Let's play "What's wrong with my car?"

[seren]

This is the "my best guess is..." thread. Any techy minded folk or, better still, qualified mechanics on here can help?
To get this over with at the start, I can't afford to get a mechanic out at the moment, so that's why I haven't.

OK. The car (a 1995 Peugeot 205, diesel 1.8) won't start. It's just been MOT'd and had lots of work done on the brakes and exhaust, but I can't see that being anything to do with it.

On Wednesday I reversed out of the driveas normal, and the engine suddenly started sounding wrong- all loud and clattery. So I stopped the engine. She coughed a bit when I tried to start her again, uncharacteristically, and still made that loud, rattley noise. So I just drove the few feet back into the drive again and switched her off. Ever since, if I put the key in and turn it, the light in the dashboard comes on indicating that the glow plugs are heating the fuel (a diesel thing, if you petrol car-owners are bemused right now). The light goes off, I turn the key, she coughs and coughs and coughs and sounds like she's just about to start, but doesn't. Like everything is happening right up the the moment of ignition.

I've checked the fuel lines for blockages and replaced the fuel filter, to no avail. The fuel is definitely going where it's supposed to, and doesn't have water or rust or algae in it (diesel-loving algae? the world is an amazing place).

The suggestions I've had so far are:

a) The glow plugs have failed, so the fuel isn't being heated before ignition. Possible, but the light on the dashboard still works and you'd hope (!) that if the glowplugs fail, the glowplug light would stop working too, to give you a clue, wouldn't you? I've started her cold before, she coughs a little but starts OK. Is it possible for all four glow plugs to go all at once, but the fuse look OK? And how does this explain the weird rattley noise?
b) The gasket's blown. Here I am out of my depth, but from what I can tell, this isn't likely either, it wouldn't result in those...er...results. But I don't really know.
c) The tank is full of petrol, not diesel. Now this is highly highly unlikely. I definitely used the diesel pump when I fueled up the day before all this happened. I have the receipt which states "diesel", I've even phoned the garage and traced back the transaction. The only way that could have happened is if the garage had petrol in their diesel tanks. Which is possible, but surely highly unlikely. They've had no other complaints. Yet. ;)
I've tried sniffing it (not recommended, kids), and I've a sneaky feeling it smells wrong, but I've been smelling fuel for 3 days now so it's quite possible my nose has gone. I've been advised to attempt a controlled explosion with a tiny, tiny amount, cos if it ignites, it's petrol. That'll be fun. :o

So anyway, any other ideas? Things I can easily look into, bearing in mind that until Wednesday I had no idea what I was looking at under the bonnet and have had to learn fast.

Thanks!

[median]

Hello Seren

You could try this http://peugeot.mainspot.net/tips/engine_ff.shtml

Hope it helps

[Admin]

a) The glow plugs have failed, so the fuel isn't being heated before ignition. Possible, but the light on the dashboard still works and you'd hope (!)


I had this happen on a Ford escort diesel van my company had. The dashboard light came on as normal but the bloody thing wouldn't start.

It turned out to be the 65amp fuse that the glow plugs were wired through.

Sorry, that probably doesn't help your case; but that can happen. (Made all the worse by believing the dashboard lights ::)).

[Hazen]

A few observations:

Glow plugs do not heat the fuel, they sit in the combustion chamber in the same place that spark plugs would on a petrol engine and, basically, glow. This is to aid with cold starting. If you've had one or two plugs fail, then it will make lots of clattery noises and vibrate a lot, since all four cylinders are not firing and the engine's cycle is out of balance - this would, however eventually sort itself out as the engine warmed up. I wouldn't count on the tell tale lights being as smart as to warn you of failed plugs, more likely it just shows you that the glow plug supply is enabled.

If the head gasket is leaking, you will either have water in the engine oil, or oil in the cooling system. To check, take the oil filler cap off and have a look inside. If you can see significant amounts of creamy looking white mush then this is your problem. Note - a small amount of this is always evident in any engine due to our climate and the fact that condensation build up inside the engine is inevitable as the engine cools down after use, especially if the car is used for lots of short journeys. Another tell tale is excessive white exhaust smoke for water & glycol, blue/black smoke for unburnt oil. Both have a distinct smell associated with them. If you remove the glow plugs for inspection and see a build up of jelly like goo, then you've got coolant leaking into the cylinder.
If the engine has recently been over heated, this often causes the head to warp, resulting in head gasket failure and lubricant/coolant exchange.

Are you sure that fuel is getting where it needs to?. Try turning the engine over and have someone (else) stick their nose behind the exhaust pipe. If they can smell neat fuel coming out then fuel metering is not the problem.
Is it fuel injected? If so, it may be that one or two injectors are blocked or faulty and you're only running on two or three cylinders, symptoms of which would be: excessive vibration, noise & loss of power.
Loose/worn plugs/injectors would also cause the same symptoms, since the necessary compression for detonation would not be achieved.

Hope this helps.

[seren]

Thanks all. I think what's clear here is that it's beyond the scope of me or anyone I know to fix.

I think it might be the timing belt. I sincerely hope it hasn't broken, since I got it changed not long ago. I think perhaps the timing's out for some reason though. Although, Hazen, what you said about the glowplugs seems possible too.

I thought, incidentally, that the purpose of glowplugs is to help start the engine by pre-heating the diesel, because diesel doesn't ignite easily. It needs to be heated before it's compressed to give the engine a "kick-start", like. Also, I heard that diesel is slightly viscous and heating liquifies it, but I don't know the truth of that one.

Oh, and it's definitely diesel in there. It won't burn when attacked with a lit incense stick. :) I felt extremely silly. I had some a corner of a tissue soaked in fuel in a large plant pot in the middle of the garden, and I ran up and threw the joss stick in it and ran away again. ;D

[Dr B]

I believe your car is unhappy and may actually be possessed. I suggest you spray the car with holy water and think happy thoughts...... ;D

[seren]

Distressingly, that actually happened to a friend of mine. She worked in nursing home for elderly nuns. When she told one of them that her car had broken down, she was handed a bottle of holy water to throw on it! :D

[Nettles]

Distressingly, that actually happened to a friend of mine. She worked in nursing home for elderly nuns. When she told one of them that her car had broken down, she was handed a bottle of holy water to throw on it! :D


Did it work?