2.5 Td Fuel Heater, Isolation Mods

[Little&Large]

Hi
The reluctance to start is only during the 1st start of the day.I am sure it is the same symptons that I had on the 2.1-by passing the heater then transformed the car....until the head gasket went!The air gets in overnight causing the fuel to return to the tank and has to be pumped through again when you try to start it again.Surely if the glow plugs were not working it would be reluctant to start at all-I can't see how turning the car over for 10 seconds would change the effectiveness of them.
I will try the fuel heater bi-pass tomorrow.
I'll let you know how it goes!
The injectors were replaced/reconditioned a couple of years ago-performance is good.
Regards Rob

[Little&Large]

Hi all
I bi-passed the fuel heater today-I will let you know tomorrow if it has made any difference.Early indications are that it has as the car starts 1st turn.Mind you after I had cut the hose I reconnected the bi-passed bit,amazingly it started(with the existing fuel)and then stopped.I couldn't work out why I couldn't bleed any fuel through...until the penny dropped!!
Next job should be the thermostat.........my worry about doing this is bleeding the air out of the system afterwards!Is it as difficult as I think it is?I have left it until now so I can drain the whole system and do the antifreeze as well...any comments welcome.
Regards Rob

[techmanagain]

The bleeding of the 2.5 is not difficult - just time-consuming - but it must be done properly or you are likely to get hotspots in the head with the subsequent gasket or (worse), valveseat failure. Good timing to do it when you change the thermostat and the antifreeze!

[Little&Large]

Hi all
It wasn't a porous fuel heater as the car was still the same this morning.I was convinced it was that!It was suggested it was glow plugs and/or lack of power to them.Surely if it won't start initially when stone cold then turning it over wouldn't make any difference-it wouldn't start then either.It always starts eventually after a couple of efforts-there is a lot of grey smoke out the back,but the car idles nicely immediately it has started and goes well immediately as well(I suppose this suggests that air is not getting into the system).
I would like to get this sorted now rather than wait for the frosts!!!
Any help would as always be gratefully received!
Regards Rob