Saxo diesel won't start - please help!
 

Saxo diesel x-reg won't start. It's run daily and has been starting perfectly. I parked up, went out three hours later and it won't start. Turns over fine - so battery fine - starter working fine, but car won't kick into action. Plenty of fuel in.

One clue to failure could be that the glow plug light only flashes on for about half a second - whereby normally it is on for 4 or 5 seconds. Glow plugs were changed less than 2 years ago.

Do you thing it's the glow plug relay control module? Or any other ideas?
Thanks in advance.

The glow plugs are there to help with cold starts, glow plugs aren't needed for warm starts. Did you manage to get the car started? I don't know my way around the diesel at all but I'm assuming there's a primer pump, have you tried hand priming it?

First check that when you squeeze the primer bulb, that you can see no bubbles in the clear pipe that go from the filter housing to the fuel pump.

Glow plugs are needed for cold starting, starting from room temperature is a "cold" start, its nowt to do with the weather. It can be 25 degrees outside, this particular engine still needs glowplugs to start :)

Glow plugs can fail quickly, I've had some die after only a few months.

The glow plug light works independent, the relay ALWAYS supplies the glow plugs with 12v for 30 seconds. So turn on the ignition and use a multimeter to check that the glow plugs are getting 12v (well it'll probably show 10.8-11v) when you turn on the ignition.

You should hear the glow plug relay click when you turn on the ignition, and you should hear it click off after 20-30 seconds.

If you can't hear it click and there isn't 12v at the plugs, then I'd try another relay.


In the meantime, if you're stuck, (disconnect the battery first) undo the wire on the bottom of the relay that feeds the plugs. pull it out of the conduit and hold it on the +ve battery terminal for 10 seconds. Then start the car.