Is your inlet manifold swirl valve rod attached..?
Look rearwards of the glow plugs, it is a flat rod that links all of the swirl valves so they operate together, if it comes off due to worn swirl valves some can be open whilst others are closed which can give poor starting. it did on my 1.9.

 

swirl flaps look like they are working you can see them opening when someone rev's the engine ,going
to remove inlet this week and get is all cleaned out i will let you know if i find anything .

 

Good luck, its a big job getting the manifold off..

 

Battery perhaps?

 

Hi alfhrg,

I bought my 2.4 JTDM two weeks ago and I have the exact same starting characteristics.

TBH i just assumed it was meant to be this way, a bit lumpy upon start up, perhaps a characteristic of the engine in question, especially as the Alfa sales guy didn't bat an eyelid at it and as with yours there are no codes and she drives perfectly once started, i too found that blipping the throttle works nicely.

comforts me to know other 2.4 JTDMs are the same tho.

if you do determine that there's a problem i'd be interested to hear your findings; mine's in for an MOT service right now so hopefully if there is anything amiss the Donnelly Alfa lads will spot it.

Phil.

 

My battery is a bit small so I cycle the glow plugs 4 times in the morning before I start.
Then she starts immediately without a problem.

 

hello! i have the same problem. however, by reading thru this and other forums a lot, i've found some information that you can try. for example, if on a cold morning start i wait until 'press brake or clutch to start' message appears after oil check, then the engine starts a lot better and very rarely stalls. if it does, after a second push, engine starts immediately.
i also had a blue smoke problem on cold starts and i have used wynn's diesel treatment two times. first one bottle on 1/8th of a fuel tank, and then second bottle on full tank. blue smoke on cold start almost disappeared, just a small puff, barely visible.
i suggest you try this two methods. maybe it will help but it wont make any harm. nothing to loose here.

 

i had a similar problem with mine until i put it into the alfa dealer who applied an update for cold starting to the ecu...all fine now..

Martin

 

I expected as much since the glow plug on time is basically to short in my opinion.

 

HI tazmin3
Thats interesting did your car ever cut out after starting ,my car has been remapped and dpf removed
so i may look into a further mod to the cold start map after i have refitted my inlet manifold .

 

No it never cut out but it did seem to want to...it was very stuttery and spitting before i blipped throttle and it was fine.,

Martin

 

My car has started to do just the same in the last couple of months, I have also on a couple of occasions had a bit of a lack of power for a couple of minutes when driving. Mines going in to the garage on Monday so will let you know if they find anything!

 

Joining the cold start club... I have just bought a 08 2.4 159 Sportwagon with 108k on the clock. Runs like a dream when warm but does cough and mis on cold start for 3-5 seconds with exactly the same symptoms described, it does not seem to affect the 1.9.

Will not spend any time or cash until someone comes up with a clear solution as when searching previous threads no clear solution has been found. I have seen in some threads that an ECU update fixes it. Will continue to monitor the thread.

 

it would be interesting to know if this still happens to people who had the DPF removal + remap.

Mine is a bit random: sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.. go figure..

 

I guess its because its Italian!

 

I'm Italian and I have to say I find it hard to get out of bed some mornings, but I too still have my DPF installed

 

I had the same problem on my 08 2.4JTD sportwagon, though it seems to have almost resolved now, since 3 of the 5 injectors were replaced a month ago (under Alfacare used car warranty). This is a solution to go for if you have a warranty, though - it can't have been cheap....

 

I have been having exactly the same issue. Rough running for around 15 seconds on cold start, feeling like you have to blip the accelerator to keep it running although it never cut out.

I also develooped no power under 1500rpm so essentially it went in the garage for this issue.

They suspected injectors for the rough start and had them all tested. They were all fine.

They changed the EGR and put on one of the restricted flow gasgets to cure the power problem.

End result is that the start issue has got alot better. You no longer feel like its gonna cut out and only runs rough for a few seconds. All the power back aswell due to EGR replacement.

I'm not technical eneough to know if anything could have been improved by removing and reinstalling the injectors ? But failing that it must have been the EGR valve in my case.

regards

 

I've had my Brera remapped and it still intermittently runs rough at start up with some smoke and a smell of diesel. It's done it for eight months and I can't see a pattern to it.

 

I really think this is a design fault. Most cars automatically hold the revs up for a few seconds on cold start, Alfa 2.4s don't and they obviously need to. I always start with a bit of throttle and hold for about 5 seconds. always works that one.

 

Ok ... I'll be first to say my 1.9 does this often .... I use the glow plug cycle trick two or three times ... I just assumed with 104k on it, it was never going to run like new !

 

:lol:

 

Mine does exactly the same thing, a blip on the throttle makes it all ok, else more often than not it will simply chug and stall.

 

poor starting

Hi all,

My 159 1.9 JTDM starts first time everytime, but can be a little rough for a few seconds when its really cold upon starting.

I'd expect this with any diesel though?

 

Hi guys
well i think i have sorted the cold start problem, if you read my first thread you will know that injectors,egr,air flow ,heater plugs were all tested ok, even after i had it re-map dpf removed and egr blanked
it was still difficult to start when cold and when it did start it would cutout. unless you reved it. so i removed the inlet manifold had it dipped in an acid bath to remove all the carbon and removed the swirl flaps altogether cleaned the throttle body . now it has never ran so well starts up does not cut out no flat spots its the dogs.
got the idea after doing the same to a bmw 325d its a must on them because they break up and damage the engine. so if you guys want any more info let me know cheers.

 

is it a big job to do that cleaning? if garage is to do it, what do you think - how many hours of work would it be?

 

so i've just got my motor sorted after a bit of back n forth with the garage who have been mega helpfull (Station road garage Knutsford) John is a top bloke.

first of all it was discovered that my glow plug relay was goosed and also had been updated since at the factory, so the updated unit was fitted and that improved things some what.

then yesterday i had an engine warning light come on advising to check engine. when it was diagnosed it said the EGR had gone faulty. so now have had that swaped out, it all seems fine

however, Alfhrg's idea to clean out the inlet sounds like a really good idea too! also removing the swirl flaps too, i've heard some nightmare stories about BMW's going wrong with swirl flaps

 

Thanks to Alfhrg's for his response... to often you hear problems on these forums and never get the answer. Will schedule a weekend of cleaning "the black stuff" when the weather is warmer.

Alfhrg did you remove the manifold yourself and how long did it take (I know HP fuel pump requires removal)? Also who (what business type) did you get to acid dip the manifold.