Hello,
It sounds like you might have an air leak in your fuel system. This is very common on your car. The usual sources are the leak off pipes between the injectors (see image below) or the fuel filter seal, or the hand primer bulb. A simple test is before you first start the car pump the hand primer under the bonnet until it is hard, and it should start pretty much first time. A good test is to see if the hand primer bulb is soft when not starting, this will indicate a fuel leak (see image 2). This problem can be hard to trace as leaks in the pipes suck fuel in as opposed to leaking diesel out so there are no visible signs.
A blocked fuel filter can also cause a hard starting issue.
Have you checked the glow plugs?
Cheers, Boris
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Tuesday, November 8th, 2022 AT 9:05 AM