I have found comments on here and elsewhere on this perennial subject but would still welcome ideas.

2.0TD LXI BJ - done 160,000.
Poor starter (cold or warm) when bought but a tiny sniff of Easy Start brought it to life instantly.

A/ Checked glowplugs, found two dead so bought 4x new Lucas glowplugs (not trusting Chinese ones and being unable to stretch to Beru ones). Made no difference
Glowplug timer relay can be heard clicking in.
Curious thing is that when started with a sniff, it immediately runs sweetly with NO black and NO white smoke.
Was told if either "low compression" or "timing adrift" - that it would smoke?

B/ Tried a huge and perfect (95AH) Bosch battery and that made no difference.
Now got a virtually new 75AH Exide fitted and turns over normally but no change to no-start.



C/ Quick look at fuel filter ... shows a felt-pen date about 4 months ago and it looks brand new (I know that means nothing but) ... IF it was the fuel filter obstructed why would it run so sweetly immediately after starting?
No visible fuel leaks by the way.

D/ Garage-owner friend suggested checking fuel running back to tank/air leaks? But if it was doing that - again why would it instantly run sweetly and not cough and splutter as fuel/air comes forward?

E/ Second garage-owner suggested "Go back to basics" and check timing (and that belt has not jumped a tooth or whatever). Took belt top cover off and turned crank with a socket/bar till cam and pump sprockets were aligned to their correct marks.
But cannot see crank sprocket mark with outer pulley etc. still in place.

F/ Going to check tappet clearances tomorrow.


Mazda Masters Training Manual (Advanced Diesel Engine Management) CT-L3004 suggests :-
"Spray 'Start Pilot' into the intake air duct whilst cranking the engine. If the engine starts, the fuel system might be faulty. If the engine does not start, then this indicates a fault in the engine mechanical system."

[For the solution - go to my post of the 4/12/2016.]

Maybe worth checking the vacuum lines, located around the battery box area..

Cannot actually see ANY vacuum lines 'near battery box'. And if one was split why would it run perfectly once actually started?

Am 90% sure that air is getting into the pump after switching off.

Today :-
Changed fuel filter head (in case primer diaphragm had developed a pinhole).
Primed system, then opened bleed plug on banjo above the injection pump, pressed primer 2 or 3 times till neat fuel came from bleed plug then tightened it. So system pretty full.

Engine started normally with no need for Easy Start.
Switched off for a few seconds, then restarted as per normal. Switched off.

THEN waited about 5 minutes. The crunch test ...
Would not start at all - which makes me think air might be getting into pump ?
Done many searches on the net but there is some really dodgy advice out there!
One chap thought diesels had coils ...
Another thought 323 glowplug light flashing was ONLY to show faults in glowplug circuitry.
(It actually shows stored faults are in the ECU. Downloading them shows they can cover many aspects of the engine and not just glowplugs)
Autodata list all the possible codes to be found via DLC on PFL 323s.
[Confession. Yes I have downloaded error codes but they do not conform exactly to the format Autodata led me to expect !!]
I got :-
Long flash
Pause
Long flash No pause 4 short flashes
Pause
Long flash
Pause
Long flash No pause 3 short flashes

then about 5 or 6 seconds wait and the sequence starts flashing again.

Question for Denso-pumped diesel owners ... is there a seal or seals on the pump that would let air in ?
Car has done 160,000 so fair by diesel standards, no black or white smoke, no untoward rattles, new glow plugs and airfilter. Not leaking diesel into sump.

And just to emphasise, when started on Easy Start it immediately runs perfectly, no missing, no smoke.

Unfortunately there is not much documentation information available for these models. Do you have the Mazda 626 RF Turbo Workshop PDF Manual? (The 626 is the same engine)

No. I'll have a search for it and, thank you, it sounds promising.

00.10 Edited to add :-

Found superbly detailed 626 manual.

http://www.pmx626.info/EU/Mazda%20626%2 ... nt_OCR.pdf

Established that my 323 has 4-digit codes and the flash sequence stored, 0403, as an error relates to the EGR valve. Almost certainly stuck or sticky. One more job!
But probably not affecting starting issue (unless I misunderstand the operation of an EGR)

Thanks again "diesel323" - a really useful link/spot.

You can blank off the EGR valves on these models with a blanking plate, you also have to blank off the vacuum pipe (ball bearing or something). Maybe worth doing because some owners say that their cars run better with a blanked off EGR.

Better late than never !!! And a result.

After abandoning efforts to get the 323 starting properly over a year ago, it was just parked up.
Something made me tackle it again and I decided that the crank sensor was worth checking.
(probably because a new one was £60-ish and I wasn't certain it was the culprit)

Offside front wheel off, belts slackened and removed, crank pulley Allen bolts (6) undone, pulley removed, lower timing cover finally removed to gain access.

Thought the air gap looked quite large so measured it at ... 1.68mm !
I think the 'range' is 0.5mm to 1.5mm ?
Removed sensor and being non-adjustable decided to carefully file down the plastic mounting lug (which has an inbuilt steel spacer tube).
Got the gap down to 1.00mm and guess what ?
The car now starts first time with no Easy Start.
So the original gap was clearly right at the very limit of the sensor's capability. And it had deteriorated a smidgin.
[Thus a sniff of Easy Start would get it running and at the slightly higher than normal cranking speed - the sensor worked and told the ECU/system to 'fire' the injectors so no problems with smoke etc.]