sjw

New tubes & pump seem to have fixed it. The old hand pump or its connection was letting air in. As you suggested, under pressure it was fine & no diesel leaked out but under vacuum it was allowing air in. I suppose that disturbing the connection to replace the filter was too much for its tired old tubes (car has done 220,000km now & this is the first problem we have had!). Thanks to all for ideas and advice Steve

New filter seemed to do trick for 2 days then problem returned! Just had pipes around hand pump and hand pump itself replaced (60€ + labour) and so far so good. Engine starts without using accelerator now which it wouldn't do when air was in system. Fingers crossed...

Thanks for the advice - the car is booked in to have a replacement filter tomorrow. Will let you know. Steve

I know this is an old thread but I was browsing to find exactly this problem! Did you ever find a solution? Just had my C3 1.4 HDi 04 serviced including fuel filter change. It now behaves similarly to yours although sometimes all is well if the engine is started with foot on the throttle (never used to need this). At times it stalls after 10 seconds then refuses to start without manual fuel pump being used - and during this lots of air bubbles/foam appears in the clear part of the fuel line. There is also the sound of air being sucked in as I use the pump (quieter than the obligatory sharp intake of breath from all good mechanics). I had hoped it was just air in the system that needed purging but the problem continues. To add to the fun the orange engine light sometimes comes on and stays on until engine has been off for a couple of hours. Car runs really well once started, no sign of smoke from exhaust. Mechanic is baffled - no fault codes showing, no leak or even smell of diesel. Any ideas... anyone... please. Thanks Steve

Thanks 4 the speedy reply - I will go digging & see what I can find

I have about a 5 second rattle (sounding like a small machine gun!) coming from the dash, apparently just to the right of the CD player (Spanish model C3 1.4 Hdi SX 70 with auto aircon) It happens, I think, when the temperature in the car reaches the temp set on the air con but in winter it happens as soon as I start the car. Doesn't seem to cause any problems but terrifies new passengers. Any ideas? (apologies if this has already been covered - I'm new to the forum)