After cleaning the accessible contacts, including both ends of both battery
cables, if you still have too much drop, you can add in a relay, which is
safer than the add-on starter switch. Then the circuit only has to trigger
the relay.
Brian Holm
At 02:30 AM 1/25/99 -0500, Gordon Brown wrote:
>Douglas,
>
> This problem you describe is common to Peugeots. It happened on my '84
>505S, my '87 505STI and on my '87STX. Many times. It seems that
>sometimes there isn't enough (electrical) power to the starter due to too
>much resitance in the circuit. There will come a day when turning the key
>multiple times will no longer engage the starter, so preventative
>maintenance is called for. Think of all the places in the system where
>there could be resistence, i.e. connections and switches, etc. and try to
>reduce this resistance. Resitance is additive and several small resitances
>make a big one. Following are a few areas to look at.
>
>Start by cleaning off your battery terminals and all wires to the battery.
>Coat all connections with dielectric grease before replacing and
>retightening. Very often this has been enough to cure my starting problem.
>
> Make sure your battery is fully charged. A faulty alternator (charging too
>much or not enough) both have been the causes of my starting problems. A
>loose, worn fanbelt could also be the culprit.
>
>Ignition switches don't last forever. At about 250,000 km the switch on my
>'84 gave up, so I spent hours meticulously taking it apart and cleaning the
>contacts. It worked fine - for about a week, then gave up again, this time
>for good. It's best to get a new switch if the old one is worn or faulty.
>As a temporary measure, some Peugeot owners override the key starter with
>an auxiluary push-button starter, but to ensure safely, you have to make
>sure the clutch is in, handbrake set and/or the car is in park. Some
>starter motors have an extra male spade connector which facilitates this
>job, almost as if the factory planned for this eventuality!
>
>Starter motors go. The brushes wear, the bearings get loose and solenoid
>mechanisms get worn on high mileage cars, making starting difficult. You
>can get the starter rebuilt for about $100. I rebuilt mine at around
>200,000 km, and it made a real difference.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>Gordon Brown
>
>>My big question of the day is: Why won't the car start the first few
>times?
>
>In the past it has been necessary to turn the ign. 2 or 3 times to start
>the car about half of the time. When it did start there was no hesitation.
> Starting last night and continuing to today it takes about 8-15 times
>before it starts w/o hesitation. Again this only happens about half the
>times. Sometimes it starts right up on the first try. It seems the longer
>I hold the key in the start position (without response) the fewer times I
>eventually have to try. It almost seems like it is warming up to start.
>Any ideas.
>Thanks in advance,
>Douglas Sisson<
>
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Brian Holm, Peugeotholm
Supplying parts for Peugeots only, since 1969
Plainfield, VT 802.454.7132 Fax 454.1310
Alternate E-mail: peugeots@together.net