Poor cold startup 1.9

[CHRISPY59]

Hi, this subject appears to have been done to death but I still have a few questions for all you experts out there, on cold mornings my 2006  van can take ages to start , sometimes 6 or 7 starts, there is white smoke and for a while after starting then it clears and runs fine, I'm going to change the glowplugs as a matter of course but I have found that the priming plunger will not go hard even after several presses , any suggestions gratefully received.
Chris

[cancunia]

I'm no expert with these 'modern' diesels so if anyone has conflicting views, I'll gracefully take a back seat! Your symptoms (long time to start, white smoke, primer bulb soft) sound like there's maybe some air in your fuel system. Running fine when started is probably the pump keeping up with the demand. You could try pumping the primer with the output from the filter going into a jar, or maybe putting your finger on the pipe after the primer to see if it goes hard then (ooer).

[brodfather11]

Change your glow plugs first , because you are getting white smoke means you are getting fuel so wouldn't worry too much about the plunger yet.

[Tomcat3]

What mileage has the van done?

[CHRISPY59]

What mileage has the van done?

It's very high, 180,000

[Tomcat3]

Once you have checked glow plugs as brodfather says you need to check the valve clearances as they may have closed up.

[cancunia]

While I was surfing & looking for something else, I came across this post:

https://citroenc3owners.com/diesel-citro...54-10.html

Like I said in my earlier post, I'm new to the common rail systems so this may not be relevant to your situation.

[geoff]

^^^^^ not relevant as the 1.9 is old school ..................

Check plugs and v/v clearances first !

[CHRISPY59]

^^^^^ not relevant as the 1.9 is old school ..................

Check plugs and v/v clearances first !

I've changed the plugs and it started 2nd go , I let it run for awhile , 4 hours later it wouldn't start again, 
I'll have a go at the valve clearances next, how solid should the priming plunger go , mine never seems to show any resistance

[geoff]

Been a while since I had a 1.9 and pumped the primer so cannot remember / advise accurately there but ... it doesn't go " solid " just " firms up " when priming.

Try pumping the primer before trying to start to see if there is any difference when starting.

To save you asking there is no " in tank " pump just the one at the engine.

If you suspect air ingress use plasticine to wrap around a joint to temporarily exclude air at that point then move onto another point whilst leaving the first plasticine in place in case of more than one air leak - otherwise you won't know where you are with it.

Before going mad at it try checking the cold start mechanism settings - see haynes, there is a manual on site to download if you don't have one.