[Engine] lumpy, poor starting

[Digidug]

Hello, got some issues concerning mk 1 1.9d engine. first off had starting problems, found cold start relay fault and replaced. All good for a few months, lately the van has been starting poor again, regardless of ambient temperature. Sometimes it sounds like the starter siolenoid is not engaging the motor to the flywheel ( spinning faster than it should , but not turning engine) but this is very infrequent.
Starts fine on easy start, lumpy for a while then ok.The fault appears to be intermittent.
Today the van sarted fine,actually ran the best it ever has before it started running like a bag of hammers, very lumpy, chucking out excessive smoke and lacking any power. Pulled over and switched it off, checked for any obvious faults but could see no pipes adrift or other problems. Started it back up and it ran sweet again, has done all day.
The question is, can the egr valve cause this, the small vacuum pipe was snapped underneath the inlet manifold , has been re-attached, and seemed fine. Todays fault has never happened before.
I had initially thought of a pump or fuel problem, but would stopping and re-starting the engine cure such a fault?
Any help in solving this would be gratefully received.

[Jaques_Schitt]

This sounds like a problem I had with my 1.9d. The smoke (if its blue) will be air in the fuel, possibly drawn in either through the non-return valve on the fuel filter cap or even through a boggered diaphragm in the priming pump. Can you get a pressure up when you pump it? Any air coming into the fuel system will also make it run lumpy, besides making it chuck out blue smoke. Also it could make it sound like there is a shed load of old nuts and bolts in the sump!

Starter solenoid is a different problem, probably needs replacing. Might be all lathered up in oil.

Starting and stopping the motor will shift any air around in the system as you have noticed. Air bubbles will accumulate up to the highest point in the fuel line. (or the filter housing)
Take the fuel filter housing cap off and wash it thoroughly under a hot tap, making sure that the non return valve at the top is well washed out and cleared of any muck. Blow backwards and forwards through the pipe. If it has had a fuel filter in for too long the filter may have started to fall apart and paper bits can clog up the valve, allowing the system to drag in air here. Let it dry out before you wang it back together.

The EGR valve if a vacuum tube to it is off will make it run a tad slowly but when I took it off mine it didn't make it smoke or knock. (don't quote me to a professional on this as I only just tried disconnecting the egr vacuum tubeon my own Berlingo to see the effect)