[SPE]

Hi guys, not window cleaning I know, but thought someone on here may have the answer for me.
I have a peugeot expert and lately with cold mornings it wont start, battery runs flat trying to turn it over. Battery's only a year old. If I take it off and bench charge it for an hour it starts first go.
Question, is it the battery ? or posssibly the glow plugs ? the coil light does go out as quick as it always has. When the temp does'nt fall below freezing at night I dont seem to have a problem. Any advice please would be great , thanks
and Happy xmas to you all
Simon

[steveo22]

Battery i'd say, if it was the glowplugs you'd have trouble even if your battery was new! would also change the glowplugs for good measure though, unless they're relatively new.

Steve

[simbo]

y transit connect the same this year and never let me down before, i can only assume its as ped off as me with this weather.

[Jackal]

id go with battery aswell,iv had same before where its ok if not to cold but flat on really cold days,cant you take it back or has guarrentee run out,

[SPE]

thanks for replies, as luck would have it there is a quick fit at bottom of my road, saw me refitting battery and offered to test it (must be good willed xmas spirit ).
70 % efficiency printed out for me so theres my problem, taking it back to shop later sure it has a 2yr guarantee,
Thanks again
Simon

[leights]

hi i beleive its the heater plugs, it happended to the movano, if it goes under zero or the minus 2 say, it will have great difficulty in starting..does it start later in the day, when its a little warmer.

new glow plugs will combat this as they are stronger for a few months...

advice from garage on mine

[Nameless Drudge]

When i was doing my homework on this type of van the cold start problems were nearly always remedied by putting in a new starter motor(thats after all the glow plug/battery messing).This seemed common on vans around the 04/54 plate.It seemed starter inefficiency was the root of the problem for various reasons and the battery was a symptom rather than the cause.

[darren clarke]

i got a citroen dispatch  and done my glow plugs 4 months ago,   couldnt get it started a few weeks ago,  jumped it off a other car,  thought it was battery  turned out glow plugs knackered,  get ur plugs replaced as well,  and check connections on started motor incase they have come lose

[Matthew JN]

What you need to do disconnect your air intake pipe before your MAF air flow meter and spray some cold start into the intake as you crank it over.

[Spruce]

Hi
I would suspect glowplugs.
But the first 'port of call' is to ensure that the earth cable from the battery to the engine is ok engine side. The cable is usually secured to the alloy gearbox housing. The combination of ali alloy. steel studs and high current can cause corrosion at this point. Unbolt it, clean it up with water paper/sanding paper and put it together again with a bit of copper grease.
Spruce

[stephen.b1]

same happend to me 4 weeks ago i have a citrroen dispatch
 is your engine turning over slower than normal if so its the starter motor

[steveo22]

Change the glow plugs if you ever need to start using cold start, ok for short term, but long term no no. Defiantly the battery mate, easy start will allow your engine to crank over faster but if your batterys tip top then you should be ok.

[Spruce]

Hi

I agree with Steveo22. Stay away from cold start. It is strange how engine quickly become addicted to that stuff and that soon becomes the only way of starting them.

What I found interesting is the number of electrical parts that are replaced in the garage every day which cured the customers fault. When those 'faulty' parts were later tested, most of them were in perfect working condition. Most of the problems are attributed to bad connections and bad earths. Removing and replacing those items solved the connection problems automatically.

Spruce

[Nameless Drudge]

Definitely check all the connections and if you are ham-fisted get a mechanic/fitter to do it, watch out for overtightening nuts especially on the starter motor solenoid as they like to crack loose(speaking from experience here) and disconnect the battery before poking spanners down the engine bay or you will end up welding something together or burning a hole through things,done that as well.

[Gav Camm lammy 283]

can of easy start m8 3 quid 

[Johnny B]

Just a thought, could it be that the engine oil may be thicker due to the cold, making it more difficult for the battery/starter to cope?

Or am I the thick one!

John.

[Spruce]

Just a thought, could it be that the engine oil may be thicker due to the cold, making it more difficult for the battery/starter to cope?

Or am I the thick one!

John.

No, you are not the thick one! add to the thicker engine oil, thicker gearbox oil as well which further adds to the drag. The colder it gets the less efficiently the battery works as well - all factors which make cold engine starting even more difficult.
To make matters worse, a Citroen Hdi engine needs to be spun faster than the earlier 1.9d to get it to start.
Spruce

[weetot]

Engine block could be frozen, make sure youve got the anti-freeze in there.


If everyone posts all the problems that it may possibly be, then we shall find the solution!

[paul saunders]

Just a thought, could it be that the engine oil may be thicker due to the cold, making it more difficult for the battery/starter to cope?

Or am I the thick one!

John.

No, you are not the thick one! add to the thicker engine oil, thicker gearbox oil as well which further adds to the drag. The colder it gets the less efficiently the battery works as well - all factors which make cold engine starting even more difficult.
To make matters worse, a Citroen Hdi engine needs to be spun faster than the earlier 1.9d to get it to start.
Spruce

The thickness of the gearbox oil will have no effect on the starting of an engine.

[Smudger]

Hmmm  interesting - i didn't post my van problem here as i thought it wasn't suitable, but some interesting answers

my combo has almost identical prob, altho it still will not start from a jump straight away - the leads need to be on for
five minutes then it fires up - after that its a good un - even if i stop it straight away, so the batt has life - just not first thing in the cold  :

ps - it did require new glow plugs at the start of this cold spell - only 1 out of 4 working ...

it has to be down to a loose connection

Darran