hello guys/girls, I have an 11 plate zetec s tdci and it wont start all the time it sometimes starts and sometimes doesn't.. it ticks over so its not the starter motor or the battery.. it ticks over then tries to start makes the noise as if its trying to ignite but then doesn't and keeps making the noise.. its as if it needs that little bit extra help to start :S I think its something to do with the fuel intake to the engine maybe?? not enough pressure for it to ignite??

IF ANYBODY can help me would be much appreciated.... ITS BEEN to a garage and they checked the head and skimmed it and also pressure checked it(so they say)..

They checked the head an skimmed it why did they do that

Because the water pump went while I was driving.. (cut out due to overheating) but what I think actually happened is when the car went in the garage for its service they haven't fitted the return pipe properly which caused it to come lose and with the pressure forced all the water out of the tank.. as water was leaking.. the car is less then 3 years old and only done 36k miles so its doubtful that the water pump has gone with this mileage. So they pressure checked the head and skimmed it (no clue ) and fixed the water pump(they said was faulty). The car starts sometimes but not other times like this morning started fine. If I put my foot slightly on the accelerator then it tends to start (almost) every time.. so I'm kind of stumped as to what the problem is.

Did they do a compression or sniff test why did they tell u they had to remove the head

compression test I think. they said because my engine overheated it could have cracked the head or what ever

to put it in some sort of order...

you had the car serviced

then had the water pump go, so garage changed that, as well as removed the head, had it skimmed and new head gasket.

at what point did the starting problem begin to happen, before or after the service and/or the head work, or is this a seperate problem.

if its seperate, then obvious starting point for poor starting would be battery/charging circuit or glow plugs/circuit

wase yeah

1. service
2. cut out on motorway (fully cut out in fast lane) got recovered garage said was the water pump. (IT HAD NO RETURN PIPE WHEN I LIFTED THE HOOD ON THE MOTORWAY I noticed this after I got the car back from garage from them saying it was the water pump as a new pipe was on the water tank..

3. garage said was the water pump and due to this they checked the head and compression test etc.

4. came back to me and was leaking diesel ( they didn't tighten one of the injectors) they then fixed this same day.

5. car now wont start AFTER all this. Starts whenever it wants too..

sounds to me like a pressure problem then, possibly caused by air in system due to loose injector...would take it back and get them to thouroghly check it....

yeah I was thinking maybe fuel ignition problem? as its not igniting to start the car

If it's less then 3 years old there should be ford warranty still on the car take it back to them if that's who hasn't done the work already

Might be a vacuum leak.