Our recent purchase of a 1997 Peugeot pilote

It may help if you can give more details of the problem, is it Diesel or Petrol engine?.

It could be many things causing the starting problem you have, assuming it turns over it could still be a battery issue, it could be the cold start system is not working properly (glow plugs/ manifold heater assuming it's a Diesel?) not sure what is fitted to your engine?

Could you perhaps expand the detail on it not starting? Is the battery providing enough power to turn the engine over. When it does start do you get a lot of black smoke? The list of possibilities could be quite long and I would have thought that you need to book it into a Peugeot Commercial garage for them to investigate. I appreciate that motorhomes tend not to do high mileage but a 20 years old I would be surprised if there are not things that need attention. 

David

Hi thanks for coming back to me ,ok it's a Peugeot 2.5turbo diesel , it ran ok till I parked it up a week ago ,then tried to start it turned over good battery ,glow plugs took some time to go out it just turned over and did not fire up battery drained .  AA came out checked over and then sprayed easy start in to manifold started great he said it could be air . Tried it after still won't start.

No record of its service history would be good idea to have a good check over 

By air I assume he means in the fuel, If it runs and drives OK then I would dismiss that for now.  How old is the battery? Although a battery seems good when its turning the starter there is heavy drain on it, sometimes the voltage can drop just below what the engine management system needs to see to start fueling the engine. A modern battery tester will give you a good idea on the condition of the battery.

Although Easy start and other such ether based sprays get an engine started sometimes it's not a good idea to keep using it as it can cause more harm than good. I've seen what continued use and putting too much in can do many times.

Get your battery tested by someone who knows what they are doing and replace it if there is any doubt about it's CCA (Cold Cancking Amps) capacity.  Also just because the pre heat light is coming on it may be the case that the glow plugs are not working, this can be checked, (A good AA man would do/should do this), by checking for a marked  increase in current draw in the Cold start circuit when active, usually done at the relay base with a multi meter.

Let us know how you get on.

Ian

As a non mechanic it's easy for me to speculate what the cause may be but I think that only a qualified service engineer will get to the bottom of the problem. I once had a Peugeot car that became difficult to start and it was the injectors. Whilst motorhomes tend not to do massive mileage they do tend to sit around for months on end which is not really a good idea. Hope you get it sorted.

David

Our campervan had the 1.9 diesel and we had a starting problem that our real proper service man found that two of the glow plugs and one injector was the problem it was fine after they were replaced(i  had them all done)

"that our real proper service man found"  ? 

Not a company that seems to be the norm these days to keep changing things by guess work and ad hoc until the fault gets rectified,then charging for all the the parts and labour even if  numerous guess work parts were not needed

Ps He also keeps some of the vehicles at Beaulieu going

Before I retired a part of my job was hiring and training the company apprentices, I had 25 on books at anyone time on a rolling 3 year Scheme.  I took great pride in teaching them that diagnosis was a case of understanding how something worked then comparing that to what you had found. If you didn't know how it worked then you are just winging it. I am old school, having served my apprenticeship with a Rootes dealer, remember them?, Stuff we use to repair or re-kit just gets thrown away now. 

My Son, 32, is still amazed when I repair his car and don't buy a whole new part but just the parts that are needed to fix the existing one. Here's one of my other hobbies, I did a complete Nut & bolt restoration on it in 2009. It's 44 years young