1.8tdci engine intermittant starter

[Sonny84]

My sons motor been having a few starting issues over last month or so

Bit of recent history

its got about 120k on clock and perhaps 2 months ago his colleagues advised to get injectors services , poss a leak on one of them on sealing washer 

Now Car might start normally cold on morning local trip to shops then won’t start in car park after 20 mins ,  there may a combination of problems , I’ve been called out a few times , sometimes it might start on its own , others with a jump start.

About 3 weeks ago after it conked out at his workplace I went up armed with new filter , charged battery and manual hand bleed pump

I put a blueprint filter on , the other WIX had been about 30 month , it was stained black and when cut open no metallic particles caught in it., I bled it through and put full battery on and got it going.

it would run and work ok for a couple of days then either not start when cold or hot.

on the day my OBD dongle arrived he had it booked in with Ford , I seen a low fuel rail pressure code fault

but poss  would have been a historic one, when hooked up,with live data at tickover FRP is about 5000psi and up,to 9000 when revving 

when it does not start long cranking will sometimes raise the FRP high enough to start it.

FORD had it  for  a few days and suspected the injector pump,They said they checked the fuel pipes for holes to see if any air getting in allowing fuel to drain back to tank. I had read that the pressure regulator solenoid valve could be the issue on cars with similar issues , but Ford don’t change These independently, they would change the whole pump. Pump works ok once it has the fuel to pump

car been sitting outside since Friday and started every morning ok, I have temp fitted a 95ah battery to help with cranking 

new VDO pressure regulator arrived today, fitted it and test drive for 4 mile showed pressure in common rail up to about 22000 psi in 3rd accelerating , got back home turned off and then would not restart with lots of cranking., the Fuel rail pressure would not build up 

So bled it again and got it started eventually, I have bought some clear tube to connect before and after fuel filter to check for air bubbles but hard to get a airtight seal on the push on connectors , are there male connections  that can be bought.?

just ordered a injector leak off test kit as a read a faulty injector can drain fuel back to tank - is this correct?

tried the scanner on agin today and no faults showing , apart from ABS wheel,sensor , no MIL light on 

any suggestions what I should look at , it’s 2007 in a Focus but this engine in several models 

thanks for any help 

[Sonny84]

Just to close this off, with the new fuel pressure regulator fitted, reset the fuel filter, very large battery fitted , checked injector leak off sand all similar , it’s been fine for last 3 weeks so hopefully all sorted 

 

[Sonny84]

Hot start problems ensued which I suspected the egr valve , when hot it would be very lumpy at tickover and when turned off sometimes would not start 

the egr intake was well, bunked up and was cleaned a bit with long wire to pull the crap,out

following this 2 tins of wynns egr cleaner sorted it after a good blast , I think it ,Ishtar have beeen a sticky egr valve

now runs smoother at hot tickover and starts ok 

SORTED 😀