X308 Check Engine light

[g.knight710]

Hello all.
I've not posted on the X308 Forum before, and I'm making this post regarding my late Fathers 1997 X308.
It had been parked up and not run for about 4-months, during which time the battery (by now about 7 months old) went completely flat.
I charged the battery for a day, and tried to start it. It churned over fairly slowly (I know the battery needed longer to charge) but it did eventually start and ran reasonable well for a very short while. Then the 'Check engine light' came on and it stopped. I charged the battery for several more days with the negative terminal disconncted. On trying a restart, the 'Check engine light' is still on, and the motor won't start. It doesn't even sound like it's trying to.
Any suggestions from you knowledgeable Folk would be most appreciated!

[andypryce]

I suspect the battery is useless, it may be holding enough to turn the car over for a short time, but these cars need a good battery to start, I would replace that as a starting point.

[g.knight710]

Thanks Andy.
The battery is nearly new, and now fully charged it keeps the motor spinning at a very healthy speed for a long time.
I thought it tried to fire a few times earlier this afternoon, although the Check engine light is still on.
I'll try again tomorrow.

[Dave Eynon]

The engine could well be "flooded" after the short run and subsequent attempts to start it. It may need the excess fuel purging from the combustion chambers. There is a relatively straight forward procedure but it requires a very healthy battery to crank the engine with the fuel pump fuse removed and the accelerator pedal fully depressed for quite a time so as to clear the excess, before replacing the fuse and trying a normal start. Fingers crossed that is all. Then a code reader to find out what the EML relates to.

[andypryce]

True enough, could well be, pull the fuse for the fuel pump and keep cranking it over for a while. The engine light may simply be due to standing for a while, hopefully..

[g.knight710]

Thanks Dave and Andy.

I'll give that a try in the week.
Apologies for the slow reply.

[g.knight710]

Well, it took me a while to get back to it, but I pulled fuses (7 and 22 I think) and gave it several lengthy spins.
This didn't work at the first try, but at least it was 'trying' a little. I decided a set of plugs might be in order, and starting the work to access them after another couple of weeks. Soon after, I thought I'd give the fuses-out technique another try, just on the off chance.
And finally it started, and ran really well. No plugs needed.

Thanks again for the suggestions all.