C250 Turbo Diesel starting problems

[bernardfanning]

I have a 1997 C250 Turbo Diesel which I've had electrical and starting problems for the last couple of years. Some days it struggles to start or won't start at all despite a new battery and having the heater plugs checked.
Some of the lights on the dashboard including the heater plug lights light up intermittently and electric windows can be painfully slow to close sometimes.
The accelerator is very unresponsive and not very smooth at all.
A local garage had a look and seems to think it is all tied in with the engine management system and said it could cost hundreds just to locate the fault.
Does anybody know of a good auto electrician round the Manchester area who may be able to help without costing the earth or give me a better idea of the fault.

 

[turbopete]

does the car crank normally or just slowly? first thing id check are the earth straps/leads from the engine to the body and from the body to battery negative. make sure theyre in tact, all connections are nice and clean and tight so that they are getting a good contact. commonest fault that people forget to check! you could try connecting a jump lead from the engine to the battery negative terminal to test this. if the earths are ok, if the engie cranking speed is normal, check the clear plastic fuel lines in the area of the fuel filter. thres a lot of rubber o rings on the pipes etc in this area that fail and its a common problem. heater plug light coming on usually indicates a duff heater plug, so if theyre all recently renewed, try checking the connections on them and the glow plug relay, as well as checking the relay itself. also id try getting the alternator output (ie the charging rate ) checked. it may be that the alternator has an intermittent fault or a minor fault in the alternator control units ie diodes and rectifier pack (or whatever is used nowadays!)

 

[s and k autos]

i would check the plastcs pipes on diesel pump as air gets into them