The problem started 2 months ago. One morning the engine did not start on first attempt. The starter worked normally but the engine would not catch on. On 2nd attempt it started normally. The same repeated a few times in October. Every time on the cold morning and every time just on the 1st attempt.
With winter colds approaching I decided to contact my KiA garage. First over the phone.
Their first suspects were the coded key and the immobiliser. KiA advised me to try using the spare key and follow the respective signal lights, which I did. Each time the signal lights were as expected but the problem with morning start repeated.
Next I paid a short visit to a garage. Diagnostics showed no defect. I had all 4 glow plugs replaced 2 years ago and they were all functioning normally. I left the car overnight in the garage. KiA mechanic ran a diagnostics during the first morning start. The only thing they noticed was a voltage drop during the first morning start from 12 V sharp drop to 5 V and they suspected that maybe the fuel injectors would not engage at such low voltage. The battery test returned only 51% capacity and power with the recommendation: "bad - replace". We still decided not to replace the battery then but rather run more morning tests. I could not have left my car another night so we scheduled another visit. I took a trip over weekend and there were no problems as the outside temperatures increased.
Back home, after a few days, the cold mornings were back and so were the starting problems.
This time I left the car a few days with KiA. Unfortunately, the following mornings were not that cold and they could not repeat the starting problem, so I took the car back.
Next time the problem repeated, I stopped by the garage for the battery replacement.
The following morning, guess what, it would not start on 1st attempt...
After that the car was in KiA garage for the whole week. The only thing they could notice were worn-out diesel-injector seals / washers so they replaced them even though this normally does not cause my kind of problems. The next morning, which was just above freezing point, the car started normally in KiA garage and I took the car.
Last night temperature fall down to -5C. In the morning it was -2C. My car started normally on 1st attempt.
It seams that my problem has finally been solved. Culprit: injector seals / washers.
I hope this post might help some of you with similar problems.
With winter colds approaching I decided to contact my KiA garage. First over the phone.
Their first suspects were the coded key and the immobiliser. KiA advised me to try using the spare key and follow the respective signal lights, which I did. Each time the signal lights were as expected but the problem with morning start repeated.
Next I paid a short visit to a garage. Diagnostics showed no defect. I had all 4 glow plugs replaced 2 years ago and they were all functioning normally. I left the car overnight in the garage. KiA mechanic ran a diagnostics during the first morning start. The only thing they noticed was a voltage drop during the first morning start from 12 V sharp drop to 5 V and they suspected that maybe the fuel injectors would not engage at such low voltage. The battery test returned only 51% capacity and power with the recommendation: "bad - replace". We still decided not to replace the battery then but rather run more morning tests. I could not have left my car another night so we scheduled another visit. I took a trip over weekend and there were no problems as the outside temperatures increased.
Back home, after a few days, the cold mornings were back and so were the starting problems.
This time I left the car a few days with KiA. Unfortunately, the following mornings were not that cold and they could not repeat the starting problem, so I took the car back.
Next time the problem repeated, I stopped by the garage for the battery replacement.
The following morning, guess what, it would not start on 1st attempt...
After that the car was in KiA garage for the whole week. The only thing they could notice were worn-out diesel-injector seals / washers so they replaced them even though this normally does not cause my kind of problems. The next morning, which was just above freezing point, the car started normally in KiA garage and I took the car.
Last night temperature fall down to -5C. In the morning it was -2C. My car started normally on 1st attempt.
It seams that my problem has finally been solved. Culprit: injector seals / washers.
I hope this post might help some of you with similar problems.
