Technical Problems with my 2008 panda. Turning over, not starting.

[Trimdoner]

I'm glad that sorted it

BTW, in our case it was triggered simply by our grandson drumming his feet - he's autistic and flaps his hands/drums his feet , it happened a few more times but daughter knew what to look for after that.
For whatever reason it never happens in our Panda even though he wore the rear carpet out completely, so there must be a fair degree of variation in that switch sensitivity.

 

[DaveMcT]

Well done with the solution. Yay!

I've never had the emergency switch need resetting on a Panda despite our horrible roads and the hard springs. I recently had a hire van switch itself off when I hit sunken wavy tarmac that looked perfectly normal.

It will be well worth taking it for a long drive at motorways speeds. That will clear things out and helps no end with cars that are usually used for short runs.

Panda steering is quite sensitive to health of the battery. Your may well have been the earth lead but it could a a warning. They (usually) don't leave you stranded but the steering goes very heavy at low speeds.

 

[koalar]

Well done..

Im astounded '2 mechanics' didnt suss that..

Surely there would be a dash message (and a fault code)

as soon as you turn the key there will be no hum from the pump

 

[rmjbn1]

Great to hear you've got your car up and running again, MsHopey Fine colour too! Is that the limited edition 'Mamy'?

Does the clock reset to zero?

Could I ask, what does this signify, please? This has happened on mine twice this winter when she's struggled to start. 2004 1.2, 103k miles.

We're only using her for short runs less than once a week at the moment.

On two occasions she's turned over slowly and failed to fire, then started up on the third or fourth attempt.

On both occasions the clock reset. On one occasion the trip computer also reset. I didn't notice anything unusual about the dash lights.

I assumed it was just the elderly 40Ah battery struggling with lack of use & winter generally. Could there be something else going on?

 

[varesecrazy]

Clock resets because the effort of cranking the motor takes just about all the battery can give..

Just like taking the batteries out of any device.. presets will be wiped

 

[koalar]

I signifies that under load the volts going to the body computer has fallen below 6V the minimum required to hold its memory. Battery starts at 12.6V and normally doesn't fall below 10V while cranking.


By far the most common cause is a worn out battery.


But it could be a charging issue also.

It will almost certainly be the battery. But if you haven't got a battery load tester. Most motor factor will do a free check hopefully COVID hasn't stopped that

It better to check First as it can get expensive changing parts on a gut feeling. You often get lucky. But sometimes after 5 or 6 part the fault is still the same.

 

[portland_bill]

Does the clock reset to zero?

Could I ask, what does this signify, please? This has happened on mine twice this winter when she's struggled to start. 2004 1.2, 103k miles.

As said above, clock reset during starting shows low battery voltage. It is the first sign of a weak battery, and a good warning. The low voltage can also cause lots of random electronic failures or warning messages, which tend to panic owners, but will go away with a strong battery.

With your low use, it is probably just a low state of charge. As the battery ages, this may happen more frequently, which signifies time to buy another before complete failure. As yours is infrequent, it is almost certainly just a low stateof charge at that time. It needs more regular use, or longer journeys, or connecting to a trickle charger.

 

[MsHopey]

Great to hear you've got your car up and running again, MsHopey Fine colour too! Is that the limited edition 'Mamy'?

It is the limited edition Mamy ? thank you for noticing. I'm quite proud of her, hence all the money we've spent on her.
I've not managed to find many around on the Internet.

 

[portland_bill]

It is the limited edition Mamy ? thank you for noticing. I'm quite proud of her, hence all the money we've spent on her.
I've not managed to find many around on the Internet.

It was a special edition, very limited numbers sold. Very rare, like my earlier Alessi.
Nice to see yours looking nice and orange. Mine sadly, sits in the sun all day, and fades almost while you watch. Looking very dull and sad again.

 

[DaveMcT]

I have an Optimate "conditioning" charger it's sized for small lead acid batteries but does the job on Panda sized car batteries. It has a low current 24 volt kick start for very flat batteries, does a battery test showing red if it's beyond help, yellow for low charge and green for charged. It's only 1 amp at max so a good car battery showing yellow will take many hours to fully charge. A bad battery will be green in no time indicating there is little usable capacity.

Mine is one of these but you can get newer ones.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optimate...956064?hash=item4dbc14b760:g:5REAAOSw53tgDU86

 

[rmjbn1]

It is the limited edition Mamy ? thank you for noticing. I'm quite proud of her, hence all the money we've spent on her.
I've not managed to find many around on the Internet.

She looks great! Panda envy
To make sure she's future-proofed, it would be worth checking these areas for rust (if you haven't already):

• rear axle spring pans
• coolant return pipe across front of engine
• engine sump pan
• rear sills (access to treat rust via rubber bung in rear wheel arch and base of b-pillar)

The structure and bodywork is galvanised, so rust shouldn't be too much of a concern generally.

Also, check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains below the wipers are clear - they block easily.

 

[DaveMcT]

One more to add. The alloy parts engine and gearbox are drilled right through causing corrosion on the bottom ends of bolt threads. Give them all a regular squirt of proper penetrating oil into the back ends of the threads. This will give a better chance of the bolts coming out (when you need to) without tearing the threads. It's an annoying design issue but this should help.