Got a 306 winter car for work, as you all known the heavens have opened lately and with me doing house to house calls im out no matter what the weather. The pug did get a lot of large puddles to ford but nothing any deeper then 4-5 inches or so and going through them at steady enough pace.

The car was working fine all day, got home, parked her up for a few hours and went back out again, didt start. Cracking over and over but after several attempts it fired into life but only died again 30 seconds later. Ive been away for two days and i thought it might of dried out abit but no just been to try it and it still wont start :(

Any ideas where to start?

What engine?

Isn't the airbox on some models down at bumper height and can get water in quiet easy

Some have a cylinder type air filter.

This is accessed under the car and as above is at abou bumper level.

The seal isn't perfect on the lid is and if the three clips are worn or not up properly. Should be very easy to see if the filter is wrt and turned to mush.

sorry, 1.4 8v (think about the valve part but im sure it wont be anymore) V plate (phase 3)

If the air filter has gone to mush ill obviously change that but i dont think i have a problem of ingested water as it was running fine all the way home.

Looks like im using the Octy for work :(

I'm sorry to ask but it has plenty fuel in?

I used to have a ZX 1.4, which is pretty much the same car. A 1.4 air cleaner CAI wouldn't swamp in 6" of puddle unless you were bow-waved by oncoming traffic.

OTOH a V plate is late enough to have a transponder immobiliser on it and this does sound a bit like an immo fault I'm afraid.

I'm sorry to ask but it has plenty fuel in?

Yeah it has plently o fuel, this is one of the first things i thought of when it came to realization moment of 'am i being really dumb here?!'

I used to have a ZX 1.4, which is pretty much the same car. A 1.4 air cleaner CAI wouldn't swamp in 6" of puddle unless you were bow-waved by oncoming traffic.

OTOH a V plate is late enough to have a transponder immobiliser on it and this does sound a bit like an immo fault I'm afraid.

I have immobiliser pass card that came with the car, ill try that later but i dont think it is that as like i said it let me start it for a brief second

if youve got the immobiliser that has keypad in front of gearstick, if you get it started, unplug that and it should disable it, they are a know pita

they do start briefly then immo cuts the fuel

Edited 29 November, 201213 yr by Lofty79

Its french so it could be anything electrical and the water could just be a red herring.

Any PSA I've ever had or hired was either diesel with a keypad immo, or had a working transponder system.

I know that some transponder systems (Felly and Furbie spring to mind here) allow the car to start, and then cut sparks, which is why I wondered about a wet immo box. That said, in your case EJ I'm more likely to come up with supporting info for an idea you've had yourself than with a solution you didn't think of.

Its french so it could be anything electrical...its worth crap value i suppose?!

Corrected that for your haha

no mine does not have the keypad behind the gearstick thank god. ill try bypassing the immobilser first then see where i get.

If the electrics have been given a good soaking where am i looking to stick the hair drier?!

Just bypassed the immobilsier, no joy and now the battery is going :/

According to my Xantia manual (ZX manual doesn't cover immo cars), the immo on a petrol car should cut power to the EMS, so it just plain shouldn't turn over, never mind try to start. But, in desperation mode, I'd try putting the hair dryer at the main EMS box. That's the one between the battery and the headlight.

If it had been a keypad car, unplugging the keypad would have disabled the immo though (but getting at the plug is about an hour's work).

Have a look and see if you've got the top or bottom located air filter and check it.

It can't hurt to check that it's all dry. It could have run fine and then turned to mush overnight with just a small amount of water. Enough to get it wet, but not enough to get into the engine.

Another thing is that some of the petrol cars have a fuel filter under the car. This can rust quite badly and if exposed to enough water, could let water in or just fail itself. That's also worth a check.

I'd suggest you put the thing on charge, to bring your battery back to life.

There are also a couple of relays/switches by the fans at the front. Check these have not got too wet, as they could be shorting out and causing the battery to drain.

Alternator is also fairly exposed at the front left (as you look at it). Check this is dry, although I'd be surprised if 6" of water got it personally.

I can't think how it could have been activated, but it's worth checking that your car doesn't have an inertia switch...which will cut the fuel pump feed if activated.

Corrected that for your haha

Don't get me wrong i love french cars Renaults more specifically but i wouldn't ever get another due to a history of electrical issues.I have had electrical gremlins in everyone of the 7 or more i have owned. Its often very dificult to trouble shoot the problem aswell sorry i know this doesn't help.

Used to have a Peugeot 306 but it was the 1.9D and I know nothing about the 1.4.

I would check the air filter as above. For some reason a lot of these french cars have very low air intakes. Might just have been enough to wet the air filter but not to get into the engine.

Phil

I can't think how it could have been activated, but it's worth checking that your car doesn't have an inertia switch...which will cut the fuel pump feed if activated.

Very true, but it's normally a pretty reasonable deceleration for that to click off.

Thinking outside the water/air/fuel issue. Could it be the cambelt snapped? Cylinder popped?

My alfa was fine, parked it up and wouldn't restart turned out it popped a cylinder.

Also check the HT leads for moisture.

Also check the HT leads for moisture.

I will do this and all other obvious signs of damp anywhere but wouldt this of been a slow deterioration of running? Like i said running fine all day then parked up for 2-3 hours then it died :(

One thing ive noticed when ive sat and thought about it i dont hear the buzzing of the fuel pump anymore although i could be wrong, can i check this without removing it?

I had an old Hyundai that wouldn't start if it wasn't driven far enough as excess fuel (as a result of the automatic choke) would be left somewhere in the system. It would be particularly bad if parked facing up-hill.

The symptoms would be that it would attempt to turn over, would splutter into life for a second or two then die. Very much as if the choke wasn't open enough.

Could it be something similar even though you say you'd driven it for a while? The cure in my case was a visit from the RAC chap who siphoned out all the fuel.

I had a 306 GTi6, the fuel pump is easily heard when you turn the key before firing up the engine, so if you can't hear it then maybe check it out.

I had a 306 GTi6, the fuel pump is easily heard when you turn the key before firing up the engine, so if you can't hear it then maybe check it out.

Yeah this is something i noticed very quickly on the pug, if i turn the ignition on and off again the pump normally primes any where from 1-5mins after everything has been shut off. Im not sure if its priming of releasing any excess pressure...all i know is that it makes a buzzing sound and now it doesnt so maybe that is on the to do list aswell!