If you disconnect the glow plugs with the ambient temp above 18degree c then it will start and run without any problems any smoke is poduced buy a faulty EGR,Turbo,Actuator or dirty inlet manifold your more likely to cure the problem by changing the brake lamp bulbs as you are the glow plugs.I suggest you look at the wiring diagram again.

Egr valve requires cleaning or the turbo actuator has cooked itself the latter is very expensive due to the fact it can only be bought with the turbo.

Either depending on how bad they were,a good test is if your light is on put your fingure on the activation arm of the actuator and put some pressure on it the light should go out if its the actuator.The EGR is easy to get to fully remove it and give it a good clean along with the plastic inlet manifold.

ok, here is an update...

my brother is a a keen diy mechanic so when he came to visit i mentioned this problem. he checked out a couple of pages on google to suss out the layout of the EGR valve, we bought some carb cleaning spray and had a go.

the egr was easy to find after removal of the plastic engine cover. the access id quite good, at the front top left in the engine bay. we only had to remove two nuts front, two nuts rear, and a large jubillee clip, then a vacuum hose and two electric conections.

the egr came out very easily. it was seriously caked in carbon soot. we cleaned it all off dry, then used the carb cleaner to soften and remove the tougher bits. we had to make a small wire scrapper from a piece of coat hanger to get into the corners.once that was clean we checked up the plastic cover between egr and the valves [dont know the name or how better to describe] and there was some further deposits to remove. you could just about clean them out with a finger and a clean rag. a little squirt of carb cleaner and a last wipe removed the last traces.

after re-assembly i tried to start the car. there were a couple of little coughs that had me worried, then it fired up ok. the flashing heater plug light was still on, but after running up the road i turned the ignition off and re-started and the heater light didnt re-appear. i was now able to put my foot down and the power is back. started from cold just fine this morning, zero celcius.

very pleased. thanks for the advice chaps. this is not a major gagage jobbie.i am guilty of not doing regular oil and filter changes, so this might well have been the source of the proble, i also dont drive the car long distances as i used to do and diesels prefer to be driven until fully warm to keep the soot from building up.

i will be doing an oil change including a full flush, oi,l fuel and air filters, then adding some 'forte' diesel treatment [recommended by the brother] to clear out and remnants of the carbon/soot.

thanks again Bro!!!

Edited by baitman on 02/03/2013 at 21:23

All the thoughts are wriitten abpve if you care to read plus if you google the site you will see a comprhensive list of problems and solutions regarding this fault.