Have abandoned a 55 plate Peugeot 307s 1.6 petrol in a hotel car park where it simply refuses to start, it had been run on a 70 mile journey to the hotel, ran for ten minutes idling and then switched off for five minutes, tried to turn it back on and the ignition just clicks, warning displays illuminate then extinguish as normal, no messages on the info panel but the Emission Control System warning light stays on.

I had something like this on a diesel 307 a few years back and I seem to remember it was expensive, but that was the diesel with expensive additive, this is a petrol version.

Any clues before I ring my friendly Peugeot dealer and tell my friendly salesman what I think of him ?

Starter motor?

Fuel Pump? went on my car and the ignition would turn over and click, but no fuel was going through, First time it was just a fuse which had blown, second time the pump itself was knackered. Or like Dally has said, the starter motor.

If it's the starter motor, hit the casing with a hammer while someone is trying to turn it over. It should start but you'll need to drive it straight to a garage to get a replacement as there's no guarantee it'll start again.

Hmm, I was thinking more in terms of an emissions filter/sensor, but now you come to mention it, there is an invoice in the info pack for a new fuel pump that was fitted a couple of years ago by the previous user.

But - the starter motor would still turn if the fuel pump was knacked...

9.01am tomorrow morning, don't be anywhere near a telephone in Harratts Leeds.

Battery?

Nah, battery's fine, all electrics working perfectly.

Is the ignition dead - ie not trying to turnover? That would be the usual symptom of starter motor trouble. Not sure what the sypmtoms of fuel pump trouble are but I guess it would try to turnover?

Only suggested it because I had a similar-ish problem a few months ago. Had only recently driven, left idling for a while, switched off then tried to switch on and nothing. All the indicator lights came on as normal and I could use all electronics but it wouldn't start the engine. Fortunately I got a jump start and drove it round to the garage where they replaced the battery.

I really have no knowledge of how cars work though so its probably not the battery at all, just sounded similar ish to me!

They could still work fine and the battery still not have enough juice to turn the car over.

Try getting a jump start from someone first but read the handbook on jump starting. Some cars don't like simply being jumped and then having the slave battery disconnected immediately

Leave it there.

Get the daughters to run you around for a change!

A mate of mine had the same problem on his Pug and it turned out to be something called a lamba sensor (something like that) had failed which caused the ECS to shut down and so the car wouldn't start.

A bit late I know , but . Put the keys in your pocket ....unclip the quick-release terminal on the battery . Leave it half an hour . Clip it back on . Lock twice using keyfob . . Leave 5 mins . Then unlock with keyfob and start it and go on your merry way .

Thanks for that, I read something similar on a Peugeot owners web site but didn't understand a word of it, thats a lot simpler, I'm going up there this afternoon to speak nicely to it so I'll try that and if all else fails how much do you charge for a recovery from Otly to LS16 ?

I think my next car might be an old Mk 1 Cortina or possibly an old Landy. With all the bollox surrounding new vehicles, they're simply far too expensive to repair, should a problem occur. Earlier this year I had a soft recall on my Passat, all four injectors and the injector loom were replaced - cost? £3k+. All done under warranty but in five years time, that will be more than the value of the car. Similarly, I replaced a parking brake motor after it burned out in icy conditions, that alone was £250. At least with the Cortina or Land Rover anything I couldn't fix could be sorted by the local blacksmith.