Ford Transit van struggling to fire up in a morning!

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Hi everyone any ideas whats causing my van to struggle to start on these cold mornings turning over for ages before it attempts to fire up. once it starts it then runs for about 5 to 10 seconds then cuts out it starts again straight away once you turn it over again but then keeps cutting out for about a minute then it runs fine do you think it could be the glow plugs?
 
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just to add to the above its a ford transit 1997 long wheel base 2.5 litre i have looked at getting some glow plugs but only seem to see glow plugs on the internet to fit a 2.4 litre ford transit are these the ones im after?
 
has it got glow plugs??

Anyway, if it runs then dies, it wont be the glow plugs.

Has it had a diesel filter change lately?
 
wont have glow plugs mate could need the leak off mod done also could prob do with a service using 5/30 semi oil and fuel filter change also wouldnt harm to check your timing regards david
 
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Its a diesil injection and i dont think its had a fuel filter change for a long time is that what could be causing it? it started fine before the cold weather came
 
possible could be wrong oil could be worth checking to make sure he has the big starter motor fitted as there is 2 versions
 
its just had a new battery and alternator fitted a few weeks back turns over fine not slow at all it was taking ages to fire up before they were fitted so the problem must be something else
 
could be the fuel lift pump dying. or a leak in the diesel pipework somewhere drawing air.

lift pump cheap as chips and 10 mins to change. it sits on passenger side of engine, bolted to block. might not be this though, but if you can get one cheap enough worth a try. (my local factor does them for under a tenner)

you dont have glow plugs by the way, so it cant be them.
 
Lets clear a few things up here. The engine fitted in your van is a direct injection diesel and doesnt have any glow plugs. If the pump timing was out then it would be very poor when driving.
Things to look for are air leak in the filter head and poor compression.
The old 70/80ps engines suffered badly from this. Get it serviced but dont use 5w30 oil. Ford developed this oil but it was mainly for their zetec 16v and later tddi and tdci engines. If you van has done over 70k then use 15w40 mineral based oil(non synthetic). I supply a minibus company who still has 15 in his fleet and they go really sweet on 15w40. I'm not knocking anyone elses suggestions but 5w30 was always a bit light for this engine, even more so if its a bit worn.
Filter head aint expensive . bout £30 from ford and about £20 for an aftermarket. worth also getting compression checked just incase.
A quick thought is to check condition of battery and starter just incase.
they are good old vans so dont bin it

Best of luck

Jim :D
 
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