The engine starts OK so that would indicate it is not the glow plugs, if I try and take the engine RPM to say 2500 and hold it in that position when the car is stationary, after a few seconds the engine splutters. Sometimes the engine speed increases momentarily then dies altogether and comes back again then dies comes back, sometimes it just cuts out altogether, it is impossible to drive as the car has no power. It will run OK ticking over.

Once the engine has warmed up, everything seems fine and the car drives normally. At the moment before any journey I have to warm the engine up for 10 minutes so I can drive.

Things I’ve tried so far-

1) Coupled up to an OBDII Reader and no fault codes are showing, when I looked at a graph of the fuel rail pressure when the engine blips and judders there is a momentary spike in the fuel pressure reading and it seems to rise and then fall rapidly.

2) Replaced the FUEL PUMP REGULATOR METERING VALVE – no difference

3) Replaced the fuel filter – no difference

4) Thought it could be the EGR valve sticking, so I banked it off, - this has not fixed the problem but the card does seem to have more power when it is warmed up.

5) Fitted A few all nine primer bulb in an effort to ensure no bubbles were in the fuel line – this is still not fixed the problem.

Has anyone any ideas what part of the car could be causing this temperature related behaviour.

Could it be the fuel rail sensor that is faulty.

Thanks for any help

Have you replaced the glow plugs at all? In this climate they're not strictly necessary for starting but can contribute to rough running while it heats up.

Hello thanks so much for reply, no I have not replaced glow plugs as the engine starts first time and no error message I thought they were OK. I did have a bad experience with glow plugs snapping off when removing them in the past on another Ford. Should I replace them? The engine does produce a lot of black smoke during the first mile of driving after warming up.