307 2.0 110 HDI Slow crank speed

[K1W1]

Hi,

I am new here and this my first post.

I have a 2003 307 2.0 HDI. The car was bought in France by me in mid 2004 and spent the first 8 yrs of it's life there. It has run like a dream till I brought the car to Nthn Germany late last year.

When I went to pick it up in France it was the first time I had driven it for quite a while and I noticed that it seems to wind over slowly at first. My wife had been using it daily till a month or so earlier and said she had also noticed this happening. She also told me she had had the battery replaced the year before. Once it goes it runs well and does not smoke.

Now we have much colder weather the little beast is proving to be very slow winding over.

I have made a few measurements and wondered if these numbers indicate the battery is on the way out or the starter is the troublesome unit. Both are expensive and I do not want to change one unnecessarily.

The battery in it now is a genuine Peugeot one and shows a rating of 12V 60 AH, 640 CCA. manufactured in 09/2009.

When standing alone by itself with an air temp of -7 C in the morning I measured the following.

Battery Voltage :12.59 VDC
Lowest on Crank : 8.8 VDC
Straight away on start: 14.5 VDC

The first start in these conditions usually results in an Air Bag inactive alarm. This can be cleared by turning the car off and on again. It always roars into life on the second start even if it is only a minute or so after the first.

Today I was determined to see if it was one or the other so I used my mates car and the jumper leads and got this.

Pug by itself cold: 12.59 VDC

Other Car running at idle: 14.45 VDC

Cables on both: 14.25 VDC
Glow Plugs on: 12.2 VDC
Lowest on Crank: 10.40 VDC

This morning the car roared into life like it does when it is when it has just been run.

I was having winter tyres done today so I asked the Garage to test the battery and they told me it passed by this they mean it scored 69% on their machine. I asked what a new one would do and this was met by a typical Germanic blank look , the chap was kind enough to get his machine and run it on a new battery in the show room. This battery having been there for no one knows how long scored 89%.

Does anyone here have a similar experience with this type of issue?

The battery is by far the easiest to change but I would prefer not to change it unnecessarily.

I look forward to receiving your replies/advice/suggestions.

Regards

K1W1.

[myglaren]

Mine (C5 2.0 HDi) has similar problems, has been getting progressively slower to start for a couple of years.
A new battery didn't help, soon flattened that and I reverted to the Varta battery originally fitted. (appears to be AOK despite being 10 years old).
Swapped them over again yesterday when the car failed to start.
Mine also shows an airbag fault on first start of the day.

The starters are said to be suspect. Guy over the road from me has just had his replaced in his 307 HDi.

As it is always OK after the first start I am leaning more towards starter/alternator wires and connectors along with possible poor earth due to corrosion at the earthing points.There are a few current threads covering this.

[Lighty]

We have changed plenty of HDI starter motors for this reason, the fuel pressure normally fails to get high enough, so then they wont start. Pop a new one on and all will be good I would bet

[K1W1]

Hi,

I am taking the fact that the voltage shoots up to 14.5 as soon as it starts and does not falter when lights and blower are put on as a sign that the alternator is working ok.

I have disconnected the battery tonight and left my trickle charger on the battery. I will see what the voltage is tomorrow and how it starts after this. Tomorrow night I will just disconnect the battery and see how it is on Monday morning.

It roared into life when using jumper leads, I don't know if this was because the cranking speed was right up to spec and as a result everything else was ok or having the additional CCA available from the second battery overcame the Starters reluctance to turn.

I have found a 1.8 kw Starter online which is which is what I have seen suggested on another forum, I will see how my fiddling around goes the next two nights and then decide what to replace first. Knowing my recent luck the thing I replace first will turn out to be the wrong one.

K1W1

[myglaren]

I found a starter on eBay (new) for £60.

[K1W1]

Hi,
I can get one here in Germany for 87 Euro which is probably how I will go when I decide what to change first. If I get one from the UK on e bay , the freight will no doubt make up the difference.

[Peter.N.]

If this is one of the reduction gear starters as most seem to be now, taking the end off and lubricating the gears can produce a remarkable improvement.

Peter