My mate has just bought a part finished tray back project and have spent the weekend getting bits and pieces sorted. It has a 200tdi engine in it


it took a while to start yesterday, it turned over for a while before it fired up. the bloke that had it before used to start it on 24v and we started it on 12v.

once started we let it run for about 10 mins before it started to struggle and rev really low, it was almost like it was being starved of fuel or air (couldn't be air as the inter cooler isn't connected at the moment)

so we left it for the day presuming it was the lift pump. gave it another go starting it on 12v again and it started reving really high (2500rpm) and there was alot of blue smoke then it settled down to 750rpm then started to struggle again and cut out.

it doesn't have a fuel filter or sedimenter to be clogged up and i dont have a clue were to start apart from the lift pump not working properly but that doesnt explain the high revs

needing 24 volts to start ii doesnt sound good ,undo front banjo on injector pump and see if good flow of fuel ,compression check ,injectors ,oil in bores ,had you let engine fall to one side before fitting ,

engine was already fitted. i have just found this post;

'hi there i have recently encountered the very same problem on a 200 tdi that i repaired for a customer , its an unusual fault and was found to be the linkage conecting the diaghphram in the top of the pump to the plunger ! best way to check it is to remove the four screws holding the top part of the assy together then mark position of the diaghphram and mark where the small dot is situated in its housing , gently pull out the rubber and if like my own problem it may be stuck, ease it out and look down into the hole you should see a small pin this runs against the taper on the lower part of the item you removed ,using a soft tool such as an old toothbrush wiggle the pin around while operating the throttle linkage the pin may be partialy stuck , it shuold protrude into the bore around six to eight mm make sure it is poking out , refit the rubber in the same position and make sure its free to go down and back up, the adjuster in the centre of the cap adjusts low down power fueling and controls boost to turbo, take throttle cable off and give the throttle a few good pulls and release it .
connect cable and try it make sure that the stop selonoid is connected or you wont be able to stop the engine ,
This worked for me i tried all the usual things like hoses turbo etc to no avail then i striped down an old inj pump to see what may be the problem, the pump is very prone to rusting internaly if stored with no diesel inside! this causes shiny parts to rust and get stuck ... hope this helps , if you are not confident to do work yourself then at least you can point a mechanic in the right direction'

I think this could be the same problem as the engine hasn't been started for about 9 months