General Cinq starts and stops again when cold

[myideal]

Hiya,

Seems like you guys and girls know all about the Cinq, so i'll ask the masters.

My Cinq (899 - P reg) seems to be finding it hard to start when its cold. The car starts and then stops, it turns over trys to start but then doesnt - so I keep trying. Ive now reached the point when im only able to start it by adding revs to the start process and then the engine kicks in.

Now ive changed the Spark Plugs and Air Fliter and still no joy. Im not totally convinced that all the Cills are firing up at the start which I would have linked to sparkies - but considering you all seem well up on the problems - ill ask away.

Also ive noticed recently some brown rust like stuff collecting in my coolent box - what is this a sign of? Ive had the head gasket changed already about 14,000 miles ago.

Thanks for your help.

 

[rallycinq]

Check the spark at individual plugs, it could be a coil pack going down.

What is your 'coolant box' please.

Cheers

D

 

[myideal]

Check the spark at individual plugs, it could be a coil pack going down.

What is your 'coolant box' please.

Cheers

D

Thanks for the dead quick reply.

1) Whats a coil pack? Are they cheap and easy to replace?

2) Coolant box is that tank where you can check the coolant level and add more if needed. Im not good on the techy names. lol

 

[Horney]

Thanks for the dead quick reply.

1) Whats a coil pack? Are they cheap and easy to replace?

2) Coolant box is that tank where you can check the coolant level and add more if needed. Im not good on the techy names. lol

The coil pack is a box in the engine bay which is where the leads to your spark plugs originate. Simply follow one of your leads back from the plug and you will find it. If this unit is faulty it will either not be producing enough energy for a good spark or it may be only sending energy to a couple of the plugs. As said above check each plug for a spark. To do this:-

1) Remove the 1 plug and reconnect it to it's HT lead. Holding the lead with RUBBER HANDLED PLIERS hold the tip of the plug near the cylinder head.

2) Get a mate/family member to turn the car over and watch the spark arc to the rocker cover.

3) Repeat for the other 3 plugs. Hopefully you will find one or two are not working at all or very well.

This will then show you you have a problem. It could be the coil pack but I would suggest a fresh set of leads fisrt as they are cheapper and it's good to change them occasionally anyway.

Nick

 

[rallycinq]

The cinq has two coil packs, they are on the end of the engine above the gearbox. They tend to fail individually, but as each one supplies sparks for two cylinders, hence two cylinders drop out.

The coolant header tank should be half full of clean water with anti freeze.

Drain out the full system by removing the bottom radiator hose. Leaving the bottom hose off, run water from the header tank until the water coming out the bottom hose is clear. Then put the hose in the bottom hose (oo'er missus) and flush water backwards up the system.

Refit the hose and fill up with water/anti freeze mix, making sure to open the two bleed valves, one behind the offside headlamp, one on the hose into the heater matrix. When both of these stop blowing bubbles, retighten, and finish topping off.

Cheers

D

 

[myideal]

Ok thanks for all this info.

What i dont understand is if the coil or leads are faulty, why will the engine start and run once it has warmed up?

See my limited knowledge was thinking at 1st the auto choke wasnt kicking in and this was the reson why i needed to add the revs to give it the power to start. Then of course I thought well I dont think its firing on all cills and i got confused. lol

So thanks for all this info & please excuse me for asking stupid questions why something will work once its warm and been running.

Im thinking that if a coil has gone then maybe i shall have to start looking at new cars - those toyota aygos look like a cinq spin off.

 

[AppleSei]

Im thinking that if a coil has gone then maybe i shall have to start looking at new cars - those toyota aygos look like a cinq spin off.

No swearing on the forum please

If a coil pack has gone then IIRC it is a relatively easy fix, i wouldnt worry too much

 

[rallycinq]

The coil pack can be affected by damp, hence difficulty in starting when cold, but better when warm.

You do not have an autochoke, you have fuel injection (I know there are one or two instances where fuel injected cars have an auto choke, but the Cento ain't one of them).

Is you oil of the correct grade and reasonably fresh? Low oil level and dirty oil could cause the tappets to stay shut longer meaning the valves are not opening letting fuel and air in. Same problem with oil that is too thick, and even slightly too thick oil, when really cold, will be even thicker.

Could be a fuel problem. When was the fuel filter changed last? If the pump has to work extra hard in the morning when the engine will demand more fuel, then it could cough and splutter a bit.

All cars require maintenance, whether an older Fiat or a newer Citroen (sorry Toyota) although the Aygo engine is in fact a Daihatsu unit. So is it £7000 for an Aygo or £48 for a coil pack, difficult choice.

Cheers

D

 

[myideal]

Thanks for all this - looks like the Cinq could be going for a bit longer then.

Ive actually just checked the new sparkies and one wasnt firing - black as club 10. So ive changed it and seems like all Cills are now firing.

As for the starting problem - if this doesnt fix it, then thanks for the explaination on why these things could go wrong. Im now a little more aware of what I have to do.

Acually what was the price of the Cinq new? I think those Agyos are a bit pricey in my eyes for what they are.

 

[AppleSei]

Not sure on cinq but the sei schumi when first introduced was 8,500 The Aygo is a bargain for what it is to be honest, share the same chassis as the pug 107 and the citroen c1 altho the c1 is 500 quid cheaper than the other two and has more kit

Theres not many cars on the road with ABS, electric windows, cd player, 2 airbags to name a few standard kit on the road for 7k

 

[rallycinq]

Thank fully the styling for the aygo/107/C1was done by the french and the engineering by the japanese, not the other way round.

Cheers

D

 

[myideal]

I like the cinq though and as much as its basic it is a nice car. I think sometimes the new small cars are a bit OTT.

I was looking at the new fiesta and well it looks a nice car but again do we really need all those fancy trims? Anyone here shed any light on how good/bad the fiesta is btw?

 

[chaos]

I was looking at the new fiesta and well it looks a nice car but again do we really need all those fancy trims? Anyone here shed any light on how good/bad the fiesta is btw?

Thou shalt not swear on the Fiat Forum

Anyway, I hope they're better than the mark 3s - I had one and it wasn't the best put together car in the world......................