So if it's not the injectors...

Could it be something as simple as faulty glowplugs?

But they wouldn't cause the diesel knock would they?

It also starts perfectly every time.

Try BP Ultimate or the Shell equivalent and a good additive.

Even if the injectors have been tested as fine?

I must admit I just chuck Asda fuel in because it's the cheapest.

Hi dan im looking at a funky start and if the injectors check out then theres the pump and i would be getting the rail pressure checked .also of course the glowplugs or glowplug as it would take only one faulty one to create probs. would make awkard starting on that specific cylinder and and imbalance may cause intermittent knock i dont see why not but what i would really want to check now would also be head gasket and turbo as one of the symtoms of either of these is throwing out smoke and bad compression on start up .

Head gasket not likely on this engine.

Can you test the piston height using a dial gauge without taking the head off? might be worth asking around.

Compression test?

Was it the same before replacing the injectors?

Did replacing them have any effect?

If one of the glowplugs isnt heating it might take a few seconds for that cylinder to start firing properly.

The pump and all the injectors were replaced in September by the dealer who had foolishly bought the car at auction. This was before I bought it.

The garage I've taken it too (injector specialist) are going to road test it with their diag stuff and see what's occuring.

I had it for 5 days, then had a 'bump' and didn't use the car for a couple of months. When I started it up it smoked REALLY badly, and it's gone on to smoke a bit every morning ever since.

It throws up no fault codes, there's no lumpy idle, no glow plug light, no misfiring - just smoke on startup which clears after a rev or two, and it has diesel knock under load (not the terrifying rattley knock, just more noise than it should.) It's done 74k miles and is otherwise spot on.

I was just hoping it would be a dodgy injector, so I could get to the bottom of it.

Still got a sneaking suspicion I've got a slightly bent con rod!

the most likly way to bend a conrod would be i guess to drive through a flood .if you are using asda of tesco fuel then i would be expecting a little divergence from the normal startup so as above try a better quality fuel and some millers or redex .but i still feel a compression test and a simple head gasket test wouldent go astray also in these fords unles you get a ford dealer with dedicated ford test equipment its not always esay to nail down exactly whats happening but for sure its to do with etiher fueling .comperssion .glowplugs .and compression test would showup a lot of maby things like valves and rings. as well as head gasket and that stuff about never on this engine as regards the head gasket there are plenty of past posts on here on blown gaskets onthese as you can never tell what she has pulled all her life unless you have owned her all her life .s

Plenty of past posts on here? only mainly petrol 1.8, v6, etc, it is still rare on tdci.

I really don't think it's the HG. It's either something to do with the fuel system, or a bent rod. But I just can't see how the rod could have got bent. If the injectors are all fine, and it ran fine after I bought it what would make the rod bend? I've not driven through any deep water.

Is it possible you can record the noise/sound?

when mine was bent it threw out black smoke that was there all the time but loads on acceleration.

There isn't much to hear, its just more dieselly than it should be. A mate's got a 130 TDCi with over 100k more miles on the clock, and it's been abused all its life (ex pool car) and it sounds way smoother than mine. It's clearly not right. Even if it wasn't smoking on startup I'd still be concerned.

hmarchbank said:

when mine was bent it threw out black smoke that was there all the time but loads on acceleration.

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That's kinda reassuring, even at full chat it doesn't smoke at all. Had a guy from work follow me down a dual carriageway and it was smoke free.

Well, there's another twist to the tale.

The specialist has been out for a road test, and disconnected the injectors one at a time. It seems that number 3 cylinder was the worst so they temporarily put in another injector and that made it "a lot better, but still not right", so they're largely confident it's still an injector issue.

I really don't want to have to fork out for 4 new injectors if there's just one, or two wrong.

Anyone know the cheapest source of injectors?

Try ebay, i recently sold two for £35 ! then you could always send yours off for cleaning.

dog68 said:

Try ebay, i recently sold two for £35 ! then you could always send yours off for cleaning.

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Cleaning wouldn't help though. Mine were new in September, and have been given the all clear after a bench test by a Delphi specialist - but the symptoms still point toward an injector issue, possibly mechanical, not electrical and swapping in a new one made the symptoms less severe.

In an ideal world I'd put 4 new injectors in but I've not really got the £700 it would cost.

no warranty on the injectors you bought last year?