Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known prob

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MortyDK
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Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known prob

Post by MortyDK »

Dear all,

I'm a total newbie at fixing cars. Said car is a 2000 Xantia 2.0 petrol.

Knowing that cold starts demand a lot from the battery, I replaced the battery with a brand new one 2 months ago.

Regardless, now that it's cold, I'm having trouble starting. Yesterday I connected the battery to an 'intelligent' charger (CTEK MXS), and let it fully charge. Today we have a cold morning, and I have trouble starting.

However, the way my car behaves when it's hard to start feels weird. If the battery was flat, then I'd expect the starter motor to be slow, and progressively get slower and slower the longer I'm running it.

What happened today was:
  • The gauges for speed, temp, fuel etc 'flicker' or 'jump up and down' like crazy while trying to start.
  • Starter motor feels slow (or perhaps the engine is hard to turn).
  • I keep the starter motor on for a long time -- maybe 20-30 seconds -- and the starter motor keeps running equally badly, no change.
  • Eventually the car barely manages to start.
Does the above sound familiar to anyone? I read this thread about "Solution to Starter Motor problem". Is this a common issue, and does it seem related to the symptoms I'm seeing?

Is this something I should be able to fix myself (warning: I'm a newbie), or should I leave this to the authorized mechanic shop?

Thank you,
Xantia 2000 2.0 16V 132 BHP petrol
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DickieG
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by DickieG »

After starting the car from cold feel the battery cables and connections especially the positive one as the crimping isn't of a very good quality so battery power/current is often lost there, if they are warm replace the battery connections/clamps.
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

The following link probably explains the issue best;

http://www.frenchcarforum.co.uk/forum/v ... =3&t=38273" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope this helps
James
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by VertVega »

Your case reminded me of similar starting problems in my petrol Xantia due to the failing fuel pump.
Petrol engine is rather "snobbish" about the fuel supply pressure (around 3 bars) and if its not properly supplied then
starting problems might occur.

Just in case, worth taking this case also into consideration :wink:
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by myglaren »

Perhaps it needs exorcising
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by oneday »

we all need a bishop on standby
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MortyDK
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by MortyDK »

This forum is amazing! =D> @DickieG, thank you very much for your prompt answer, it helped me a lot. :) @Hell Razor5543, thanks for that link, it was spot on.
Xantia 2000 2.0 16V 132 BHP petrol
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Re: Help: Xantia cold start: battery new, discharge / known

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

You are welcome MortyDK, we are here to try and help. Glad we were able to provide useful information

Happy motoring (and spannering)!
James
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
Ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
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