Starting and/or running problem

[tonyscott]

Peugeot 207 1.6 hdi, 2010 105000 miles

Never been able to show this fault happening to a mechanic, because intermittent. AA have run a diagnostic (dont know how thorough - spent about 15 mins doing it) Bought for 1200 at garage.. probably worth 700 in working condition? Any advice much appreciated, because thinking best to scrap it!

Bought Sept. 2024
Problem 1
First problem after one month (not so cold).
After starting car no power on pressing accelerator - but some power whilst "chugging" along in 1st gear. Had to leave home and go down gentle slope. At bottom I would give high revs in Neutral (terrible white smoke and strong smell) and the problem seemed to sort itself.
It would come and go after one, two or even 4 weeks without coming back.
Problem 2
A few times (worse when cold) it also turned into a starting issue. Turning key fully , turns over ok but quickly judders to stall. Pressing accelerator does nothing. I leave it a minute retry. Then I keep doing it straight after each stall. After 10 to 20 attempts it always seems to work. But the juddering motion seems to get worse, and I have heard some strange bangs under the pedals area.

The last week... problem 1 can't clear within a few minutes anymore. End up chugging along quiet roads at 10 to 20 mph (on downhills), revving with clutch down, takes up to 15 mins to "clear the fault". I can't get to mechanic in that state because they are all uphill. To dangerous to drive slow on bigger roads.

Problems are intermittent. No warning lights on when car runs (can see check engine, and several other lights in key position 1).

AA said no faults recorded but on one screen he said egr looks wrong. I have a photo, it says 0%. Car was idling at the time. Going through old service records, 3 years ago during a service it says Advise = Scanned engine and fault found on EGR sensor
thanks!

 

[Jurassicspark]

White smoke is coolant.

White smoke coming from exhaust, sounds like a head gasket failure combined with a lack of fuel delivery.

Pull your dipstick and see what color the oil is. If it’s cloudy/milky or has the color of your coolant, you’re in for a bad time.

Any engine overheating?

Does the glow plug light ever stay illuminated?

AA said no faults recorded but on one screen he said egr looks wrong. I have a photo, it says 0%. Car was idling at the time.

On most cars the EGR is at 0% under idle. Show us the picture.

 

[tonyscott]

Forgot to say
Once it gets going it runs fine. Several times every week it's on a motorway, for about 10 minutes each way.

 

[Jurassicspark]

There could be a thousand things causing intermittent loss of power and it is impossible to tell exactly without any check engine lights. Have you got a scanner? You might have a dodgy/incorrect reading sensor which causes the car to enter limp mode. First things first would be to check fuel pressure.

 

[tonyscott]

 

[tonyscott]

Thanks message.
Im not sure if the car running normally (for long distances, 100s miles sometimes) after "I clear the fault/blockage by revving" .... means it is not head gasket / major engine issue.
** I'm not sure whether revving is "clearing" anything. Just assuming.
I've done several 1000 miles whilst these issues been on/off.

Pull your dipstick and see what color the oil is. If it’s cloudy/milky or has the color of your coolant, you’re in for a bad time.
Normal, no colouring.

Any engine overheating?
No. Actually it seems to take a long time to move from bottom of scale. But it does show 70/80 when driving after a while.

Does the glow plug light ever stay illuminated?
I have NEVER seen this light, in all key positions. Not sure I misheard, but a garage said that light doesn't come on unless very low temps. Lowest in the last few months here was about -2 deg C