Xsara - starting hesitation or not at all

[princeperch]

Hey all. My 1.4 2004 Xsara is a decent old thing, but last few days it's been a bit hesitant to start.

When it does, the Rev counter does strange things,like go down instead of up on starting, or it starts very abruptly without turning over and catching.

Other times when the key is turned, nothing happens, it doesn't turn over or catch, but the lights on the dash light up as they should. I then disconnect and reconnect the battery and it normally works fine.

It works just fine otherwise. The battery is a year old and should be ok (I'll take it off and charge it later this week, but it presumably has good charge if it starts it). Before I bother my mechanic with it , I'll use a mates obdi Bluetooth reader next weekend to see if it's throwing off any fault codes, but at the moment my thinking is either it's the engine coolant sensor that's playing up, or it could be a problem with the crankshaft sensor?

Anyone got any thoughts on this old bit of French cheese and what could be up with it?

[Gavin0478]

Hi, have you checked the earth straps, as usually on a xsara when the fuel gauge or rev counter go mad its because of a voltage problem and you have said the battery is good.

[princeperch]

Hi Gavin.cthanks for your reply. You may well be right. I took the battery off and gave it a good charge today (it was just over half charged) and cleaned up the terminals of the battery and the straps of a fair amount of crud and deposits.cthe car now starts sweetly without hesitation and without any madness on the Rev counter so hopefully that was all it was. Thanks again...