Rover 420 SDI 2 litre turbo diesel fault

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Tue 31 Jul 2007 08:48
Rover 420 SDI 2 litre turbo diesel fault - riley1937
I have a 114,000 mile 1996 Rover 420 SDI 2-litre turbo which is used predominantly on motorways. It has two annoying problems that may, or may not, be connected:

1. Starting from cold, it will only fire if I let the pre-heat light go out once, flick the key off and on, let the light go out again and then wait a few seconds for a quiet 'click' from a relay behind the dashboard before spinning the starter motor. Then it starts well.

2. From a cold start, the engine jerks intermittently just as if the fuel is being briefly cut off from the injection pump. It will sometimes display this fault when idling by hiccuping and, when it occurs when the engine is pulling, it feels like the driver is stabbing at the brake pedal . This continues until the engine is fully up to temperature and then it runs fine for the rest of that day.
Interestingly, if the engine is turned off for a short period (say 5 mins) after even just a mile or two from cold, it runs perfectly when re-started.

The coolant temperature sensor, fuel filter and the glow plugs have been renewed.
I only use Shell diesel fuel, never supermarket products.

Any ideas?

Thank you,

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