Hi all,

I wish i had joined up under better circumstances but i am really struggling with my car and i hope you can help.

The story so far is......

I own a 2004 1.3 corsa CDTI with the common rail fuel injection and 45,000 miles on it, what happened was the car was using water so as i was too busy with work to look at it i took it to a local garage to be fixed. In the process of fixing it they fitted a new headgasket which later turns out not to be needed (the leak was from a stone strike in the rad).

This is going to sound a bit daft but when i got the car back it was dropped off during the day, my missus had let them put it in the garage and was all Locked up so being late i presumed it was ok so i left it there until i'd need it again (which turned out to be 7 months later) soft i know...... I am to trusting.

Anyway, When i started the car up the garage Disappeared in Black smoke in a matter of seconds, i noticed it would'nt rev properly (was a big delay between the peddle being pushed and the revs going up) so as you do i rang the garage and as expected they said you can't ring and complain 7 months after the work was done.....

So i decided to have a look at it as i am quite a good mechanic but have little experience with Diesels, so with a bit of help from a mate with another Identical CDTI and the Internet i have changed the following with no joy, also the working car didn't play up at all.

High pressure fuel pump (Swapped from working car)

checked low pressure tank pump was working and had plenty of pressure

Fuel rail inc regulator and Pressure sensor (Swapped from working car)

Injectors (they do need cleaning as when i fit mine to the good car it started smoking a bit but nothing major) also there is a slight leak from the copper washers but the good car runs fine with the same leak. (there seems to be plenty of fuel/pressure there)(Swapped from working car)

Fuel filter case/new filter/Air filter

Map sensor (Swapped from working car)

Maf Sensor (Swapped from working car)

Crank sensor (Swapped from working car)

Cam sensor (Swapped from working car)

Coolant temp (Swapped from working car)

Leakage pipes (Swapped from working car)

Continuity tested the engine loom.

Glow plug and times tested

EGR was replaced 12 months ago when the light cam on in the car so isn't very old (less than 250 miles on it) i have removed this and inspected it (there was lots of loose carbon inside but apart that looked like new)

Recent new head gasket (no oil in water or water in oil) Compression was checked and was 350psi on each pot (cold and dry)

Valve timing, I checked this using the cam tool and a 6 mm drill which i put in the hole in the bottom of the gear box and they lined up fine.

Had a look at the turbo and even though its grubby the wheels inside seem to turn but is quite aquard so i don't know how free it is (i could only turn the Compressor side too) but it has little bearing movement.

I have had it plugged into a Diagnostic tool (OPCOM) and there is no stored fault codes and the engine light is not on.

I have also had the Inlet manifold off and there was quite bad Carbon Deposits round the egr valve probe to the valves, which i cleaned out but i think its some thing caused by the problem rather than the problem its self as the car still Black smokes and doesn't rev correctly.


Now after doing quite a bit of reading my symptoms sound like an inlet blockage or exhaust Blockage and the more i try to run it the worse the problem gets and the harder it is to start to the degree it now sounds like the glow plugs are not working now (sounds like it fires on one cylinder then with a bit more cranking gets two going etc but it doesn't quite catch on four at the moment)

I did think it could be the Cat being blocked but i have tried starting it with no down pipe on and it still is not having any.

Now i have started to think it could possibly be the EGR after all simply because i have read the egr should be shut on idle and looking at the amount of carbon that had collected in the Inlet manifold i'd say its open or is being pushed open by high manifold pressure if thats at all possible.

Any ideas?