2009 CashCow - Glowplug code gone!

[wuvvum]

The auto wipers on the Leaf are pretty good.  It's the first car I've owned where they haven't been more trouble than they're worth.

[Scruffy Bodger]

On 08/11/2025 at 11:33, djoptix said:

Thinking about it, the only car I've ever had which had almost perfect auto wipers was my MK1 Citroen C5. I just left the wipers on fully auto all the time and never thought about them, and it would always choose perfectly. How come Citroen got that right in 2002, but it's still not right on cars 20 years later?!

I did thousands of miles in a 306 Meridian without ever having to touch the wiper stalk, the 2010 V50 I had was rubbish in that respect, a real step backwards.

[Notyou]

The auto wipers on my Qashqai work backwards … min setting equals most sensitive setting. 
I am missing mine, it’s been at the garage for almost 3 weeks and won’t be back until at least 26th Nov due to an oil falling out while driving issue. 

[beko1987]

10 hours ago, Notyou said:

The auto wipers on my Qashqai work backwards … min setting equals most sensitive setting. 
I am missing mine, it’s been at the garage for almost 3 weeks and won’t be back until at least 26th Nov due to an oil falling out while driving issue. 

That makes a bit more sense now you say it. I guess their not true intermittent, you just adjust the sensors to react less or more 🤔

Where did the oil fall from?

[UltraWomble]

10 hours ago, Notyou said:

The auto wipers on my Qashqai work backwards … 

The rain sensitive auto wipers on my Polo are incredibly shit and vary from "we are not sensing any rain at all" to "its spitting so we will work at 10x the speed"
I miss a variable speed intermittent wipe.

[Notyou]

11 hours ago, beko1987 said:

That makes a bit more sense now you say it. I guess their not true intermittent, you just adjust the sensors to react less or more 🤔

Where did the oil fall from?

Re wipers:

My understanding is that the auto function does intermittent to variable sensing levels right the way up to wiper blades may depart due to speed. 
good wiper blades also tend to help the proper functioning of the system, if the blades smear rather than clear properly then the system has a tantrum. 

Re oil falling out location:

We are not sure. 
after the tow home it was left doing nothing for a couple of weeks. We put it on the ramps last Friday and cleaned the everything and left it running for ages …. No leakage, filled up the oil and repeated …. Still no leaking. 
checked all turdblower related points, all fine and no leaks there. 
Took it for a 2 mile drive and it ejected most of the oil again. It seems to be coming out from behind the timing covers just above the crank pulley. The timing belt is saturated so will need to be changed. 
what compounds the issue is the fact that oil is blowing onto the o/s driveshaft and going all over the place! Both sides of the front wheel, up the side of the car, all up the back of the engine and all over the subframe …. At least it shouldn’t rust for a while, silver linings and all that. 

a small snapshot of the issue. I think I may change its name from ‘Eeyore’ to ‘Exxon Valdez’  😆

[beko1987]

11 hours ago, Notyou said:

Re wipers:

My understanding is that the auto function does intermittent to variable sensing levels right the way up to wiper blades may depart due to speed. 
good wiper blades also tend to help the proper functioning of the system, if the blades smear rather than clear properly then the system has a tantrum. 

Re oil falling out location:

We are not sure. 
after the tow home it was left doing nothing for a couple of weeks. We put it on the ramps last Friday and cleaned the everything and left it running for ages …. No leakage, filled up the oil and repeated …. Still no leaking. 
checked all turdblower related points, all fine and no leaks there. 
Took it for a 2 mile drive and it ejected most of the oil again. It seems to be coming out from behind the timing covers just above the crank pulley. The timing belt is saturated so will need to be changed. 
what compounds the issue is the fact that oil is blowing onto the o/s driveshaft and going all over the place! Both sides of the front wheel, up the side of the car, all up the back of the engine and all over the subframe …. At least it shouldn’t rust for a while, silver linings and all that. 

a small snapshot of the issue. I think I may change its name from ‘Eeyore’ to ‘Exxon Valdez’  😆

I did fit new blades with the motor, mostly because o wanted to rule out the old blades dragging too much and not helping the rubbish motor. I hadn't realise how bad the Ole ones were as the new ones are 20x better by accident 😂

That looks a mess, hopefully it's just something simple and cheap that has popped off and after your big bill to stop and clean everything all will be well 🤞🤞

[Brigsy]

A couple of my renaults also have the shite auto wipe setting. Its either one wipe every now and then or full send and just spitting with rain. Much prefer the old manual intermittent setting.

[beko1987]

This morning was the first proper cold start since before changing the glowplugs and... It's still very slow to start. Doesn't like it, eventually stumbles into life then idles fine as if it didn't just be shitty 🤷

It did fire eventually, and with the new battery I trust it would fire up eventually every time, next time I'm going to try 2 cycles of the glowplugs and see if that changes anything.

Was as frozen on the inside as the outside though, although had been parked since Saturday. Maybe if I drove it more it wouldn't do that 🤔 

For once it's wintery and I have winter tyres too, glad they didn't wear out over summer.

[Dobloseven]

Thought the glow plugs on modern diesels weren't so much for preheating as getting the running engine up to temperature as quickly as possible.All the common rail diesels I've had,have always started straight off the key.

[beko1987]

33 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Thought the glow plugs on modern diesels weren't so much for preheating as getting the running engine up to temperature as quickly as possible.All the common rail diesels I've had,have always started straight off the key.

Every diesel I've ever had has too. From a fair bit of reading it can be a bit TADTS on the k9k but there must be a reason for it.

Equally I need to learn how to sympathetically get it started. Was a little bit moody leaving the office after being parked for 6 1/2 hours but didn't stumble into life, just required a bit of starter then turned on fine

[320touring]

Re the inside freezing, have you changed the Cabin filter? That made a massive difference to the Zoe.

[Popsicle]

4 hours ago, beko1987 said:

This morning was the first proper cold start since before changing the glowplugs and... It's still very slow to start. Doesn't like it, eventually stumbles into life then idles fine as if it didn't just be shitty 🤷

Ours turns over a few times before it fires into life, if it's been sat overnight or all week, it's still the same slow start, but it always starts. Like you, I've replaced the battery and glow plugs - I think it's just how the 1.5 dci is.

[Brigsy]

K9k life, a few extra cranks in minus temps. Mine is a little bit moody but last time i checked 1 plug was working. Reluctant to change them as had one shear off years ago 😄

Check glow plug module is working i guess and plugs are still ok, thats as good as it gets.

[dome]

Yep, glow plug module was gone on my Megane, and let's not mention me sticking 12v to the 4.4v glow plugs to test them 🫣

[Dobloseven]

Had a 2010 1.5 dci Kangoo from 8 months old for 120k miles and always started promptly in all weathers.

[paulplom]

My van has never liked the cold mornings. It struggled for the last three days. I had a new starter fitted and it's made a massive difference. It spins over twice as fast now and catches almost straight away. Could be a cheap fix for you.

[AxWomble]

Agree with all the above - it’s usually a tired starter that does for a commonrail diesel in cold weather. Our old 2.8 Ducato is still churning happily into life at -2, even though it allegedly doesn’t have any glowplugs - just a ‘flame start’ which I’ve never seen working. 

[beko1987]

Certainly a consideration and not too hard to change, thanks!

 

[Supernaut]

With my Megane 1.5dci, the first start of the day regardless of weather is slightly slow and clattery.

I'm only talking a couple of seconds, tops, of cranking rather than a half-second once it's warm, though.

 

It's got a stupid key card and starter button though. So I hit the button and it just cranks until it starts. I have no say in it!

[beko1987]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

With my Megane 1.5dci, the first start of the day regardless of weather is slightly slow and clattery.

I'm only talking a couple of seconds, tops, of cranking rather than a half-second once it's warm, though.

 

It's got a stupid key card and starter button though. So I hit the button and it just cranks until it starts. I have no say in it!

It is only the first start of the day, after that it's fine, even when cold later it's a few turns more of the starter than it was when it was 33 degrees out but  a clean start.

I've heard fuel filter and new primer pipework can cure it too, if the cause is fuel leaking back but I'm not convinced enough that it is to throw £70 of genuine pipes and the decent fuel filter it requires at it. Does currently have a motor point fuel filter in though so someone has been there before.

[Lacquer Peel]

On 09/11/2025 at 16:06, wuvvum said:

The auto wipers on the Leaf are pretty good.  It's the first car I've owned where they haven't been more trouble than they're worth.

Late 1990s Peugeots have the best auto wipers of any I've tried. 

[Lacquer Peel]

20 hours ago, beko1987 said:

It is only the first start of the day, after that it's fine, even when cold later it's a few turns more of the starter than it was when it was 33 degrees out but  a clean start.

I've heard fuel filter and new primer pipework can cure it too, if the cause is fuel leaking back but I'm not convinced enough that it is to throw £70 of genuine pipes and the decent fuel filter it requires at it. Does currently have a motor point fuel filter in though so someone has been there before.

They are quite fussy about fuel filters and any clogging can put them wrong. 

I am thinking crank or cam sensor possibly, if they are iffy they can cause the 1.5 DCi to struggle with cold starts. 

[beko1987]

30 minutes ago, Lacquer Peel said:

They are quite fussy about fuel filters and any clogging can put them wrong. 

I am thinking crank or cam sensor possibly, if they are iffy they can cause the 1.5 DCi to struggle with cold starts. 

Is it something some diagnostics could see? Have been wondering what cheap dodgy software and cheap cable would play nicely with it, being the newest car I've owned I'm hoping it'll be easier than trying to fuck about with Peugeot planet and lexia back in the day 😂

Could read some sensors and see if it narrows it down. The fuel valves are in the filter too which can cause issues but if I leave it a week in warm weather it fires up fine, so fuel leaking back is further down my list 

 

Should be OK today, it's raining so not as cold. About to leave to go to my mums, then we're off the the model railway expo in Birmingham as a surprise for my stepdad. Hope the wipers stay working, it's raining hard today 😂😬

[Lacquer Peel]

It didn't trigger an error message on my friend's old Clio as it was still just about functional but not for cold starts. 

Direct injection diesels also still need good glow plugs when it gets cold n

[Rusty_Rocket]

On 20/11/2025 at 22:45, Dobloseven said:

Had a 2010 1.5 dci Kangoo from 8 months old for 120k miles and always started promptly in all weathers.

Yup... 2013 Kangoo van here, starts instantly, hot or cold. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Beko, mine is also an 09 J10 with the 1.5dci. It's currently on 157k. For the three years I've owned it, it's always turned slowly on the starter for the first cold start of the morning. Some days it takes two or three seconds before it catches. One of 2Smoke's lads did my cambelt 12 months ago and he commented at the time that he reckoned it was starter and they're prone to it. I have a good secondhand starter which I bought a while back sat on the bench - I just need to make time to fit  it. Access looks excellent to be fair. 

I'll let you know the outcome when I've done it!

[beko1987]

Cheers, be good to know!

 

After a wet round trip to the nec the wipers survived and worked very well! I think something is still amiss at the rear as it steamed up constantly. I also realised that only the top part of the rear heated screen works 😂

Mpg dipped to 53.9 but we were 5 up. Everyone had plenty of room though which was nice! It's a nice steady vehicle in the pissing wind and rain

[Dick Cheeseburger]

8 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

Cheers, be good to know!

 

After a wet round trip to the nec the wipers survived and worked very well! I think something is still amiss at the rear as it steamed up constantly. I also realised that only the top part of the rear heated screen works 😂

Mpg dipped to 53.9 but we were 5 up. Everyone had plenty of room though which was nice! It's a nice steady vehicle in the pissing wind and rain

Sounds so similar to mine. I reckon only the top third of my rear screen demists- the rest doesn't do much. I have some moisture in the spare wheel well - it does it every winter. After a fair bit of reading, I reckon it's water getting into the tailgate around the high level brake light. The gasket looks ok but the clips don't seem to pull the light quite as tightly into the recess as Nissan intended. I plan to fix* it with a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the aperture and then refit the light.

To this day, I remain impressed with mine for an ageing shitter. We took it to Glasto last weekend- a 300 mile-round trip. Average MPG was consistently just above 60 mpg. Absolutely mental for what it is. Every time I think about sacking it off, I remind myself what a reliable, frugal old workhorse it's been. 

[beko1987]

I want to pour more epoxy around my repairs I think first before going down that route. Probably the wrong time of year for it now though.

My dehumidifier thing probably needs the filling replacing too, that might help! Will do that tomorrow when I finish unpacking the car