Saxo a bugger to start when cold/or when left for a while!

[wezmeister1979]

Hey guys,

Having problems with my P reg saxo 1.1i desire. on start ups when left over night it struggles to turn over and i have to give a little gas and hold the revs due to the revs not idling for the first few minutes. It eventually goes back to normal but recently, as in today i went to start it and it really did struggle for a while and when it did eventually turn over i did the same technique of trying to hold a good rev line of about 1000rpm when the revs just started swaying from 800 to 1500 constantly.. i kept removing my foot of pedal but quickly put back on when noticing it going to stall.. odd thing was, i suddenly heard a knock and everything was back to normal.. the knock sound was in the general direction of the engine but it idled ok and upon reversing and driving away it was like it never had a problem to start with... Does anyone have any ideas what may be the cause of this.. i also would like to add instead of spamming threads that on some occassions my battery light very dimly comes on while in mid drive at around speeds of 40mph plus.. stupid kenwood radio loves to reset itself on every turn off.. ejecting discs etc etc.. very annoying.... I must admit.. my first saxo and i'm starting the love the little bugger :).. only had it since november so any advice on problem solving or even a sneaky link to a proper english version of a workshop manual would be greatly appreciated :)..

[wezmeister1979]

well.. thanks for awesome amount of responses...!!!! :(

[Gandi699]

Sounds like the alternator is duff

[stevo67]

Get the alternator charging rate tested & bung some injector cleaner in the tank.

[Brettles1986]

Im currently in this situation, have been using redex injector cleaner now for the last 2 full tanks, the car starts to turn over then the starter motor sounds like it stops, then starts again and the engine starts, im thinking starter motor for mine though

[wezmeister1979]

cheers guys.. will give all a go above... stop the misses nagging also :).. my partner noticed on the way to work that some garage does a diagnostic test for £30 so could be tempted with that, but me being the kind of guy that probably all us guys on here are like would have better satisfaction sorting it myself with a little advice along the way.. :).. thanks again and i shall report back with my outcome :)

[Brettles1986]

cheers guys.. will give all a go above... stop the misses nagging also :).. my partner noticed on the way to work that some garage does a diagnostic test for £30 so could be tempted with that, but me being the kind of guy that probably all us guys on here are like would have better satisfaction sorting it myself with a little advice along the way.. :).. thanks again and i shall report back with my outcome :)

I dont think diagnostics would help you with your problem tbh mate, best of going to halfrauds and getting a free battery and alternator check done :y:

[stevo1600]

Is the battery going flat? Struggling to turn engine over or is it turning engine over easy but want start easy?

I'd suspect the stero is your problem mate, you may have it wired incorrectly.

[chrisbrain24]

mine was similar the battery was fucked

[Manu]

as said, battery or alternator. Classic winter problem.

[bassmaster23]

as said, battery or alternator. Classic winter problem.

+1 Blatently battery! Just get a free check done at halfords but dont get it there they are expensive for batteries, get it at a local motor factors

[wezmeister1979]

Is the battery going flat? Struggling to turn engine over or is it turning engine over easy but want start easy?

I'd suspect the stero is your problem mate, you may have it wired incorrectly.

Hey guys, sorry for late response.... had a family emergency to deal with. Well the answer to the above question is that the battery doesnt go flat, it just struggles to start and upon starting i have to rev vontrol it with pedal or else it will just stall... I havent managed to get anything checked as of yet due to family issues but i shall during this week.. :).. thanks for the tips and advice.. i'll take shite stereo out .. i do have the original stereo with cd changer but it just doesnt seem to link when i load the changer with cd's.. wont recognise discs or even play original shop ones.. its up in the loft now so not worrying about that too much

[Manu]

get it done as soon as you can, or you'll end up stuck at some point. From experience: when a battery truely dies of terminal death, you're pretty much stuck and it won't take a jump start either.

[billpine]

Does Redex really work in those quantities? It's like pissing on a bonfire, ain't gonna make a difference!

[BenM508]

Mines a bit like this, but I changed the ICV and it didnt struggle to start, but it did rev to 4000 immediately, swapped back to the old ICV and the problem returned, have to apply gas sometimes when starting at cold, still hunting down the problem, got a lot of things i need to check on thursday regarding the car, so Ill get back to you if i find anything

[mtbrider0]

same problem here on my v reg 1.1. i think the battery if on its way out but i have had this problem for months. i just put up with it but its starting to get worse. new icv when the problem started and this helped a bit. could it possibly be coil pack? or maybe tappets need adjustment? or could it be some sort of vac leak? or injector on its way out? :S :wall: