More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

by RichardB Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:04 am

Hi all

I recently posted about my MOT failure and leaking windows - I am glad to say that the van eventually passed it’s MOT and “was” okay.

I drove it down to Autosleepers on Monday where they did an excellent job of repairing the windows, servicing the fridge and a few other things.
After 8 hours in their waiting room I left last night at 5.30pm with a finally fixed, water proof motorhome….

To celebrate this, I stopped off at Tamworth services on the M42 for a bite to eat. 20 minutes later, turn the ignition key and the engine turns over but does;t start. Three red lights on the dash and the code key light.
Sat for 20 minutes and kept trying but still the same lights and the engine turns over but doesn’t start.

Called out the recovery service and the key said it looks like the immobiliser but he had seen similar but if he towed me do a different area it might start - apparently a radio mast in the area sometimes interferes with the key code.

So he tows the van round to the petrol station area and sure enough turned the key and it starts first time - turned it off and tried again and working fine…

Said my thanks and got back on the motorway…

About half a mile along the M42 at 50 mph, there is a sudden loss of power - a new light on the dash comes on (solid square mid left) - no idea what this is as its not shown in my book. Van started to slow down dropped into 4th gear, then that light went off, the three original lights came on and power was restored.

Another half a mile, and the same happened again, apart from this time when the three originals came on the power wasn’t restored and I had to coast onto the hard shoulder. No amount of trying would get it started and the key code light was back ok.

Called back the recovery guy and then put me on the back of lorry to get of the motorway.
We decided the best plan was to take me home on a lorry, so we went to their depot to switch trucks.

When we got there he tried to start it and it worked first time. Left it running for few minutes and it did the same and just cut out.
So Loaded it onto a lorry, they drove it 200 miles home, took it off the lorry at home at 2am and it trued it - started first time.

Ive now had it running on the drive for an hour without any issues and am sort of stuck now to what the problem is, whether I can risk driving it anywhere, whether i should just sent the thing to the scrap yard and give up! (For info, its a T reg 1999 2.0L Petrol Peugeot Harmony)

Can anyone offer any advice what the problem could be or if they have seen anything like this before!

Thanks

Richard

by Flying High Wed Mar 26, 2014 11:41 am

Hi Richard, sorry to here about your problem, I would recommend going to a garage with a decent code reader and get the fault codes checked. I presume that the recovery firm did not do this.

Hope it gets sorted.

Best regards, Mike courtesy

by -mojo- Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:22 pm

I'd agree about getting the diagnostic codes read to see what that throws up.

One thing it sounds very much like is the immobiliser problem that can occur on Transits, where the pickup next to the ignition lock becomes intermittent, so it sometimes fails to recognise the key as valid. Of course, the lights that you get on a Transit are completely different when this happens than the equivalent on a Boxer. With the former, you can "simulate" the problem by removing the chip from the key and trying to start without it - if the symptoms look the same then it's probably an immobiliser fault - but I don't know if you can do that with a Peugeot key.

by ournev Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:31 pm

I used to have similar problems years back with a ford cortina 2.3 petrol but that was in the days of carburettors and I guess yours is an injection engine but just in case it isn't, it took me many months to track down to a needle valve and float problem. The float would stick on the needle valve and the fuel chamber would empty and the engine would stop. Any subsequent jolt would free it and all would be well again until the next time.
Your problem appears to be electrical (all the lights) so all this may not be of any help but I posted just in case.
Hope you get it sorted.

by Paulmold Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:35 pm

I think the square light you mention is the immobiliser/alarm (if fitted). Have you another key you could try in case it's a key recognition problem?

by Backtrax Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:36 pm

Sounds very much like the immobiliser which on many older vehicles controlled a valve in the fuel line.
If the fault is currently intermittent then that would account for occassional not starting and also for sudden power loss which when the valve re-opens restores the power.
Not a particularly expensive fix, so not sure I would scrap it, unless there are other serious issues.

by RichardB Wed Mar 26, 2014 12:40 pm

Backtrax wrote:Sounds very much like the immobiliser which on many older vehicles controlled a valve in the fuel line.
If the fault is currently intermittent then that would account for occassional not starting and also for sudden power loss which when the valve re-opens restores the power.
Not a particularly expensive fix, so not sure I would scrap it, unless there are other serious issues.

Thanks all for your help - that does sound like the problem.
I'll have a walk round to the garage later and see what they have to say
Richard

by peugeotboxer Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:21 pm

Richard

Can't elaborate on the cutting out issues but certainly had a problem when using Membury Services on the M4.
The radio mast would not let me disable the immobiliser on the alarm.

Got the AA to come out, but after trying and trying, all of sudden it latched and I was able to start. Cancelled the AA and now we never stop at these services.

Got the system checked out with no faults showing.

Good luck in your quest!

PB

More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover

Re: More van problems, glad I had breakdown cover