my 53 plate berlingo, 2hdi engine, decided all of a sudden not to start yesterday and i’m trying to eliminate possible causes before paying a garage.

the previous owner told me that he had to replace the crankshaft sensor and even gave me a new spare one. apparently a devil of a place to reach but right now i can’t find the thing on the engine!

google, forums and even haynes are not much help pinpointing the spot, would anyone know?

Behind the crank shaft pully on the later ones and in the bellhousing on the early ones.

I assume yours a later one if your not seeing it. As youd never think to look behind the crank pulley for it

Have you read the codes ?

What are the symptoms along with non start ?

Just saw your post on berlingo forum about it starting when you pump on the fuel primer.

That suggests leaking fuel lines or even a perforated primer – which can be quite common.

Look at fuel lines front to back and the leak offs returning to the tank.

I think the primer may be a bit of a red herring on my part.

The car started this morning perfectly, but then immediately after was difficult to start again but it did go. No priming this time.

I checked all the glow plugs and one of them is not reading the same volts as the others so planning to put a new set in tomorrow when the shop is open and go from there.

Would like to find the damn sensor though. Do I have to crawl nderneath to get to look at the bell housing?

Usually if its on bell housing its on top.

Have you looked at the crank pulley. Its the other end of engine to tranny. Behind drivers wheel .

If its behind that likely be a couple cables come out from there.

My Citroen would sometimes only start after pumping the primer. It turned out to be a common fault of the filter housing cracking and letting air into the system overnight.

Buy one of the cheap fault code readers from ebay, it’ll save a lot of money, guesswork and looking at random parts.

I got one for my 306 hdi for £20 and it’s paid for itself many times over when you look at how much garages charge to do it.

Mark has the right idea i use a u340 for quick and dirty check.

Have lexia for anything more taxing,

Not the same car but similar family – 307 hdi would also only start on the primer for a while. Turned out that the fuel lines run under the air filter housing and, eventually, get rubbed to the extent that they develop a small leak. Leave it for a while and it’ll start (until it gets really bad) but needed replacement lines in the end. Easy ish job if it’s similar in the Citroen.

This is the one I’ve got, although it says in the description diesels from 2004 onwards but mine is older than that.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Fault-Code-Reader-Diagnostic-Reset-Tool-OBD2-EOBD-CAN-BUS-Engine-Scanner-UK-/301835469895?hash=item4646cbc447:g:K4wAAOSw2xRYTmgp

In case anyone ever stumbles across this thread searching for the same answer..

Take the battery out, take the battery tray out, grab a torch and look in the little gap you will see directly opposite where the battery should be (more to the back of the battery). That’s where the sensor is. 10mm spanner on nut, helps to use your fingers to hold said spanner on nut as the angle is odd (took me over an hour to figure that out) and you don’t need to remove it fully as the sensor locking plate is open ended and slides off.

on top of the bellhousing for transmission then.

Does it start correctly now ?