Today my wife informed me she could not get her car to start (stuck at the school picking up kids)

I hopped in my car, took a look at the engine like most blokes do....No clue what was wrong at all, Classic mini was far easier.

Turn key to start car and you get the normal turning over sound, and after a few seconds it stops (by itself)

Eventually I was able to get it to start foot to floor on Accelerator, but it wandered between 3 and 4k revs (still foot on floor) and if I took my foot off it just died. Leave it on for a few seconds longer and it works fine, and is ok to drive, no wandering at all.

When it first happened she told me there was allot of smoke for a short while, and when I went back to get it started a few hours after we abandoned it, I noticed on starting there was light grey/blue smoke, then after a few revs a small puff of black smoke, then nothing.

I have no idea what could be the cause of the issue. Been ok for months now.

Can anyone suggest things I can check, but they have to be novice things please :-)

Fiesta 1.4 tdci 2003 model

Glow plugs?

I dont know, today I came home, car has sat for over 24 hours, got in, and tried to start, it was difficult, but eventually it started, but was very lumpy. it reminded me of the classic mini carb we used to have, when the distributor cap got damp it was terribly lumpy, and this was very similar lumpy to that.

I think its fuel related, but I have another question.

If it was the fuel pump, the main one, which I know is expensive, then surely the car would simply not start, and if you did get it started without the pump working the car would only drive as long as the fuel in the engine was there (not long)

If its a 1.4 TDCi could be the injectors, how many miles has the car done?

Car has done just over 100k miles.

Would there not be any signs before they go, or is it just a suddenly gone.

I mean one week it was perfect, then it sat for a week and then it was lumpy.

I tried starting it without doing anythign other than turning the key and eventually it started butt man its it lumpy

How can I determine what it could be prior to taking it to a garage.

I can say when it does start, and you let it rev for a few seconds, it drives problem free, its only starting it that appears to be the issue, that said, the most it has driven is 3 miles.

ok, just went out and started it again, it started immediately, but its very lumpy, at any rev it wanders badly, and at idle it wanders as well, but it did start, so I I dont thionk its a fuel pump issue.

So, starts, not easy but does start. very lumpy all round.

What could I check?

If you are a novice and you don't have any test gear then you can't reliably make a diagnosis.

I'm only making an educated guess, and experience, as to what the problem could be.

Assuming it has been serviced recently I would discount the fuel filter, you need a diesel specialist to look at it.

yeah, thanks, we are trying to avoid spending unnecessary money, but looks like we have to, thought would I be safe in saying its not the fuel pump (expensive)?

Grey/blue smoke indicates too much fuel going into the cylinders. One or more injectors is over-fuelling. If it does start and runs OK you are burning off the excess fuel so the pumps sounds OK.

You may have a leaky injector and the fuel rail is not coming up to pressure so the car is trying to start on the one dodgy cylinder.