Xantia Starting Problems

[Lazza]

HI

 

I recently bought a citroen xantia. I have replaced the glow plugs but still seem to have a starting problem.

 

When the engine has been hot then cooled down for a bit, it seems to have difficulty firing. Once running it seems to have no probs.

 

Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing this?

 

many thanks

 

Larry

[Guest kingy001]

Could be drawing air into the system or the diesel is running back to the tank!!!

 

It should have a primer pump if its pre 99/00 on the fuel inlet pipe in the engine compartment. Unsure how it is on other xantias but my 1.9 diesel has the primer connected to a high pressure garden hose which is clear, which in turn travels to the injection pump this allows to see if there is any air bubbles passing thru the system which point to it drawing air from somewhere.

 

If it is minor and you cant find the drawing point for the air then the problem can be solved by pumping the primer a few times to draw fuel from the tank b4 you start her up also check all the special clips and check there secure if you unsure of any of them replace them with new jubilee clips. Also check the diesel spill pipes connecting the injectors to each other these are the small rubber pipes that drain excess diesel away from the injectors. some of these could be burst or popped of but replament pip can be bought from citroen or even you have the correct hose diameter you could buy it from a good hardware shop

 

If there is no problem with air and fuel supply then take a look at the solenoid on the injection pump as this may be sticking. I had a similar problem and once it was air in the fuel lines and the other time it was the solenoid switch, which decided it only wanted to open now and again and stayed closed especially when it was cold. This can be checked by cracking the injectors to see if the switch is open and supplying diesel to the injectors ok.

 

Again if this is not the problem then use an amp meter to check that all the glow plugs are drawing the correct amps to heat the plugs to the desired temprature for starting the engine if any are not drawing the correct amps then there may be a small electrical fault between the glow plug control unit and the plugs

 

Also the control unit itself maybe faults and not sending any current to the glow plugs and this can be checked by an auto electrician too but no advisable to replace this without professional help as i have never heard of one thats went unless it was damaged plus its a wee bit expensive too. If you need to you can find it in the box behind the battery on the 1.9 models.

 

If its none of these then it could be compression too but to be honest i aint seen much problems with this either it is probably something very simple like one of the above. Check these first and if no luck come back and i'll think some more about it.

 

Hope this helps yah