Can anyone help ? The franchised dealer seems unable to find the fault after SEVEN WEEKS of trying !!!!! The car is a 307 1.6 16v and it hasn't been the most reliable car but lately particularly in cold weather it has been very difficult to start, sometimes taking 5 or 6 attempts before it finally coughs into life firing on two or three cylinders with a strong smell of fuel and then finally after about thirty seconds it runs ok. It also seems to be generally sluggish in comparison to what I remember. The dealer has done the usual thing, hook up to the disgnostics but no errors, a lot fo head scratching following by the swopping of several parts, a top end rebuild, new plugs and I think coil, some form of 'decoking', a cylinder pressure test. However they just don't seem to be getting to root of the problem. Has anyone any ideas or had a similar experience ?

Check the battery, alternator and starter motor?

Battery ok - lights etc all working. Alternator is charging it would appear, as battery is ok. Engine turns over fine on the starter motor.

Plugs?

Sounds like a MAF sensor. This may not always show up as a fault. Other than that oxygen sensor on the cat might be playing up 1?!?!?

Sounds like a MAF sensor. This may not always show up as a fault. Other than that oxygen sensor on the cat might be playing up 1?!?!?

Thanks for the ideas. I think the dealer has checked emissions and found them to be ok, also he claims there are no error codes on the ECU so I suspect the fault is elsewhere, if they are telling me the truth of course. :confused:

They maybe telling the truth, but they are relying on the computor. the problem is, there is a not a permanent fault, so it won't suggest there is one.

i say take it to a specialist, and have peugeot pay for it cause it sounds like your dealer is rubbish !

They maybe telling the truth' date=' but they are relying on the computor. the problem is, there is a not a permanent fault, so it won't suggest there is one.

i say take it to a specialist, and have peugeot pay for it cause it sounds like your dealer is rubbish ![/quote']

A specialist is probably the best idea but who to go to, I'm in the south London area, any thoughts ?

My problem with doing this is that it's really easy to rack up big bills that I don't think Peugeot will pay for and besides anyone can call themselves a specialist, at least with the Peugeot garage I have some comeback via Peugeot Coventry if necessary. They have mentioned a west London outfit that tackles real bad cases called WarCry ? but I can't find them listed anywhere.

Right then. Do what i did. I spoke to James Baggot @ auto express 02079076200. Explain the scenario and i bet you pound to a penny of pooh the problem will be solved in no time. In issue 758 i had a half page article on my probematic VTR featuring unsympathetic dealers. Supprisingly the car was sorted with a smile within weeks aswel as a complementry free service.

Recomended !

Right then. Do what i did. I spoke to James Baggot @ auto express 02079076200. Explain the scenario and i bet you pound to a penny of pooh the problem will be solved in no time. In issue 758 i had a half page article on my probematic VTR featuring unsympathetic dealers. Supprisingly the car was sorted with a smile within weeks aswel as a complementry free service.

Recomended !

Cheers, that sounds like sterling advice. I'll keep that big stick handy for when they tell me they still haven't got it fixed.

Plugs?

The dealer says they have been changed twice during the investigation apparently.

I'm now beginning to suspect the engine management coolant temperature sensor could be giving the ECU an incorrect idea of ambient temperature. My understanding is that this can result in either the engine failing to go through the cold start setup or if it is constantly telling the ECU that the temperature is low then it can overfuel and run the car constantly on a cold setting resulting in poor starting & fuel consumption.

Other than this I agree with Volvo T5 that the MAF sensor could be causing the problem or that the butterfly or stepper motor in the throttle body could be resulting in the 'fly by wire' throttle being incorrectly set. This could also explain the feeling the car is gutless these days.

Lastly it could be a defective coil pack but this has already been replaced I am told.

One other possibility is the immobilizer playing up. These cars use a loop aerial around the ignition barrel to 'talk' to the key and this has been known to become tempramental. I'm not sure if this car has a Bosch immobilizer but there also seem to be reports of these having dry joints in the control box PCB and even sometimes inside the key so this is yet another possibility.

Other possibilities that my research has highlighted are the tacho-metric relay, throttle pedal position sensor, a defective ECU possibly caused by a defective coil pack.

GOD ! Why do we need such complicated cars, it used to be so easy plugs, points, coil, leads, carb, valves and that was that !