Hi everybody, first post so be gentle!

I have a Fiesta 1.4 cdti 02 plate. It has 115k on clock but has been well serviced and up until now been a great car. Last week, i left car for about half hour and it struggled to start. About an hour later i came to use it again and wouldn't fire at all. Left it about 1/2 hour and started straight up! All was well until yesterday when i left it in a car park for about 4 hours and couldn't get it to fire even bumping it. Left it overnight and towed it home this morning. Tried turning engine over again but nothing. Pumped hand primer about 20 times, pushed clutch & accelerator to floor and cranked - nothing but as i was cranking, i let the accelerator up slowly and hey presto, it started! I have been using it all night without any problems so far but know it will let me down again. I looked at the plastic see-through return fuel pipe and noticed air bubbles in it, especially if primer pumped. Is this normal??

Many thanks in advance,

Gary.

Hi Gary,

Have you noticed any smell of diesel inside the car or in the engine bay when you lift up the bonnet? If so it possibly maybe your injector seals, or your leakoff pipes or worse (which I hope its not) it maybe your injector pipes rail. I mention the injector pipes because when you have pumped lots of fluid into the engine it is later then firing....kind of sounds like a leak somewhere either there a lack of pressure or the enough fuel isn't getting into the chamber to fire, and if you haven't had the fuel filter changed since you've had it might be worth checking the state of that first before doing anything else. Also just a note, are there any lights on the dash coming up other than the norm like maybe the glow Plugs light? Ohh and also when the car eventually starts is it running lumpy and irregular or smooth as though its fine?

If it is the injection related first way to check is to remove the airfilter box only without too much dismantling and then see if there is any leakage around any of the injectors. Have a look under my thread and it will give you a guide on removal and fitting.

Hope this is of some help.