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As above... car turns over ok, (well it did until i drained the battery trying to start it). Charged it up again now though.
Been having some problems recently with the cold weather starting the car. I think it could be glow plugs but got absolutely no idea where they are on the engine... Looked around can't see them from the top and used a mirror to look behind the engine still can't see it and can't locate any help or pics on the interweb either... Can anyone out there help?
Thanks
IF it's glowplugs they don't normally all go together, have you tried swithcing the ignition and off several times without trying to start, this should give any working glow plugs several hits and might help.
Any warning lights on the dash at the moment or recently?
ah right, no warning lights at all, it's the gf's car and mine previously, when i had it no problems then since she's been driving it no problems but she has said that it has sometimes struggled starting. will try the multi-on off technique before giving it a try now.
Waxed up fuel!
glow plugs only kick in about -5 iirc mine have been used once
Could be many things I had an electrical short that stopped mine [same car] starting- wil it bump start with a tow????
Surely it is a 1.4 how would they fit 2 litres in there 😯
I have nothing productive to add but I doubt glow plugs as they are not that crtical in an HDI
just tried the ignition on and off as steveh said... no joy, can't bump it as the bloody street is an ice ring and it's currently parked on a drive. I don't know what waxed up fuel means?
Frozen
I see all the pub mechanics are out in force 🙂
Unless it's below about -15degC, then the fuel should be fine. Waxing up basically refers to the wax content of diesel seperating/freezing up in extreme cold.
Glow plugs on HDi's aren't really necessary, and if they do fail, the worst that'll happen is the engine will take a bit more cranking than normal before it fires up, and will smoke more upon start-up.
And the glow plugs work anytime the engine temperature is below 60degC IIRC, and continue to operate for upto 2 minutes after the engine has started (post-glow is used on most modern diesels to improve emmisions immediately after start-up).
As for what could be wrong with your car, given the symptoms, and the fact it's gotten worse in the cold weather, it could possible be sticking injectors. If it's sticking injectors, it'll probably start with either a bump start (make sure you get the engine speed above the usual cranking speed), or a bit EasyStart/WD40/some flammable aerosol sprayed down it's throat (take the boost hose of at the inlet manifold, and spray in just enough to get the engine to fire while cranking - spray in small doses until it fires, don't just spray and hold as you're likely to blow the engine up that way!)
If it doesn't start with any of those methods, it's likely to be an electrical fault.
Really frozen fuel, surely it can't be that simple? Besides it's not that cold out (+3 now, -2 overnight) compared to the last cold snap (-12 out and heaven knows how cold it was at night)
I had a similar problem (i think) on mine
turned over fine, but reeeeallly struggled to start. (if that makes sense)
was an OOOLD battery (80k miles, original battery)
SO, it had plenty of power to turn the engine over, for as much time as you wanted, but didnt have that peak voltage to get it up to ignition speed.
the cold weather and gooey fuel just slowed it down that little bit to stop it igniting.
new battery sorted it.
except i wrote the car off the following week,
RRRRubbish.
EasyStart/WD40/some flammable aerosol sprayed down it's throat (take the boost hose of at the inlet manifold, and spray in just enough to get the engine to fire while cranking - spray in small doses until it fires,
negative ghostrider, engines get addicted to that stuff, and once they have had it a few times wont start without it.
Can you jump start it?
will it start if you jump it?
So it's not going to be the glow plugs... i could test them if I could find them?
Should I just wait until the thaw and bump it? but that won't fix the problem. & it is orignal battery & about 80K now.
@olly
I can't get another car near it to jump it (parked face in on the drive - the gf can't reverse - but thats a whole new thread) and can't bump it due to the ice ring of a road out front
negative ghostrider, engines get addicted to that stuff, and once they have had it a few times wont start without it.
Just an old wives tale, its more like your old knackered engine won't start without it because its just getting older and more knackered
my Peugeot is 2001
I would think your battery is just getting a bit duff! Theres so many little things that could stop it starting readily that its not really worth speculating about on here.
Have you got homestart with the AA or similar?
Should I just wait until the thaw and bump it?
If you can bump start a 2 litre diesel, either you live at the top of a big hill, or you are Superman! Not likely to happen, and will not be good for the car trying it...
Had the same problem with my Passat TDi last week (older AHU engine, pre-PD) when it was REALLY cold. My Glow Plugs are OK, and I was specifically doing a few cycles of the glow plugs to make sure they were up to temp. It was about -8, maybe -10 when I couldn't start it for ages though, I'm pretty sure it was the fuel starting to freeze, or more specifically water in the fuel filter... On which note, drain the fuel filter of water if you haven't done recently!
Doubt it's the glow plugs as they don't suddenly just go. They very progressively get worse and worse.
Yeah I have the full RAC but that's on my other car, not the gf's 206, but I think it still covers me... feel bad though calling them out when there are 'real' people stuck out there... in desperate need of getting there cars moving...
negative ghostrider, engines get addicted to that stuff, and once they have had it a few times wont start without it.
Engine don't get 'addicted' to it.
However, if you use too much of it, you risk damaging the engine (not likely on a diesel, unless you spray that much of it in, that when the engine does fire it over revs), hence my suggestion of spraying in small bursts just to get the engine to fire - all you're aiming for is the engine to fire a couple times to boost cranking speed.
The reality of easystart 'addiction', is people use it once, then never bother to fix the real reason for why the engine won't start.
similar problem with my HDI, new battery cured it. Get a proper diesel battery not cheap one.
My battery died a while back after a long trip with the family. A decent new battery was fitted and no problems.
I understand the HDi engines are more sophisticated than my td but I'd try stating the 206 with the help of another car - leads will surely do. If not, get the battery. Or try what mc says, he sounds as if he knew cars.
I would certainly go with a new battery first or borrow one from a friend that you know is good if you dont want to commit to the expense.
Majority of cold starting issues are all down to the battery diesel or petrol. Daughter had similar problem on an old 306 deisel. New battery sorted (woulod turn over but not fast enough to produce sufficient speed of compession for disel to ignite). Made it seem like duff glow plugs too as two would heat up sufficiently whilst two were not getting up to full temperature.
it's the plugs end of. it's the same with the company diesel van we changed the plugs now you barely need to turn the key and it starts, it was the same with my old 306 i changed the plugs and hey presto as if by magic!..... just change the plugs and it'll be fine.
Frenchcarforum used to be quite helpful when i had my hdi's. You might find more info in the Citroen section 😉
My 2.5l TDCi Ford Ranger wouldn't start a couple of weeks ago - Easy Start helped, but still wouldn't fire - eventually wore battery out.
At -15 to -17.5 I did consider waxing fuel, but it turned out to be (as stated above) too much water in the fuel filter, which had subsequently frozen. Some you can drain, some you can't, but my mechanic stated that this had been the most common problem he'd encountered over 2 days with non-starting diesels.
Sell it PDQ!
Oh just one other thing to check is the blanking plug on the end of the injector tubes, had one go on a 309 and that reved round to the governor limit and sprayed nearly 5 gallons of diesel in a very short space all over the car and the road.
mmb - Member
it's the plugs
they dont operate till the temp is below -5 on a HDI the OP has told you it is not that cold
Older version and non HDI need glow plugs
It is not the glow plugs trust me I have one of these vehicles.
Well, got new plugs and new battery... tried the new battery it fired, but then cut out... not got enough juice to try again so it's back on charge... as for the plugs... well I can just about get to one of them but boy is that frozen on... looks like i'm going to have to wait this one out...
New battery only turned it over once ❗ I would suggest that if it was fully charged before you installed it that you have a leak straight to earth and this would suggest the starter motor switch is faulty.
Hope you get it sorted soon
Glow plug fuse?
If it fired and then cut out.. well.. earth fault somewhere in the electrics causing weird behaviour? Hard to say really.
Listen to what MC has said. The glow plugs will not cause a non-start on a modern HDI engine unless it is VERY cold.
Get the new battery fully charged, install it and then turn the sidelights on for 2 minutes. Next turn the ignition on and lower the drivers window. Shut the door and crank the engine through the window.
You are in great danger of corrupting the BSI on these vehicles if you don't follow the above 'soft start' procedure.
Use easy start, but as MC says don't go mad with it.
Hth
Marko
tried the new battery it fired, but then cut out... not got enough juice to try again so it's back on charge.
What battery did you buy? was it for a diesel engine?
it's been about -10 average today... so quite cold. Had another go at starting it, it nearly started, but just won't cross that finishing line... the battery has been replaced like for like so should be a good one... I tried (well the neighbour tried spraying easy start) - but that was with the old battery fully charged and a booster thing that clipped onto the battery but that didn't work either.
@Marko - will try that tomorrow, but I always thought you should have your foot on the clutch to start an engine?
this may sound daft but have you had the engine oil changed recently? if it hasnt the oil will be very thick and when that coincides with the cold weather it may not let the engine turn over quick enough to start it.even a new battery will struggle to start it.
Have you tried bump or tow starting it?
I have something like that going on with my TDCi honda Civic. 2002. Battery turn it over fine but takes a while for it to catch. I am going to change a single glow plug at a time and see if it makes much of a difference. Other than a temp sensor failed and it not glowing long enough in cold weather it's all I can think of.
Sorry, not clear, but are you turning the key to "just before starting" to preheat for a few seconds then back off before starting, or just straight to start?
I can only speak from memory with the 306 Hdi I had, but if the thermometer in the centre of the tacho climbs to white, then its ready to go - if thats not turning white when you turn the key to preheat, then its your glowplugs.
thanks to google images... this one, off min max
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I had this problem, it turned out to be the relay for the glow plugs...
Also find someone with jump leads and help start your car, if it starts then its the battery, it has lost its cranking power...
The only thing I can think of that would cause a 2.0 Hdi to fire but not run, is lack of battery voltage. If the new battery only managed to crank the engine a couple of turns, then I'd be taking it back.
I can only speak from memory with the 306 Hdi I had, but if the thermometer in the centre of the tacho climbs to white, then its ready to go - if thats not turning white when you turn the key to preheat, then its your glowplugs
LMAO. That's the oil level gauge. It has nothing to do with your glowplugs.
Like mc says, I went to see my mechanic yesterday with my 206. I put a new battery in last weekend as it was still struggling - but on starting it's actually dropping in voltage to 10.1 volts, cause it likely to be a tired old starter motor requiring too great a voltage to start - apparently the electronics will just not try if it registers as below 10v.
I may be wrong, but he's a decent mechanic and I trust his opinion.
@toby1 - tested and the yeah the new battery voltage doesn't drop that much only a little after a couple of cranks... can't jump the car due to way it's been parked on the driveway and can't tow it due to the weather... have just got set of glow plugs and enough tools to get to one of them...
@onereallynicespeed ... hmmm, yes it is actually due an oil change, I change it every year but due recent illness then the weather not got round to doing it...
ok so managed to now change three out of the four glow plugs (can't get to the 4th) tried the car, it fired up (with a bit of smoke out the exhaust) but then cut out... wouldn't start, and wouldn't fire either. So left it for a bit and tried warming the engine - hair dryer and hot water bottle, tried again fired - bit of smoke, but then cut again.
Tested the plugs to make sure they are getting voltage, they are, battery still ok but now i'm way outta ideas, unless it could be fuel filter or 8k miles worth of used oil? It's been a week now since it ran 😥
Is there any chance the fuel is contaminated?
No I wouln't have thought so - gf only fills up at shell or tesco