Slow Starter?

**Toms306** · 14th March 2013, 17:29

Hi guys,

Hopefully this is the right section!

Basically, I went to view a facelift vectra CTDi150 yesterday, and it looks great, drives and runs fine and generally looks well looked after.

But it seemed to turn over for a 'while' before starting. Now it was cold yesterday, around 2c, and I know the car has only been used for short journeys lately. So I'm guessing it could be a bad battery, but it sounded to crank quick enough which is why I'm sceptical.

I dont think it's a fuel leak as I stopped it, then started it 5 mins later and the same thing, if the fuel was leaking back overnight it would be fine for the rest of the day.

Anyway, I couldn't really do any tests as I didnt have tools and I was only viewing it lol, but just wondered if its a common issue, or what might be up with it? I don't mind replacing a battery....but I dont want it to be anything worse really!

Cheers for any help,
Tom

**Sebastian** · 14th March 2013, 17:32

Glow plugs ?

**Toms306** · 14th March 2013, 17:44

Sorry, forgot to say, the glowplugs were changed last year so they should be ok.

Do you have to wait several seconds for them though? In the modern diesels I'm used to, they warm up in literally a second and can start....I did wonder if the Vectra ones are slower for any reason? In my haste I didnt even look for the glowplug light, just waited probably two seconds at 'ignition' then tried to start it.

**cont1204** · 14th March 2013, 19:00

Depends when it was last run. Mine takes a few seconds for the glow plug light to go out. If it's really cold, I'll run the plugs twice to get the heat in there. Always fires first time.

**Toms306** · 14th March 2013, 23:38

Thanks for the replies. It seems fine today though (so much that I have decided to buy it lol) so hopefully just w one off or a low battery. First of many questions I expect haha!

**justin32** · 15th March 2013, 00:41

mate try cleaning your throttle body,i did mine today and the first thing i noticed was that the engine "catches" almost straight away and starts instantly....never had that before with this car

Also worth mentioning is that i cleared and huge pile of crud from inside the manafold where the throttle body sits so im sure that helped aswell

**Toms306** · 15th March 2013, 21:00

Tried it again today, jumped in and tried to start straight away.....cranked but didnt catch.........

Tried again, and watched for the glowplug light - let it go out, cranked and caught first time! So it seems the 1.9 CDTi engine DO rely on the glowplugs, answered my own question now.

The manifold should be clean as it's recently had the EGR done, and the mani cleaned at the same time to hopefully reduce the risk of swirl flap issues.