Ok I've completed a pretty comprehensive rebuild on my 2002 Td5 D2 its a manual - full engine rebuild and all ancillaries uprated where necessary and as I'm in Australia did an EGR removal and a de-cat. It is fitted with the factory ICE anti-theft stuff and this was disabled a long time ago (pre-rebuild) to alleviate the horrible rolling codes that occur if something goes wrong with the key or anti-theft system.
This is my problem and I hope someone out there has come across this before and more to the point knows what it is! After the car went back together it came up with an unusual fault: The engine needed cranking quite a bit before it would start - like the starter had to wind the engine up to a certain speed before it would run, when it starts because its been cranked for several seconds and the accelerator pedal has been pressed a cloud of white smoke is produced but the engine runs clean once this has gone and no evidence of any other smoke or emissions at all after this, and engine performs well and responds to the accelerator pedal as it should (Note: all dash warning lights come on as normal and go out straight away - including the coil symbol for the glow plugs). But this fault appears intermittently: ignition on all warning lights except the glow plug symbol appear as normal engine fires first pop and runs/idles normally (no cloud of white smoke) but there is no response from the accelerator pedal - none. If I restart car and repeatedly turn the ignition off and on waiting for the glow plug symbol to re-appear the engine needs more cranking but it then responds to the accelerator pedal again...WTF! The other day I noticed once it started and was responsive to the accelerator pedal a distinctive 'click' noise was heard coming from the lower dash area in front of the driver (above the pedals) and accelerator pedal function was lost and the AC stopped working (started blowing warm air instead of the cold it had just been blowing out), no matter what I did it would not re-respond to the accel pedal. So i left it until the next day it started with the long cranking and the accel pedal was responsive as normal??? I have changed the accel pedal out for another that was tested as ok, I have swapped out most of the relays in both fuse boxes and checked all fuses. There was a low coolant alarm buzzer fitted but this has not been re-connected as the replacement silicon top hose had no bleed fitting in it! Any ideas anyone??? ...please!
This is my problem and I hope someone out there has come across this before and more to the point knows what it is! After the car went back together it came up with an unusual fault: The engine needed cranking quite a bit before it would start - like the starter had to wind the engine up to a certain speed before it would run, when it starts because its been cranked for several seconds and the accelerator pedal has been pressed a cloud of white smoke is produced but the engine runs clean once this has gone and no evidence of any other smoke or emissions at all after this, and engine performs well and responds to the accelerator pedal as it should (Note: all dash warning lights come on as normal and go out straight away - including the coil symbol for the glow plugs). But this fault appears intermittently: ignition on all warning lights except the glow plug symbol appear as normal engine fires first pop and runs/idles normally (no cloud of white smoke) but there is no response from the accelerator pedal - none. If I restart car and repeatedly turn the ignition off and on waiting for the glow plug symbol to re-appear the engine needs more cranking but it then responds to the accelerator pedal again...WTF! The other day I noticed once it started and was responsive to the accelerator pedal a distinctive 'click' noise was heard coming from the lower dash area in front of the driver (above the pedals) and accelerator pedal function was lost and the AC stopped working (started blowing warm air instead of the cold it had just been blowing out), no matter what I did it would not re-respond to the accel pedal. So i left it until the next day it started with the long cranking and the accel pedal was responsive as normal??? I have changed the accel pedal out for another that was tested as ok, I have swapped out most of the relays in both fuse boxes and checked all fuses. There was a low coolant alarm buzzer fitted but this has not been re-connected as the replacement silicon top hose had no bleed fitting in it! Any ideas anyone??? ...please!