Hi All,
new to this group, hope you'll be patient with me... ;-)
Just got a '96 306 1.9 turbo diesel, 106000 mls on the clock. The car has been well looked after and runs well. I have a couple of questions though for your considered opinions. By the way I used to have a 94 version of the same car , though it was the non turbo.
When starting from cold, like if the car has been sitting for a while, almost as soon as the engine cranks there is like a single 'kick' from the engine - fools you into thinking it has started. But if you let go of the key, it hasnt of course. You need to hold the key over a bit longer, then it starts, with about 2 seconds of rough running and a bit of smoke, then it idles cleanly. If you then drive off, there is a misfire for about another 10 seconds or so at certain revs, after that the car runs fine. Once warmed up the car goes great, although on idle you can feel a little 'rock' from the engine - its not huge but enough to be able to be felt in the car.
What I wondered was, is it possible / likely that I could have a poorly seating injector which is allowing some fuel to drip into the cylinder when the car is sitting, giving me this kick on starting / smoke / misfire ? I had the car sitting running from cold one morning and I swear I could hear an out of time crack every so often like an injector firing at the wrong time - again, it cleared quite quickly as the car started to heat up. I got some bargain low mileage injectors from an accident write off car on ebay, tempted to swap em to see if there is any difference.
Another question - the rev counter works intermittently. I have been told to check the speed sensor mounted at the back of the engine, which I will...but slightly oddly I find that if I switch my lights on and off that usually kicks it into life. At first I thought maybe the load of switching the lights on was putting a voltage spike on the electrics and that was why it did this trick, but if I put on something else like the rear demister, that doesnt work.. only the lights.... any thoughts ?
Finally, I wonder what sort of mileage folks with this engine get from a tank. Watching my tank go down, it was looking like a bout 100 mls per quarter tank, which would only give 400 mls to a tank. however now that its on the quarter tank mark, it hasnt moved as quickly and Im up to 360 miles at a quarter tank, Do these cars have an odd shaped tank so that you get apparrently more from the last quarter? I had hoped to be getting 45-50 mpg from the car - i dont make much use of the turbo.
Thanks alot for your patience, look forward to reading some opinions!
Cheers Craig