Hard to start

[bigalfazer]

Hi ,I am having trouble with my 59 plate C5 x7 ,in the morning I turns over for quite a while before it fire's up .it will turn over for about 10 to 20 seconds , sometimes it catches straight away,then stops ,but then starts when I turn the key again.its is all most like the fuel is draining back to the tank ,and needs to turn over for a while to get it going , once it has started it runs fine and pull well
Any ideas about what you guys think the problem may be would be most helpful

[Hell Razor5543]

How quickly does she turn over when you are first time starting her? If it is quite slow it could be the starter motor is worn out. Once the engine has warmed up it is usual for subsequent engine starts to be easy.

[Huskyxantia]

Not a cam sensor playing up ?

[Paul-R]

Petrol or diesel? How many miles has it covered? When was it last serviced?

[bigalfazer]

Hi sorry I'm slow to respond ...thank you for your responses ...well it's diesel a and it's done 140.000 miles ,and it was last serviced in September ,it turns over quickly, even when cold ,I'm not sure if it's the cam sensor .how do I check it.
It's normally parked over night on the slop up to the garage. So the back wheels are about 2 feet higher than the front . But just lately I have been parking it on the flat and it seems to start more easily.i was wondering if it is fitted with some sort of tilt sensor to cut the fuel in case it gets rolled ,and the sensor was playing up

[wheeler]

Does it start any better if you operate the diesel hand primer first?
I cant think that I have ever known a PSA cam sensor to fail unless its been physically damaged. The only way I know to check the cam sensor properly is to scope it.

[bigalfazer]

yesterday it took a good minuet cranking over before it fired but once again once started it ran fine and started fine i will go and try pumping the hand primer and get back to you . do you think that think the fuel is flowing back to the tank some how ,or maybe the tank pump is not sending the fuel properly , I've had them fail on xzantias .i did have the clutch and flywheel changed about 6 months a go i presume the crank sensor takes its reading from the flywheel

[Peter.N.]

One of mine is giving the same problem and its air getting into the fuel line - haven't found out where yet.

Peter

[bigalfazer]

ok well I have been out to the car and pumped the primer , it felt like it was empty , I had to pump it about 10 to 15 times before I could feel fuel in it , I turned the key and it fired almost instantly in fact its probably the best its started since I've owned it , so I guess it has an air leak in the fuel system , if any of you guy had this and found it , it would be good to here from you,
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE HELP SO FAR IT HAS BEEN VERY MUCH APPRECIATED

[Peter.N.]

I suspect that mine has a leak on the fuel line connector on the tank, as when I disconnected it and then reconnected the fault cleared, but came back again after about 100 miles. Its been to wet/cold for me to have another look at it, fortunately we have another car.

Peter

[Huskyxantia]

Sounding very much like the fuel pump could be failing , if there's no sign of any small fuel drips under the car or anywhere alse fuel line related then the pump maybe the issue, I'd check any line that Carry's fuel to rule out splits and so on , also the hand primers can fail and draw air into the system.

[bigalfazer]

i think you could well be right , I've started it 3 times today and it starts better if i pump the primer , so i think i will invest in a new one , the only problem i can see is when i have changed them before the big locking ring has usually been a right pain to screw back on as the thread seems to be really tight as if the plastic has swollen

[Huskyxantia]

Hi sorry I'm slow to respond ...thank you for your responses ...well it's diesel a and it's done 140.000 miles ,and it was last serviced in September ,it turns over quickly, even when cold ,I'm not sure if it's the cam sensor .how do I check it.
It's normally parked over night on the slop up to the garage. So the back wheels are about 2 feet higher than the front . But just lately I have been parking it on the flat and it seems to start more easily.i was wondering if it is fitted with some sort of tilt sensor to cut the fuel in case it gets rolled ,and the sensor was playing up

Cam sensor issues can make car stall , run underpowered, not start properly, that's why lots of people say cam sensor with your faults, Also the engine can rattle under hard acceleration , but this can also be sign of a worn timing belt , sounds silly but this is what I had 3 days before Xmas ,I've change timing belt,water pump & all pulleys and I'm running good again. You can rule that out as yours is air in the system.

In the past when i had air problems I did change the primer after checking all fuel related parts and it sorted the problem, if you have low fuel pressure then its pump related but that maybe one part because air will come in from some where which then points to vacuum area can of worms are most car issues but do get sorted in the end it could be clamps on fuel pipes failing thus drawing in air all th while the car runs it will be ok till it gets parked up and the air will push the fuel back into the tank leaving air in the way next time you start..Once I fitted a one way valve on the main line and that stopped my air problem on an old escort diesel van I had.
Good luck hope it gets cured

[admiral51]

i think you could well be right , I've started it 3 times today and it starts better if i pump the primer , so i think i will invest in a new one , the only problem i can see is when i have changed them before the big locking ring has usually been a right pain to screw back on as the thread seems to be really tight as if the plastic has swollen

I believe the primer bulb has a non return valve in it and over time these can fail and with the tank being lower than the bulb it allows the fuel to return to the tank, even a small pin hole in it will allow fuel to return to the tank. They are pretty easy to change.

As for the locking ring that is a pain, but retains the fuel pump/sender unit in the fuel tank so just checking which part is being changed.
If you replace the primer bulb if you can i would replace the fuel line from bulb to filter with a clear pipe so you can see if air is getting in.

Colin

[Paul-R]

If the fuel system has a primer bulb will it have an in-tank pump? I thought that the primer bulb was there because there is no in-tank pump.