daine - Cheers will look into that.

Cossie - wont idle on its own mate just stalls.

let the engine idle for few minutes as the it can auto bleed if still air in fuel system means that you have a split pipe somewhere or fuel pump tired !

Ok mate, I have a combo for work 150,000 on. i got this problem last year after it was stood for 3 weeks ( holiday). tried everything and it was still the same so a took it to a back street garage and they
told me it was air in the fuel line that caused it, so I disconected the fuel line under the drivers `A`post
and put it straight into a can of diesel, it run spot on:thumbs: the problem with them is the plate on top of the tank were the fuel comes out, the 2 pipes are steel and rust, this allows it to pull in air and the harder you rev it the more it pulls in. They all have the same plate so I got one off a vectra as they are clean and dry under the back seat.HOPE THIS HELPS MATE.:wave::thumbs:

Thanks for the replies. I dont have any creamy milky residue on my oil cap its clean with the oil being black. It uses a little water and can become highly pressurised when the engine gets hot (is this normal). How would i get air out of the fuel system cossie?

From your description I think you have air in the fuel system or a fault fuel pump. Exhaust from the inlet could be a blocked breather or sticky piston ring due to was left unused.

If there is exhaust gas entering back into the inlet, then i would check the inlet manifold gasket, once the combustion has taken place, the gas could be forcing its way passed the gasket and back into the inlet. If it was headgasket, are you losing water? And is there a creamy colour in the oil filler cap?

Ok mate thanks for that info. Maybe its more serious then as i also opened the oil cap and there was steam/slight smoke coming from inside engine when i'd cranked it over a few times and tried to force it to rev by pressing the accelerator hard. I have my suspicions that the headgasket may well have gone, would that explain the exhaust fumes in the inlet?

From my knowledge the EGR system only works once the engine is upto temperature otherwise the exhaust gas going back into the engine could either be too hot or too cold, both having their problems.

My N reg 1.7d Combo van has been stood a while and was running fine to my knowledge before i sorned it..
I went to start it last month and it started but wont rev up. I was told it could be water in the fuel filter, so i ordered a new filter and fitted it today along with a fully recharged battery. It still wont rev at all and then wants to stall, i noticed today that exhaust fumes were coming out of the inlet pipe when i disconnected it from the airbox is this normal as I read that the EGR valve will recirculate a certain amount of exhaust gas????
Overall im puzzled and dont know wether its a small issue or if compression is effected and could be a major issue.

I wanted to put it on the road asap as its great in the winter in snowy condtions, any help appreciated.

Cheers, Andy :D