Hard to start

[catlin_cava]

2001 ALH 425,900kms, she was hard to start this morning and some white smoke blew out and she was low..very low on coolant since the light was flashing, possibly a blown headgasket

[the caveman]

has the temperature dropped lately? It would be good to check the timing with a scanner. As you probably know a lot of garages don't bother to check or adjust the pump timing after a belt change. And TDI's will start fine as long as the timing is in range. But if it not at the upper range [-65-70 o] it'll be hard to start cold .

[catlin_cava]

Well she cracked over for 15 seconds with no catch, I cycled the plugs again, and it cranked a few times and miss fired when it started on the 3rd time she started ans sputtered a bit then leveled out

[the caveman]

They also have to crank fast for them to fire. I believe the battery/starter must be able to turn the engine at least 500 rpms for the ecu to "fire" . That's why TDI's are some what hard to push start. . Of course if you are suspecting bad compression, everything i'm saying is useless....

[dieselherb1]

My 97 doesn't like to go below 6 gal in the tank. Today I had to refill the filter and add fuel to the tank(3 gal) just to keep it running to get it to the gas station. Mine is fuel pump related, not drawing from tank. Could have a air leak in a line.