306 TD Cold Starting problem?

Hi all.

I’ve got an N reg 306 TD, the problem is when starting from cold it
takes a bit of Cranking then it feels like it fires on 3, after a 20
seconds or so it clears and fires on all 4?

The thing is this car has had some History, i bought the car 2 years
ago and shortly after it droped a Valve and Damaged the head quite
badly but the Bottom end was ok. I Bought a New head and all was good
for a Year until one of the steel inserts came out and realy damaged
the engine, So i decided to get a Fully recon Motor. Then 6 months ago
this bad starting problems came to light. Since then i had problems
with the Heater inside not getting warm and it blowing Bubbles in the
Coolant filler :roll: So i pulled the head off it and had a good look,
could’nt see anything wrong so i sent the head to be Presure tested
and Skimmed. To cut a long story short the head was Cracked realy
badly, so thats been replaced.

So as it stands i have a Bottom end thats done no more than 10k and a
Top end thats Brand new But the Cold start problem did’nt go with the
Cracked head.

SO... As i’m realy not clued up into Deisels and TBH after all this i
still like the car what should i be looking at? I belive it had a New
Fuel Pump just before i bought the car and all the things like Cam
timing etc are Spot on.

Can anyone give me a Pointer into what i need to Clean/Replace to get
my car running nicly again.

Thanks
Chris

 

I’ve just done some searching and the list of things to try at the
moment are...

1. Valve clearance
2. Sticky valve
3. Clean the Injectors

Can anyone think of anything else that would cause my Cold starting
problem?

Cheers

 

Glow plugs? Or Glow Plug controller?

sorry to point out the obvious but is entirely possible it could be
that...

 

I hate to point out the obvious but have you checked the glow plugs?

 

You describe the exact symptoms that my wife's 306 displayed. Totally
cured with a new set of glow plugs (also known as heater plugs).

 

Ok, I have just ordered a set of Glow plugs and a set of Injectors.

I am going to take the Cam cover off at week end and see how tight the
Bucket gaps are.

Cheers
Chri

 

Well i had a play with it today and found the Cam clearances where
tight so had a bit of a Play with that and (touch wood) seems to be
ok.

One other thing that i’ve noticed recently, after the head was done it
does’nt seem as Nippy? TBH the Turbo does’nt sound as loud as it did
so i am guessing the Boost level has droped for some reason (maybe an
Air leak) Does anyone know what they are suposed to be set to?

Cheers
Chris