300tdi reluctant to start and serious lack of power

On start-up, some winters i have run the battery flat trying to start it. Also, in the summer/winter i have noticed that it takes anywhere from 5-10 secs to get any acceleration out of it. If i put my foot to the floor, it takes 5-10 secs to get it to 3000+ rpm. Any suggestions?

I could be air getting into the fuel lines.
The metal pipes coming out the sender unit are a known fault area, they rust and get pin holes in them, letting air in.

Okay, thanks. I'll have a look tomorrow.

Do you have the timing pins ?
Without then you can check it but it's a faf.

I don't know... I'll have a look

You'll need to lock the flywheel in the right position, then put the locking pin in to the pump (goes in through the front of the pulley), it should slide in without any resistance, if it doesn't the timing is out and you'll need to unlock the pulley, put the pin in and make sure it slides in and out freely, lock the pulley and then remove the pin.

I suspect thet the belt has been changed without unlocking the pump pulley, it common for non Land Rover mechanics to miss this bit out.

okay, so check timing. Right, got it thanks

Sorry, I didn't mean to bang on about it.

any advice is good, don't feel you're annoying me, because you are not