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No start....

colinb1

colinb1

New member
This morning I was out and about in my C4 and called into the local OPC to pick something up. I was there around 10 minutes... came out and although the engine turned it would not fire up. Tried several times. Left it for 20 minutes - went back.. still nothing... just trying to start.

Felt I had little alternative but to leave it with the dealer and ask them to sort it out. Received a call a couple of hours later saying that 'the car thinks the engine is always cold' - and that they are going to replace a temperature sensor to see if that makes a difference. Keeping the car overnight.

Anyone experienced this before with their car? Have had no problems at all with starting (or anything else for that matter) in the 6 weeks or so that I've owned it.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

 
Failed temperature sensors seem to be pretty common on German cars, not just Porsches, so I wouldn't be too surprised if that was the fault with yours.
The sensor fails, ECU thinks the engine is stone cold and adds too much fuel, result car won't start or if it does, uses loads of fuel as it is effectively running with the choke on all the time.
 
You were lucky - we had to hold our hand over the carb while cranking with a handle. [:D] [:D]. 5 of us living in a shoe box - times were hard.

Colin - did they get it sorted? I'd be interested to know what it was.
 
OPC diagnosis very plausible - at 9-9 years old things will start to fail. Pity it failed on the forecourt and you are left with £[:mad:][:mad:] labour rates to fix.

Make sure you get soem discount - a lot of OPCs are offering reduced rates for cars over 4 years old.
 
Well, after the initial "It's a faulty temperature sensor... we'll replace that...." I called them the next day to be told that they had changed the sensor but that wasn't the problem and now "... the DME unit needs to be replaced". I queried that and asked if the car had started after being left for a while. "Oh yes, it's started fine this morning - several times."

I then called a couple of knowlegeable Porsche friends and explained what had happened. Both felt a DME unit (not relay) failure was unlikely if the car was now starting fine. I went to collect the car and, a week on, it's not missed a beat. Fires up first time every time whether hot or cold.

Could I have flooded the engine somehow and it sorted itself out after being allowed to 'clear' itself?

For info - the OPC wanted around £1200 to change the DME Unit.

Any further thoughts welcome....

 
I had a similar experience once, a couple of years ago, when I had to crank the engine for ages before it caught and spluttered into life. Once running, it cleared in seconds, and has never done it since. Unlike your case, it was first thing in the morning, and the engine was stone cold. As you say, it felt just like it was flooded.

BTW Colin - did you get my emails?
 
My colleague had a similar problem to this and when he spoke to Zentrum (Notts Indy) about it, he advised that the car had flooded and told hime to remove fuse to do with fuel pump and something else and then turn the car over, replace the fuses and then start it. Worked for him and hasn't had a problem since.

If i remember i'll email (As i work somewhere else now) and ask him exactly which fuses it was

Steve
 
Any further thoughts welcome....
Click to expand...

Hi Colin. I'm glad that you got to the bottom of this!

I do have some further thoughts (particularly on OPC) - but I'm not sure that they're allowed to be voiced here any more...!?[;)]

Adrian.
 
I've had a similar starting problem to this a couple of times last winter and never did work it out. On a cold morning on the way to work I would drive about 1/4 mile to the local post office, and when I came out and started it, the engine coughed and spluttered and took quite a lot of turning over to fire her up. The auto choke would have still been on when I stopped at the PO so I thought that it was some kind of flooding issue. It only did it when I went to the post office, if I drove a bit further from home, like to the local garage, it never happened.

If I go to the PO now, I just make sure I run the car for 2 mins before I go and then the problem doesn't happen!
 
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