Poor starting on Sirion

Forum: 

My Daughter has an 03 Sirion 1.3 she's had from new. There have been a couple of occasions when it refuses to start. The last time was when she needed to move up to get space for another car i.e. she just started the engine moved a couple of yards and switched off.
Next day her car refused to start so she had to get RAC who said the Auto Choke doesnt like being started and stopped straight away! He got her going with jump leads and constant turning of engine till it fired, then told her in future to run the engine longer.
I mention this mainly because my Sirion Rally 2 did a similar thing after a short run the other day and it took 3 attempts at turning the engine before it would start.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Cheers.

Choke Idea

Hi
The idea about choke is sort of correct, The engine needs a rich air fuel ratio to run when cold which if unchecked will damage the exhaust cat so possibly when stopping the engine after 30 secs the oxygen sensor in the cat may be wet with unburnt fuel then ECU won't allow re-start until fuel dryed off sensor. Possible solution is after moving car before turing off engine hold a fast idle to 2k-3k RPM for 30-40 sec to clear fuel from sensor. Also with reguard to spark plugs I replace mine at 2 years or 20k miles and use NGK, Japanese parts for Japanese cars. Hope this is of interest, Cheers Marcus

Thanks guys

I am grateful for all your replies and sorry about the minor disagreement. Hey we all have our views and it's interesting to read all of them.
Servicing isn't a problem as the car (my Daughters) was serviced by Daihatsu only 2 moths ago.
I kinda like the ideas that the car should not be started and stopped straight away. That's what the RAC guy said and I suppose it makes sense to bring the engine up to some sort of temp. if only for Lube reasons. Pushing is not an option as she's about 4'9" and lives alone so no help!!. I will pass on your comments and trust she will take heed. I might just say its so helpful to be able to ask the question and get so many useful replies. Cheers.

Poor cold starting in a Sirion

Lets look at the OP again, look at the highlighted text:

“My Daughter has an 03 Sirion 1.3 she's had from new. There have been a couple of occasions when it refuses to start. The last time was when she needed to move up to get space for another car i.e. she just started the engine moved a couple of yards and switched off. Next day her car refused to start “

So the next day the car was ‘flooded’ with petrol!

“so she had to get RAC who said the Auto Choke doesnt like being started and stopped straight away! He got her going with jump leads and constant turning of engine till it fired, then told her in future to run the engine longer.
I mention this mainly because my Sirion Rally 2 did a similar thing after a short run the other day and it took 3 attempts at turning the engine before it would start.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Cheers.”

Again, the car was ‘flooded’, even after a short run?

The symptoms on both cars sound suspiciously like a spark plug problem or a failing lambda sensor. If the plugs are sound and properly gapped, then you may wish to check the resistance within your lambda sensor. When it fails, and they often do on 1300cc Sirions and YRV’s at around 5 years old, it will flag up the engine management light and the code can be confirmed from using an OBD II code reader.

I’m not grumpy or bolshie BobF, I only like to give advice to folks when I know what I’m talking about…..can you say the same? Wink

Like most long term Daihatsu owners, I also have the workshop manual.

Incidentally, you don’t need to be a time served mechanic to work as an AA, RAC or Green Flag patrolman, but it probably helps!