plug goes out.

Cheers
 
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shreddedmeat said:
Popped out about 10pm last night when the wind chill had the temp down to 'feels like' -7 and the car had been standing for over 24 hours and it sounded very poorly when I started it. All squeaky, rough and rattle-y, with some very noticeable vibration coming from the bonnet area just in front of the driver :confused: bad enough for me to get out and check things over, was fine again after a 20 minute drive. Should I be worried about these sort of noises?
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Wind chill doesn't affect the engine's standing temperature, it would be ambient. But even so, -7C is nothing. Mine starts first time no problem. I run 5W30 Castrol Edge, before I was running 10W40 Quantum but neither should make any real differences with just below zero.

Dan, could it be the sudden return of cold weather made the diesel a bit thicker and the injectors jammed slightly?
 
I find mine does this too, so to overcome it, I cycle the ignition on / off several times so the glow plug cycle runs serveral times. Then starts nicely ;)
 
Mine has a lumpy start when it's been really cold this year, take a few attempts and then needs cranking for 4-5secs before starting and has started flashing the glow plug light at me so am going to get the fault codes checked. It has new battery, glowplugs, cambelt & starter motor so should not have any issues and when started runs smooth. I suspect a possible sensor fault from reading other threads and with the extra effort in the cold when the oil and fuel it thick it acts up. Does anybody know which sensor is primarily responsible for start up timing is it the Crank or Cam sensor?

Also a glow plugs life span is indeterminate, you would normally expect 100k but they can go quicker or last the life time of the vehicle, as i'm sure your aware they are entirely different to spark plugs so don't need changing unless they go wrong. With the size of the engine most of the time you could easily start an A2 with no glow plugs at all but obviously when cold they will need a little extra help. If the car cranks over for a bit then fire with white smoke thats a sign it's starting without one or more of the plugs and it's starting on compression alone (i've had several deisel cars & van of various ages so are quite used to their behaviour) Once running it does not need the plugs so will run normally.
 
Good post, Hudson. The glow plugs in my car were replaced just before I bought it, 35k miles ago, but they could be cheepo ones. A new set of OEM plugs may improve matters.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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