Vauxhall Corsa diesel won't start

[bryan35]

Colleague of mine has a vauxhall corsa turbo diesel R reg, that won't start.
Drove back from airport approx 100 miles no probs then wouldn't start the next day.
Engine turns over, and sometimes gives a bit of life for about a second then stops.
replaced the glow plugs, no different.

Any ideas chaps?

[MR2Mike]

Tried bleeding the fuel system? A leak almost anywhere in the fuel system can cause air to be drawn in and stop it running.

[350zwelgje]

Worst would be a cracked cilinder head. If compression is not good enough, a diesel won't start. More typical for this could be: in summer the engine starts, in winter not due to not enough compression to get the temperature in the cilinders hot enough to ignite the diesel.

Rob

[turbo-tastic]

As mentioned above, bleed any air out of the fuel system. If there has been a lack of fuel, the oil might have been blown out and you have lost compression. If you put about half a cap full of oil down into each cylinder should help raise the compression enough to get it started. But check the oil levels first.

It worked on my mates transit once, same scenario. Long run the day before then wouldn't start. And it was fine from then on.

[numbnuts]

check the valve clearences, very common on the izuzu enging for the valves to sink back into the valve seats and then there is no clearance...no clearance no compression!