citroen xsara hdi takes ages to start when running fine

when you turn the key to the first position wait for the coil light to go out, this is pre-heating the diesel in the cylinders and takes a few seconds to heat up once it has should start no prob

Glow plugs One or more failed

you need new heater plugs or you have low compression

l have a 307 HDi; when u press ur key to open the doors the ECU wakes up & starts to prepare the car for movement, so it will have adjusted itself, warmed up the diesel in the cylinders ready for when u start the engine. If a glow plug has perished it does not make much difference with these engines as most of the ignition is through the heated compression of the diesel. Mine started to crank for a while, l notice it more on the cold days. As long as it does not judder when started it should be fine.

sounds like heater plugs takes about an hour to fit new ones cost 5 pounds each

Hi there, There r so many to this question & really it needs to be checked over properly by a veh tech, who knows & understand high pressure diesel systems, like the system fitted to ur car.
Diesel cars need vast amounts of compression to start & the compression causes heat build up in the cylinders but when the engine is cold it needs a little help to start & that is why glow plugs r fitted, these glow plugs heat up the compression chamber before fuel is injected. You turn the ignition key to crank the engine & fuel is injected (which is already warmed usually with a small electric fuel heater built inline of the fuel line) through the injectors at a high pressure & boom, it starts. The heater plugs then r supplied with a small amount of power to make them warm which helps the car idle & run properly. This amount of power & how long it is supplied is controlled by the ecm which receives it signal from the water temp sensor which detects the engine warming up as it idles or runs.
The injectors r electronically controlled by the ecm & the ecm receives signals from all around the engine which it uses to determine how much fuel should be injected & for how long, ie engine speed/load, air amounts(mafs) & water temp, these all r needed to also help toward keeping the engine economical & within emission ledgislation req's.
If ur car starts when cold & starts easily without any stutter or rough running then u have to assume that the compressions r ok & the heater plugs r ok but as suggested these would need to be checked properly.
If u r having problems starting ur car when warm, it could be a faulty temp sensor sending the wrong temp signal & the ecm could be fuelling wrongly when warm.
You can also see that ther is alot of info needed to just start ur car, may l also add that ther is also ambient temp sensors that so manufacturers use to help start cars too.
Sorry its been long winded but it should make u realise ur car needs to be checked properly. l also suggest that u do not use the glow plugs when ur car is warm because with high amounts of compression it does not need the little help. There is also fuel supply to think of as well but if it starts when cold l assume the fuel is getting to the filter & from there being supplied to the high pressure fuel pump at all times. Once or twice in my history l have seen them try to draw fuel from the return side when warm & this would cause bad starting too.
Cheers
Andy

just to let you know its NOT the glow plugs
hdi engines are direct injection and do not rely on glow plugs
for starting,you need to take it to a garage to get proper assesment or youll be forking out a fortune in bits that you dont need.

Hi, first thing l would do is change the bleed off pipes between each of the injectors!, there are 3 and a rubber bung at the 4th cylinder, these perish and make the car difficult to start, loads of other possibilities but start here, £3 from any motor factors, seen it loads of times and had friends pay out good money having cars checked to be told pump screwed, they never have turned out to be that.

give it a go,bet this is prob.

Pre-diesel heating time too short. Give it time with the key in before starting the engine. If not working, check the preheating coil system.

HD l engines do use glowplugs, at least the following do for a fact:
C5 2.0 HDi 2001-2005
C5 2.2 HDi 2001-2005
C8 2.0 HDi 2002-2005
C8 2.2 HDi 2002-2005
Xantia 2.0 HDi 1998-2002

I'd either replace 'em. (it is easy and if it does not work at least you know what it isn't) or go to a good diesel mechanic.