Hi all.

Odd one this. When my 1.4 is left alone for more than 3 days it struggles like merry hell to start.

It's not battery. It's just whirrs away when you switch the ignition on but then stuggles to catch and get going (if you know what I mean). When it does fire up it sounds like its about to stall so you have to give it some gas. Once its literally gone round the corner (driving) its happy and back to normal.

Best way of describing it, its like the oil has leaked out the engine over the 3 days and returns when you try to get it going again.

Oil level is maintained to maximum so there's plenty in there. Service was only 8k miles ago. It can occur with or without cold spells. It is literally about 3 days for the problem to occur. Frequent driving (ie. less than 2 days) and its absolutely fine - starts on the turn every time.

Any ideas please? Just thinking as its still under warranty (expires may), I might as well get these things sorted! :D

Many thanks,
Ins.

Hello innsy nice to see you again ..when you say oil I take it you actually mean fuel ? when you switch on can you hear the fuel pump priming..If you dont wait for the fuel to pump into an prime the system it will give you the symptoms you are discribing..

spot on phil, our 1.6 does excatly the same on the odd occasion. you need to (when left for an extended period) to just let the car run though the checks before cranking the engine, i suspect that the injectors or connections leak very slightly so the fuel evaporates off over time.
In our case the car will eventually start but sound like a tanks and run very lumpy - a hit on the throttle will clear it but the engine is always flooded by that point so there are plumes of smoke.
wait for the check ok to show on the dash and give it 10 secs then crank (to be sure).
roy

You lot all ought to count yourselfs lucky. When ever I leave my Stilo for more than 48 hours it won't start cos the batterys flat lol.

I didn't think it was oil starvation but was best way to describe it really :)

Never considered the fuel pump before, so will give it time to prime properly in future. Will see how it pans out! Many thanks!