Van wont start

[johnycarper]

Not sure if this is the correct place but here goes,we have a Citroen berlingo 1.9 diesal van but not turbo and its 2005.The problem we have is that sometimes it will not start in the mornings and when we got the local garage out he went under bonnet and pushed the fuel primer and that gets it going.It did only happen every month or so but this week it was two mornings running has anyone else had this problem and what cured it,I am assuming its the fuel pump but not a mechanic so am after opinions.

Thanks,

John

[PaulT]

My initial thoughts would be that it is a fuel supply problem - possibly the pump being a little temperamental.

[Théière]

It's getting trickier these days, on some models there is a low pressure pump in the tank which feeds the filter and then the high pressure injector pump. Tank pumps do seem to be occasionally troublesome.

There is also the immobiliser built into the key and it's relationship with the injector pump.  On the rear of the injector pumps is a little circuit board burried in silicone and these to play up, dealers will try to get you to buy a new injector pump at great expense. The circuit board can sometimes be purchased and replaced but more commonly just bypassed in around 15-20mins.

Either way as it's an occasional fault they are always harder to diagnose. From memory the immobiliser fault shows up on the dashboard.

[dave21478]

If its a 1.9 with a hand primer under the bonnet then its probably an XUD engine (were these still used in 2005?) rather than a common rail thing. If so, it will be a mechanical injection pump and no electric lift pump in the tank.

If pumping the primer bulb gets it going, then its quite possibly a small air leak in the fuel system that is allowing the fuel to drain back to the tank, requiring it to be re-primed after it has been unused for a while. Could be a perished fuel hose, loose jubilee clip on a fuel line, loose fuel filter or leaking o-ring on the filter or a split in the diaphragm of the primer bulb itself.

[johnycarper]

sorry I should have checked this before but its a 2008 year and a bog standard 1.9 diesal with no fancy electrics not even central locking.As I said it only does it occasionally and after it has been stood all night but once started its no problem amnd may go another month before it does it again.The van has 306000 on the clock so dont want to spend much on it as we only use it as a work horse to save the car.

Thanks

[Chancer]

If you have a priming bulb then you are a Lucky man and you should use it when this happens until you find the cause of the air leak.

If you dont then slacken the union nut on the injector furthest from the pump, crank the engine until it seems to want to start, switch off, retighten union then start engine, you will have just carried out the procedure to bleed the air from the injection pump.

To my immense dis-honour despite being very well up on all things mechanical I hadnt any real experienec of diesels, my fuel sender sometimes plays up and I have run out a few times, I didnt know the above and I have had smoke billowing from the starter motor windings before now when cranking up the fuel.

[woolybanana]

Is this van Dutch, by any chance?

[Théière]

Chancer, I had similar on my old van and fitted the primer bulb myself to get out of the problem. they are available from a lot of outboards and diesel transfer bits, I think mine was from Machine mart.

[johnycarper]

The primer is not a bulb its a push button on top of the engine under the cover I just pump it until it start to get harder to push and then it seems to be ok as it start,and no I dont think that the van is du tch.

[dave21478]

Its the same thing...just a wee pump that you push or squeeze to draw fuel up from the tank and fill the injection pump.

Like I said, it sounds like a small air leak in the system, so you need to find it and repair it.