Peugeot 2008 Crank but not starting

[mick_131]

Hope someone can help me with my ( now ) non starting issue

I bought my 2008 approx 6 weeks ago as a Cat S ( tailgate and minor floor damage ). Since then, it's been stood on the drive and started every week or so to move it but it has not idled for longer than a few minutes. It was delivered to me with the fuel indicator pretty much in the red.

When I did start her she did so first time, every time, and idled smoothly with the battery seeming to be quite healthy. There was a "service " warning on the dash but I understood that to be a generic, non specific warning. Is that the case ?

The oil level was quite low, about a third from the low mark on the dipstick, but knowing I was going to do an oil change and wasn't using the car daily, it didn't worry me too much.

Due to the low fuel level being low I topped up the fuel tank with 2 x 5 litre cans of fuel last week from the same pump a few days apart.

Today I started it up first time, she idled for approx 5 seconds as normal, kind of shuddered and then cut out. Upon restart, the engine was spinning over quite quickly ( quicker I thought than usual ) Fearing the worst, I looked for possible causes online. The bleep test worked.

Having rechecked the oil I couldn't see any definitive mark on the dipstick. Half a litre of oil in and it did register. Have emptied a litre in now and will see what level it has in the morning.

Could the low oil level and stationary period have affected the tappets and would a low fuel level contribute to the non start or I am just in denial

A thousand thanks in anticipation of forthcoming knowledge.

Mick.

[wheeler]

does this model have a hand primer for the fuel? if so have you tried pumping it then re trying to start it?
An engine turning over faster than normal can sometimes indicate no or low compression, can you see the camshaft through the oil filler cap? is it turning when the engine is cranked?

[mick_131]

does this model have a hand primer for the fuel? if so have you tried pumping it then re trying to start it?
An engine turning over faster than normal can sometimes indicate no or low compression, can you see the camshaft through the oil filler cap? is it turning when the engine is cranked?

Thanks for the reply and to be honest I don't know if it has a hand primer. Have watched videos of hand priming the fuel system but not sure it is present on mine. I'll check tomorrow, have spent the morning removing the wheel arch guard, upper plastic cam cover, aux belt and the crank pulley. I was hoping to remove the lower plastic cover to see the orientation of the belt tensioner but didn't have the appropriate torx bits for the engine mount.

The oil I put in yesterday has risen to approx 3/4 on the dipstick. I turned the engine over again and it was the same as yesterday but now I have an amber EML on. After removal of the upper cover, there really doesn't seem to be that much flex in the cambelt between it and the high pressure pump.

Guess it only takes a tooth or two out to make a difference though.

[wheeler]

I turned the engine over again and it was the same as yesterday but now I have an amber EML on.

This may be normal, on many vehicles the EML wont go out until a few seconds after the engine fires up.
May be worth a few blasts of easy start up the air intake to see if it fires.

[mick_131]

Yes, I think I'll try that thanks. First though removal of the belts covers, then use the locking pins to see if all line up and to see the tensioner position/condition.

[mick_131]

Well, after recovering from a broken foot , I am finally ( tomorrow ) going to remove the engine mounts and check out the condition of the tensioner and the belt position ( using the locking pins )

A couple of questions have already crossed my mind...
1) If the tensioner has failed, I guess I'm going to be able to tell if the cam/fuel pump and crank holes don't line up, is that right ?
2) Is there any way I can tell if the tensioner has failed and wouldn't any unwanted flex in the belt be between the tensioner and the water pump ?

[darbuck]

Hi Mick, what engine ? Have you plugged in ? Were there any codes? There may or may not be any slack, for example if the belt had broken a tooth off it would just jump to the next tooth with no discernible slack, but would turnover and not start.

[mick_131]

Hi Mick, what engine ? Have you plugged in ? Were there any codes? There may or may not be any slack, for example if the belt had broken a tooth off it would just jump to the next tooth with no discernible slack, but would turnover and not start.

Hi Darren,

It's a 2014 1.6 eHDI engine. I have a code reader but haven't plugged it in yet. It's a generic reader also so it may not pick up the fault ( as I've read elsewhere ) Really hoping that it's just that the previous low oil level and the fact it had been stood a while without being started is the cause of the non starting. Trouble is I'm not that lucky usually

[darbuck]

Hi Mick, you have my kind of luck so. I would plug it in, it should throw up a cam crank synch fault if that's where the problem is. The fact that it ran ok before and then didn't and the fact she was low on juice might be telling either try priming the fuel and then try it.

[mick_131]

Plugged in the generic code reader and despite the dash having had an amber eml light showing, it said that there was no fault code.

Got the crank locking pin in but the camshaft didn't line up. The high pressure oil pump also allowed me to insert the pin and the bottom lug was just clear of the hole. Then I removed the pins and turned the engine over again, this time I got the crank pin in first and it was quite loose, but again the crank didn't line up so I slowly turned the crank until I could just get the cam pin in.

The timing marks now line up but, the tensioner looks like it has slipped and has gone south of the alignment position.

[Peter.N.]

Will it fire up on easy start, that will tell you a lot, if it does it will tell you that the cambelt is in tact and probably the timing is correct. If the fuel level is low you could have pulled some air into the system they can be a pig to start although if you have an 'in tank' pump it should bleed itself assuming the pump is working of course. Can you hear the pump run when you turn the ignition on? Assuming it has one.

Peter

[PaulC5]

I suspect the eml light being on is a red herring. On our cars it does not go out until the engine has run for a few seconds which is the time needed for all the various sensors to check everything.
If there is a diesel hand primer it will be a black bulb at the right side (timing belt side) of the engine with pipes to it. If you have one give it 10 or more squeezes to prime the filter and then see if the engine will start. It should harden up a bit as the filter is primed.

[darbuck]

It sounds like you need to change the timing belt and pulleys. pull the valve cover check your rockers if any are broken or out of place replace them, hopefully valves are ok. I wouldn't try to start until you are happy nothing is out of wack, you don't want to bend or break a valve that's not already bad. Unfortunately there's no easy way to check valves, but if one is bent it will smoke badly

[mick_131]

Many thanks for the replies gents. Haven't tried any Easy Start on it yet and now I've seen the tensioner, I'll renew it before trying to get it started.

Not noticed the pump, that's a good call, will see today. Re priming the fuel pump, I saw a video yesterday on how to replace the fuel pump and prime and mine is the same. As soon as the new tensioner goes on I'll give it a go.

Once more, thanks for the replies, they have been very helpful