Car won't start

[vladman]

Hi all, long time since I was last here.

Well, I finally sold my 406 V6, to a guy from Norway (who also posted here a few times, under the name carli).

To cut a long story short, after nearly a year of trying to arrange with him to come here and pick it up, he finally came yesterday. I drove the car regularly, and without any problems, until May this year, when I bought another car, and the Peugeot began it's second stint of just sitting there outside of my house. I started it occasionally, to keep the battery charged. Unfortunately, in the last month or so, I neglected to do this, so the battery went flat. I kept the battery on charge for a couple of days before Carl came to pick it up, we put it in the car yesterday, but it was still too weak, and wouldn't turn over. So I used the booster cables to connect it to my Jag's battery, and it then fired first time, and ran fine. We stayed in the car, with the engine running, for the next 15-20 minutes, just chatting, and Carl arranging his b&b for the night, as he was planning to drive the car to Newcastle, and get a ferry to Norway from there.

So he left, then texted me an hour or so later, to say he had stopped at a petrol station for petrol, filled up, then managed to restart the car without trouble, and he was on his way again. So far, so good. But about half an hour later, he texted to say he's stopped to change the cigarette lighter fuse as he needed to charge his phone, and after he's changed the fuse, the car would no longer start. The battery was too weak again. He then asked someone to use the booster cables with their car, but they didn't have enough time to leave the car running long enough, and this didn't work. The second person he asked wasn't in a hurry, but the car wouldn't start, it was just turning over without firing. He then called me, and I thought this was hopefully to do with the immobiliser cutting in - if you don't start the car within a minute or so of unlocking it, it immobilises, and you have to put the code in on the code pad to disarm it. So he was going to have another go. Unfortunately, even after he made sure the car wasn't immobilised, it still wouldn't start, when he tried for the third time, with booster cables. So he decided to call it a night, and to go and get a new battery in the morning, hoping this will resolve the issue, and also after the car's been left alone overnight.

Unfortunately, this morning, even after putting a new battery in, the car still won't start. It's turning over, but not firing. Worst of all, Carl says the main engine light stays lit (which I don't think was the case before).

What do you think could be going on here? Carl thinks the ECU got "confused", or in the worst case, fried, with all these repeated jump-starting attempts.

Any advice will be really appreciated, I feel so bad he's having all these troubles, but I feel powerless as to how to help him. I never had anything similar happen to me with this car in the 4 years of ownership, I had a flat battery before, and it always started first time when jump-started, I'm just at a loss here.

[Welly]

Bloody hell what a nightmare

I'm sorry I really don't know what could be wrong with it

What's he done with it now?

[steve_earwig]

Me neither, that really is the stuff of nightmares. I would suggest leaving the battery off for a whie but I think it got that anyway

[Longintooth]

Hi
It may be a simple ecu reset - a red button on the n/s of the engine bay fixed near the ABS control valve. It would cut off if the battery was to flat to charge. Worth a try

[mjb]

It may be a simple ecu reset - a red button on the n/s of the engine bay fixed near the ABS control valve. It would cut off if the battery was to flat to charge. Worth a try

That's nothing to do with the ECU or the battery. If the car is knocked hard it cuts the power to the fuel pump for obvious anti-fireball reasons. Given the vulnerable location of the ECU, chances are it's a manual cut into the fuel pump power on D9s too

Could still be the cause here - try pressing it in to re-enable it if it's triggered. It might not be red though - some have black ones

[Captain Jack]

Sorry, not offering any advice on the car issue (as I don't know what could be wrong, but hope he sorts it)... but can we not stop these idiots posting spam, please? Niz? Nick? Anyone?!?!?!

[Welly]