My 1998 ford fiesta 1.8 diesel struggles to start.
All the glow plugs are now working, after changing 2.
first thing in the morning I heat the plugs up 3 times and then try to start the car, this can take up to 30-40 seconds, and then sometimes won't keep running. After a few goes it starts and continues to run and drive perfectly. If the car is re started within a few minutes of being switched off it re-starts fine, but if say 30-40 minutes has passed, although the engine is still warm it still strugles to start. the car has been regularly serviced, and has only developed the fault about 6 months ago, at which time I changed the fuel filter as I was told that this would be the problem, but it didn't solve anything. I have since been told that it could be a seal in the lift pump... Could this be the case, and if so can the seal in question be changed, or must the pump as a whole be replaced, if so HOW DO I FIX IT?
Cheers, Richard..

Richard Burridge, April 2005

Try replacing the stop solanoid on the injector pump as it may not be allowing enough fuel through. As a temporary measure you can take out the soloniod and remove the plunger to see if it that which is making startup difficult.This is what was up with my fiesta and it seemed to cure it also in addition check the condition of the injectors.

WARNING:When the plunger is removed the engine can only be stopped by Putting it in gear and stalling it

Chris, May 2005

The car has covered about 124,000 miles...

Richard Burridge, April 2005

From the description my suspicion is the pump, has the car covered a lot of miles? Buy a Haynes manual to see if you can overhaul it, I imagine it's big money to replace.

Colonel Blinky, April 2005