Hi all just picked up on old 09 fiesta 1.6 tdci and having a few issues. Starting the car from cold can be quite hard and once started the revs bounce about until its got some heat in it. The expansion tank is also black and I can hear bubbles or gargling with the lid of I'm fairly sure it's exhaust. Any ideas what's going on I've plugged it into a fairly basic scanner and have no fault codes stored. No water is mixing with oil 

26 minutes ago, Jonny112 said:

The expansion tank is also black and I can hear bubbles or gargling with the lid of I'm fairly sure it's exhaust.

Well it would sound like the head gasket is going (or gone), nothing that a new engine won't fix. A trip to any small garage will confirm if there is a problem with the head gasket, or you could do a compression test yourself.

Compression test not all that easy on tdci engine compared to taking spark plug out on petrol engine.

What's the chances it could be a duff egr cooler 

On 9/23/2021 at 9:24 AM, TomsFocus said:

You'd need a compression tester with a diesel attachment.  They can be bought easily for under £30 in the UK, either from tool shops or ebay etc.  I don't know how easy they would to be to get where you are though.

The procedure is easy for one person, just screw it into the glow plug hole and turn the engine over on the starter to get a reading.  Plenty of YouTube videos on this sort of thing.

 

You could also get a coolant pressure tester as well.  There are even easier to use, just fill up the coolant then place the tester where the cap would be and pump some pressure in.  That pressure should force water out of any tiny leaks that may not show up at normal pressure.

 

Obviously both kits cost money but I'm not sure what else you can do if there aren't any mechanics willing to come out and diagnose.

 

But be warned , glow plugs sometimes snap and the position of them means fixing that is very difficult