Hoping someone can help me I have a 2008 mondeo estate 1.8 diesel with 98,000 miles on the clock. It has occasional starting issues which I can’t solve and it’s driving me nuts. It will always start in the morning, but on Friday I drove to work which is only about 6 miles and when I went to leave 6 hours later it wouldn’t start, the engine would turn over but not fire, I went back 3 hours later and it started first time, today I have exactly the same problem, despite doing a short journey over the weekend with no issues. It is not a new problem but is now getting more frequent.

Start by downloading FORScan on a laptop and use an ELM327 lead to connect to the OBDII port. You can then check for Ford specific DTC's which may well point you in the right direction.

It could be a problem with the glow plug circuit or the high pressure fuel line, but with out FORScan to check things it would just be a guessing game.

Download FORScan (it's free): https://forscan.org/download.html

ELM327 lead: https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/USB_Modified_with_switch_ELM327/p4541936_17045457.aspx

Thanks for your help, if I use this will it only show me the errors when it is not starting or can it give me historical data

It might be the stater motor. Depending on the position it stops, it will start the first go or not. Try this, when it doesnt start push the car 2 feet and try again. If it starts then the starter is your problem.

3 hours ago, mondeonam said:

Thanks for your help, if I use this will it only show me the errors when it is not starting or can it give me historical data

It saves all previous DTC's until they are cleared.

If there are a lot of DTC's and nothing seems to be obvious OR there are several possible DTC's then make a note of them all and then use FORScan to clear the codes. After the next time you have problems with it starting log back in to the car and see if there are any stored codes.

Unfortunately on all cars there is no real time clock / date so it's not possible to tell how old some of the DTC's are which is why it is best to make a note of them and then clear the codes.

15 hours ago, Costin said:

It might be the stater motor.

Unlikely as he says that the engine turns over.

Left the car at work overnight as it wouldn’t start, but as I expected it started on the button today as it does every morning. So frustrating.