Hi All,

new to this group, hope you'll be patient with me... ;-)

Just got a '96 306 1.9 turbo diesel, 106000 mls on the clock. The car
has been well looked after and runs well. I have a couple of questions
though for your considered opinions. By the way I used to have a 94
version of the same car , though it was the non turbo.

When starting from cold, like if the car has been sitting for a while,
almost as soon as the engine cranks there is like a single 'kick' from
the engine - fools you into thinking it has started. But if you let go
of the key, it hasnt of course. You need to hold the key over a bit
longer, then it starts, with about 2 seconds of rough running and a
bit of smoke, then it idles cleanly. If you then drive off, there is a
misfire for about another 10 seconds or so at certain revs, after that
the car runs fine. Once warmed up the car goes great, although on idle
you can feel a little 'rock' from the engine - its not huge but enough
to be able to be felt in the car.

What I wondered was, is it possible / likely that I could have a
poorly seating injector which is allowing some fuel to drip into the
cylinder when the car is sitting, giving me this kick on starting /
smoke / misfire ? I had the car sitting running from cold one morning
and I swear I could hear an out of time crack every so often like an
injector firing at the wrong time - again, it cleared quite quickly as
the car started to heat up. I got some bargain low mileage injectors
from an accident write off car on ebay, tempted to swap em to see if
there is any difference.

Another question - the rev counter works intermittently. I have been
told to check the speed sensor mounted at the back of the engine,
which I will...but slightly oddly I find that if I switch my lights on
and off that usually kicks it into life. At first I thought maybe the
load of switching the lights on was putting a voltage spike on the
electrics and that was why it did this trick, but if I put on
something else like the rear demister, that doesnt work.. only the
lights.... any thoughts ?

Finally, I wonder what sort of mileage folks with this engine get from
a tank. Watching my tank go down, it was looking like a bout 100 mls
per quarter tank, which would only give 400 mls to a tank. however now
that its on the quarter tank mark, it hasnt moved as quickly and Im up
to 360 miles at a quarter tank, Do these cars have an odd shaped tank
so that you get apparrently more from the last quarter? I had hoped to
be getting 45-50 mpg from the car - i dont make much use of the turbo.

Thanks alot for your patience, look forward to reading some opinions!

Cheers
Craig