C4 Not Starting....

[djawye]

Hi all,

 

Appreciate any advice you can provide on my issue.

 

I become a 1st time Citroen owner a few weeks back. The last couple of days the car would not start on a few occasions, but did start after 3 or 4 attempts.

 

Last night whilst 30 miles from home the car just wouldn't start. When I say wont start I mean nothing, like nothing was getting to the starter motor. I had all the pre-ignition lights come on (no fault lights) and after a few attempts the car went into "economy" mode and that was it - no electrics or anything.

 

The RAC chap started the car by by-passing the starter motor (I think!!), obviously now I am at home and will not start again.

 

Anybody had this problem before or know how to rectify? I have phoned Citroen UK and they have advised there is no known issue or recall for this type of car.

 

Help!!

 

Dan

[paul.h]

Welcome to the forum.

 

How old is the car and which model ?

 

It appears the battery is flat and unless the RAC started by pushing or towing the car, they used their own battery to start it. If you have a volt meter, check the battery voltage - it should be 12.5 to 12.7 volts if charged, but if much less than this it will not be able to turn over the starter motor fast enough to start the engine. You need to charge the battery and then get the engine running and check the voltage - it should be about 14.4 volts, but if much lower then the car is not charging the battery and this needs to be checked.

 

If the battery can not be charged up then it may need replacing. You may find the RAC will not attend again for the same fault but I would have expected they would have said what they thought was wrong with the car.

 

With a flat battery, at best when trying to start, you may hear a click of the solenoid on the starter motor. The economy mode will not clear until the engine runs again.