Peugeot 405 petrol 2000 cc 16v fails to start for 30 min.

[Agile]

I have had this car for about five years and it has now done 108k.

There has never been any difficulty in starting as long as the battery was charged.

Last weekend it turned over but would not start. It was as if there was no or little compression!

I "drove" in on the starter motor off the road with a little help from my friend who said he could smell petrol.

I let it rest for 15 min and tried again and at first it did not start and then it slowly seemed as if the compression was increasing and then it started. Since then it has run as usual.

This seems so odd and I cannot think of any possible causes!

Anyone have any thoughts?

Tony

 

[Peter.N.]

Was it turning over faster than normal, that would indicate low compression. If it had not been used for a long time its possible that the oil had drained from the bores and the compression was low, that would cause a diesel not to start but you don't need a lot of compression to start a petrol engine.

Could be fuel starvation, doesn't sound like spark trouble if it gradually comes to life although its worth checking.

Hopefully someone will be along with a sensible suggestion soon.

Peter

 

[Burnerman]

Certainly a compression check wouldn't do any harm.....look for about 200 psi, but more importantly each cylinder should be the same, or very nearly so.
Treat it to some new plugs and an air filter......fuel is obviously there but the plugs are flooding and the sparks snuffed out, I guess.
When the engine eventually starts, is there a misfire at all?
John

 

[Mursal]

If you could get the fault codes read, it might just point you in the right direction, for example intermittent crankshaft sensor, open circuit. Your local garage will do this for you for a set fee, then you can decide what to do.

 

[Agile]

It was so odd!

The engine turned over at about the usual "not very fast" speed but without the vibration which I would have expected, but then it had never turned over before without starting.

If it was flooded there was nothing different from any other day in the last five years when it has always started ok.

When it did finally start it turned over without starting for say 10 revs and then SLOWLY gave an indication that it was going to start. It seemed as if it was vibrating more as if the compression was increasing and then after a few more turns it SLOWLY seemed to come to life and provided turning power slowly at first and then faster until it fires up properly.

When it started running there was nothing different from when it normally starts! So odd.

I do have an EMS reader but don't know if this "P" reg has a diagnostic socket anywhere. Does anyone know if it has one? Its the model with a keypad for the PIN number entry! If so where is the socket?

Tony

 

[Burnerman]

I think your symptoms here Tony are typical of a flooded engine that is starting to clear......if you were looking at the exhaust tailpipe you'd see the odd puff of black smoke as each cylinder started to fire.
Sorry, can't help with the diagnostics...... petrol cars only became standardised in 2001.
John