[SteveVenga]

Hi all,

my other half owns a 2013 1.4 diesel Venga and for a while now it has struggled to start.
It takes a good 10 to 20 seconds to start in cold weather, although once it has fired up, the idle is smooth and normal, not lumpy. After the engine has started it runs as normal and there is no lack of power. It will fire back up straight away, but will struggle to start again once left overnight.

It has been to an independent garage for a service and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They changed the fuel filter and checked the glow plugs which they said were working.

Eventually after too many long cranks and short journeys, the battery died, so I jump started the car from my car and it fired up straight away. Great, must be a duff battery then, so I changed the battery and the problem is still the same.

There are no warning lights on the dash and I also plugged in an OBD-II tool and it didn't come back with anything either.

I've scoured the internet and this forum for ideas and can't find anything similar.

I'm completely at a loss to understand what the problem may be. My last port of call is to check the glow plugs myself on the off-chance that the garage didn't correctly diagnose a fault with them.

Any ideas or suggestions of things to check would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Phil in Wales]

Is pre heat working ok .. my total knowledge of diesel engines..

 

[noublue]

sounds like it could be a glow plug issue, how did the garage check them ? did they just check the 12v feed or did they check the individual amps draw to conclude the plugs are ok? there is obviously a problem could they not diagnose it further ?

 

[SteveVenga]

The garage she took it to is a proper old-school back street job (convenient location for her work). I'm not sure how they decided the plugs were working.

It's back in the same garage today. They kept it overnight so they can see the symptom properly when started from cold.

The thing that makes me sceptical that it is the plugs is when I jump started it from my car, it fired up straight away from cold. Also it normally still struggles to start in hot weather, albeit taking 5 seconds or so rather than 20.

If they still can't find anything I'll check the glow plugs myself. Presumably I need to check for a power supply to them when turned on and then disconnect the power cable to each and measure the resistance through each?

Cheers,
Steve

 

[noublue]

make sure you have 12v to plugs and it stays there for a while, disconnect each plug and measure resistance looking for open circuit all plugs should have roughly the same resistance. you can measure currant draw with an amps clamp checking each plug for currant draw the faulty one would not have a reading (access can be hard you need a supply cable with slack to fit the amps clamp) so the resistance check may be easier.

 

[SteveVenga]

Thank you

 

[Eifion]

Hi all,

my other half owns a 2013 1.4 diesel Venga and for a while now it has struggled to start.
It takes a good 10 to 20 seconds to start in cold weather, although once it has fired up, the idle is smooth and normal, not lumpy. After the engine has started it runs as normal and there is no lack of power. It will fire back up straight away, but will struggle to start again once left overnight.

It has been to an independent garage for a service and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They changed the fuel filter and checked the glow plugs which they said were working.

Eventually after too many long cranks and short journeys, the battery died, so I jump started the car from my car and it fired up straight away. Great, must be a duff battery then, so I changed the battery and the problem is still the same.

There are no warning lights on the dash and I also plugged in an OBD-II tool and it didn't come back with anything either.

I've scoured the internet and this forum for ideas and can't find anything similar.

I'm completely at a loss to understand what the problem may be. My last port of call is to check the glow plugs myself on the off-chance that the garage didn't correctly diagnose a fault with them.

Any ideas or suggestions of things to check would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[Eifion]

Hi Steve,my wife has exactly same car,been fucking about the starting problem for couple of years,on this car when I went to start it the engine would crank but it felt like the engine was not turning quick enough,but would start,as time went along the problem was getting worse,bought a new battery for it,still same problem.took the to a local kia ,same reply nothing wrong with it,so I thought I'll buy a new starter for it exchange unit £40.00.so put the starter in last week.it is now perfect, so it was the starter all along.get yourself a new starter ,wife car has 27000 miles on clock. Good luck

 

[SteveVenga]

Thanks all.

Apparently the garage have diagnosed the fault as... the glow plugs 🤦‍♂️

I have no idea why they thought they were okay to start with.

Apparently they're going to charge just shy of £300 for replacing them, which seems steep to me, but google suggests replacing them is really fiddly to do. They are suggesting they cost £35 each, although I have found Bosch ones online for £60 for 4.

Other half has decided to pay it as they were going to charge 2.5 hours labour for the diagnosis anyway, rather than take up my offer of replacing them myself at the potential expense of some bashed and grazed knuckles!

Will be interesting to see if this is actually fixes the problem, I'm not filled with confidence to be honest.

Thank you all for the advice so far.

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[CCA minor]

Hi buddy.

Hopefully the problem got sorted...

I'm having a similar problem. .. It struggles to start in the morning or if not driven for more than 2 to 3 hours. Will Takes 2 to 3 turns cranking to start

Glow plugs were changed first with a service... But problem still existed

Then had a company here recondition the injectors and coded blah blah(a lot cheaper then buying new) .. And my mechanic did the work re-installing...

Still the problem exists... And No error codes

 

[Eifion]

Hi buddy.

Hopefully the problem got sorted...

I'm having a similar problem. .. It struggles to start in the morning or if not driven for more than 2 to 3 hours. Will Takes 2 to 3 turns cranking to start

Glow plugs were changed first with a service... But problem still existed

Then had a company here recondition the injectors and coded blah blah(a lot cheaper then buying new) .. And my mechanic did the work re-installing...

Still the problem exists... And No error codes

 

[Eifion]

Hi buddy.

Hopefully the problem got sorted...

I'm having a similar problem. .. It struggles to start in the morning or if not driven for more than 2 to 3 hours. Will Takes 2 to 3 turns cranking to start

Glow plugs were changed first with a service... But problem still existed

Then had a company here recondition the injectors and coded blah blah(a lot cheaper then buying new) .. And my mechanic did the work re-installing...

Still the problem exists... And No error codes

If the car has no worranty left,buy a new starter,we had similar problem spent no end of money in garage's you name it it was replaced,

Thanks all.

Apparently the garage have diagnosed the fault as... the glow plugs 🤦‍♂️

I have no idea why they thought they were okay to start with.

Apparently they're going to charge just shy of £300 for replacing them, which seems steep to me, but google suggests replacing them is really fiddly to do. They are suggesting they cost £35 each, although I have found Bosch ones online for £60 for 4.

Other half has decided to pay it as they were going to charge 2.5 hours labour for the diagnosis anyway, rather than take up my offer of replacing them myself at the potential expense of some bashed and grazed knuckles!

Will be interesting to see if this is actually fixes the problem, I'm not filled with confidence to be honest.

Thank you all for the advice so far.

Cheers,
Steve.

ifthe problem continues save money,and worry for wife,get a new starter motor exchange unit £40.00 .

 

[CCA minor]

If the car has no worranty left,buy a new starter,we had similar problem spent no end of money in garage's you name it it was replaced,

ifthe problem continues save money,and worry for wife,get a new starter motor exchange unit £40.00 .

- Eifion, when you say replace the starter motor.

was your car unable to crank or turnover when you turned the key?

or it would but you replaced the starting motor anyway.

My Venga has new battery turns over but won't start, only after 4/5 Turns from cold start will it actually start.....

Did you replace the coolant temp sensor by any chance?

 

[noublue]

you can check the temp sensor by looking at live data on code reader= check thet temp is correct