starting problems

[paul c]

xc60 d3 111000 miles on clock, suddenly won't start, turns over but will not fire. breakdown guy found no errorcodes, no warnings or issues prior. after repeated attempts to start i now have soot error message , diagnostics yesterday found only dpf fault. as i had no fault showing when car intially broke down could the dpf really be at fault? has anyone else had similar experience?

[cheshired5]

Do you have any means of getting engine data?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by paul c

xc60 d3 111000 miles on clock, suddenly won't start, turns over but will not fire. breakdown guy found no errorcodes, no warnings or issues prior. after repeated attempts to start i now have soot error message , diagnostics yesterday found only dpf fault. as i had no fault showing when car intially broke down could the dpf really be at fault? has anyone else had similar experience?

first thought might be the low pressure fuel pump in the tank OR you are out of fuel and the gauge isn't reading correctly , put a couple of gallons in and try again .

[Bungo]

If you've been cranking for a while dpf error may be due to that.
Try some easy start to begin with.

[paul c]

Hi thanks for your help folks, car has got fuel in, unfortunately I can,t get any engine data, where do I get quick start from, and may be being stupid, but where do I put it?, from records I have car had a new fuel pump at 97000 miles.

[Bungo]

Originally Posted by paul c

Hi thanks for your help folks, car has got fuel in, unfortunately I can,t get any engine data, where do I get quick start from, and may be being stupid, but where do I put it?, from records I have car had a new fuel pump at 97000 miles.

Easy start from any car spares, sprayed into air intake.

[paul c]

Thanks bungo, do I need to disconnect anything first ? Maf sensor, or just spray straight into intake pipe?

[cheshired5]

Don't get Easy Start on a MAF. You'll kill it.

[skyship007]

Originally Posted by Bungo

Easy start from any car spares, sprayed into air intake.

If a car is worth more than scrap value, DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF EASY START, apart from the risk of dissolving the glue around the sensor wires in the MAF unit, it can cause the type of pre-ignition that will damage the HG in particular.

Anyone know if the engine will refuse to start after a DPF warning has been ignored for too long ?? Some ECU programs will throw a check engine light (CEL) and if that is ignored for a set distance, fail to inject any fuel. Most of those programs stop the starter motor from being used, BUT some don't.

Make 100% sure to observe starter motor overheat and cool down times. In general terms, if a fault that prevents a modern diesel has been resolved, the engine will start within a few seconds (Once primed), so there is no point in frying the starter motor.

If the engine has a priming pump (Often near the fuel filter), try using that until it goes hard, then see if it starts. If it does, but then stalls again, it might be sucking air in (Often caused by bad fuel filter O rings or the fuel filter is blocked), or run out of fuel. That might not result in a fault code.

I presume the breakdown chap checked the fuel filter and drained it of any water and tried jump starting it, cos a weak battery might not spin the engine fast enough for a cold start.
Also, I presume they checked the main fuse box for a blown ECU related fuse.

[Bungo]

Originally Posted by skyship007

If a car is worth more than scrap value, DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF EASY START.

Stuff has been on sale and used by many for years and I've never heard of it causing engines to be scrapped.

The idea of using easy start is to see if it will fire up for that short period of spraying. If it does then it's almost certainly a fueling issue not electrical.
Fuel systems diagnosis are a specialist thing more often than not depending on your own ability. If you have checked the usual stuff like filter and air leaks then it may be a case of getting it checked by specialist.