Problems starting my Diesel Vectra!

Bargin_Betty79

Hello,
I'm hoping someone with a mechanical mind or who has previously owned a Vectra can give me a bit of advice.

I'm having problems starting my car from cold, I leave the coil light on the dash to go out and the engine turns over but takes ages to finally 'kick in' when it does there's a bit of white smoke and then its fine (Seems to be worse when left over night or for long periods of time). Last night I turned the key and nothing! Left if for a bit and it finally started, not straight off but turned over and then 'kicked in'.
I've been told it could possibly be the glow plugs tho I've had a bit of conflicting advice on this and also it could be leak off pipes or injector seals. (I've no idea what any of these are). I'm hoping someone can enlighten me as to what these things do and roughly how much it would cost to get them done at a garage.
Thanks for your help in advance,
BB X

DaveMacD

When you say 'nothing happened', do you mean the warming light never came on, or that the engine never turned over? How old is the car, and how old is the battery?

CHR15

Battery would be my first guess.

pitkin2020

glow plugs or battery i would say, if the weather is cold and they are old the glow plugs may not be heating all that well, but as you say its worse when left it sounds like it could also be the battery draining, both items should always be tip top

Bargin_Betty79

Hi DaveMac,
I had no power at all, no lights or anything. I've been to Halfords and the battery has been checked and its okay. The car is a 51reg and to my knowledge has never had replacement glow plugs but the battery is only a year old.
But....I've just got in it after leaving it standing in the rain for 5 hours and it started first time!
x

hartcjhart

sounds like a loose connection somewhere,did halfrauds check the battery terminals were tight?

pitkin2020

glow plugs should be changed every 2 years, i alwys do mine annually as they do have a habit of become stuck in the head if left for too long

Bargin_Betty79

Glow plugs seems to be the popular opinion, is this something a garage can check or will they just put new ones in? (any idea how much this is going to cost?).

rictus123

Battery. Im having this problem. Cold weather and frost just kill it.

pitkin2020

they can check them but TBH they will charge you labour for just checking them and then labour for fitting them if they aren't right, it would be cheaper to just have them replaced, if you have had the car atleast 2 years and they have never been changed it wont do any harm, 20 min job

vaio

Bargin_Betty79 wrote: »

Hi DaveMac,
I had no power at all, no lights or anything. I've been to Halfords and the battery has been checked and its okay. The car is a 51reg and to my knowledge has never had replacement glow plugs but the battery is only a year old.
But....I've just got in it after leaving it standing in the rain for 5 hours and it started first time!
x

Poor starting might be glow plugs although our 1999 Iveco van still has the originals in and starts on the button every time

The no power thing is a connection issue, if it was as a result of a battery problem it wouldn’t have recovered with no attention