Vauxhall Astra 2008 Diesel can struggle to start

[m4shaw]

Hi.

My Vauxhall Astra 2008 1.9cdti Diesel car can take up to 3 or 4 goes at starting it has got 46000 miles on the clock , would the glow plugs need changing as there is no engine management light on the dash or any codes.

Could it be the air mass flow meter needs cleaning / air filter needs changing. I have had the car from new and was regularly serviced until last year as I only do about 4000 -5000 miles per year. New battery fitted 3 years ago.

thanking you

[GreenV8S]

Hard to tell what's wrong without doing some diagnosis. I wouldn't recommend guessing at the fault - better to track it down methodically so you don't waste time and money fixing things that weren't broken.

Since it hasn't been serviced recently, that would be a sensible first step. Mention the starting issue to the people who service it so they can keep an eye out for potential causes while they're working on it.

[stevieturbo]

m4shaw said:

Hi.

My Vauxhall Astra 2008 1.9cdti Diesel car can take up to 3 or 4 goes at starting it has got 46000 miles on the clock , would the glow plugs need changing as there is no engine management light on the dash or any codes.

Could it be the air mass flow meter needs cleaning / air filter needs changing. I have had the car from new and was regularly serviced until last year as I only do about 4000 -5000 miles per year. New battery fitted 3 years ago.

thanking you

Could be many things, but the ecu should report any glow plug faults to you via the CEL so rather unlikely to be that.

But again...history ?

[Congletonian]

m4shaw said:

Hi.

My Vauxhall Astra 2008 1.9cdti Diesel car can take up to 3 or 4 goes at starting it has got 46000 miles on the clock , would the glow plugs need changing as there is no engine management light on the dash or any codes.

Could it be the air mass flow meter needs cleaning / air filter needs changing. I have had the car from new and was regularly serviced until last year as I only do about 4000 -5000 miles per year. New battery fitted 3 years ago.

thanking you

Possible glow plugs or glow plug relay. Mine did this when and I plugged it in and it said speed sensor. I thought what has a speed/abs sensor got to do with it? This fault has nothing to do with abs sensor as I thought that is what it meant.
I was corrected the speed sensor sits in top of the gearbox and cost about £15 easy to do and it cured it.
The senor senses how fast the engine is turning and gives information to the ecu to how much fuel pressure is required by the engine to run correctly. If it is faulty it might do what your car is doing and if it fails the car won't run at all.
Get it plugged in as with most things GM it will list the fault. My car also ran a bit lumpy until the turbo kicked in then it flew which was the speed sensor too.