won't restart after parking up for a few minutes

Hi guys,

After many a phone call from the other half and the fact she wont use the petrol station anymore ha, thought i would try a little harder to find a cure!!

We have 2005 C3 1.4 LX.

A problem began occurring last year. car generally starts fine but after cold or wet weather we have developed a fault where by after parking up for a few minutes with the engine off, the car wont restart, it needs to be left a little longer, before it restarts!

I have had it serviced, plugs etc and put on a new battery in an effort to cure the problem but yes as you can guess its turned cold and the our little french mistress has decided to be a little temperamental again!

Looking for a little help, i'm no master mechanic but I don't mind having ago.

Cheers for any help/advice offered.

Hull_lad

Welcome to the forum Hull_lad,

A problem began occurring last year. car generally starts fine but after cold or wet weather we have developed a fault where by after parking up for a few minutes with the engine off, the car wont restart, it needs to be left a little longer, before it restarts!

I was going to say, service, like coil pack and plugs, but....

I have had it serviced, plugs etc and put on a new battery

You have already done that.


My next suggestion would be, at minimum an OBD2 reader (here), at best to introduce your little french mistress to lexia tool - topic here.

With either of these tools you can read any stored diagnostics error codes which may point you in the right direction and with the lexia, you get a much deeper level of diagnostics and testing.

What happens when you turn the ignition? Does it just fail to start or does nothing at all happen?

They're renowned for hating wet Weather, I got mine in march just as it was coming out of winter and it complained when it was damp. It was sweet as a nutin summer though.

Have you tried tapping the accelerator when starting the car? I noticed that when my car stops and I restart the engine, it sometimes hits 1k revs then dies, I have to give it some right foot before it will start happily.

My next suggestion would be, at minimum an OBD2 reader, at best to introduce your little french mistress to lexia

Ive done the OBD2 and showed no faults would the Lexia show any other faults up?

As for what happens, Yes it hits about 1000 revs then dies, no amount of gas seems to work, we just have to leave it till she wants to go again!

thanks

Hull_lad

Ive done the OBD2 and showed no faults would the Lexia show any other faults up?

Probably not any extra engine fault information, but it can get into the other computers in the car. But it's unlikely to help very much more for you. I think you have an engine problem

Sounds very similar to the issue I was getting, I had a full service, replaced all the plugs and filters and gave it an engine flush.

Try running some Redex through it, I added about half of it (fit for 50L) to about 25£ worth then added a few L'tres just to swish it about before I drove it.

Give it a good drive out, maybe do it before you head down to country or across a few towns, you need to get it to be variable with the intake, after about 20 miles you'll easially feel a difference in pedal power, and hopefully when you turn it off, it will start first time.

My Initial diagnosis to this was either a blocked fuel filter, where as mine does not have one in-line, it's at the tank, so it's a bit of a pain to change; so using this redex just blasts through anything nasty, (injector version), and it also clears the injectors and the fuel line.

I keep thinking that when the engine is turned off, the injectors aren't lined up with enough fuel, so when you start, it uses whatever is in there, to 1K revs, then dies before anymore are pushed through.

If this helps, try either using Redex once every 500~ miles or use a super-premium fuel every 4 tanks or so; I never use Supermarket fuel anymore, since BP & Shell are similar prices around here.

Thanks,
Chris.