my mechanic thinks it ismost likely to be the injector pump as he has ruled out glow plugs, fuel filter seal, and replaced the fuel primer pump.
If possible l would like a second opinion or an other possible cause that he may have missed, as l understand that this is a difficult and very exspensive part to replace...
The car is valued at £1400 do you think its worth it to repair or trade it in....?

before you replace the pump why not put new injectors in

Hi, sounds like glow plugs to me. Have they been removed and checked and has the timer relay been checked. Before spending loads of money get someone else to have a look. Good luck, the Robster.

There are two main problems in diesels that would cause this and one of them is the pre heat/glow plug system, get that re checked, main feed/timer relay/plugs.

The other would be more serious, because it could be worn piston rings, diesels have very high compression ratios and need good piston rings to maintain this, but ring problems usually only happen after many many miles.

Hi On the 306 td the symptoms u r discribing sound very much like the glow plugs r not working .

The smpke u r getting is the unburnt diesel when u r trying to start the car as soon as it does fire it burns all the extra diesel thats there creating lots of smoke.

If it was the pump u would experience problems at other times also not just on starting

My advice would be to check the whole glow plug system out first before spending money on what may not cure the problem .



Hope this helps

glowplugs

blue / white smoke is due to burnt engine oil than diesel fuel itself. if its black heavy smoke with rattling & shaky idling l would've thought it is glow plugs. But it seems piston rings of all or one cylinder has given up. Replacing injector pump would not to any help. If the smoke remains even when engine achieves working/running temperature then it will be valve sheets pouring in oil into the cylinder.
does engine level goes down in regular intervals before the oil change?