206 not starting - BSI and ECU fix

[mikeyr]

Thought I’d post this as might prove helpful to other Pug drivers – saved me several hundred quid. I only assisted in the process and judging by the yelps and swearing coming from the footwell its quite a tight space to be working in.

Note that this only applies to the pre multiplex cars (before Sept 2001, identified by the skinny volume stalk on the steering column) as later versions apparently need a careful shut down procedure and are prone to issues with jumpstarting.

Car – 206 GTI 138

Symptoms – car wouldn’t start; same symptoms as a flat battery, starter motor turning ok. Tried jump starting and other tricks to no avail. The AA fault code read it as an immobiliser problem. Towed to Peugeot garage who diagnosed a BSI fault, they couldn’t get it to communicate at all. The quote for a new BSI and ECU was £542 plus the £75 diagnostic fee…).

Solution – locate a same era ECU and BSI for that specific model (the two are linked to each other and won’t work independently). It also came with the key fob, very handy for getting the car to run! Managed to find the only one on ebay for £86 all in.
Disconnect battery

• BSI is held on a plate by the front strut and has rounded bolts to prevent removal. We went with a high tech solution which involved breaking the BSI plate with combination of pliers and a chisel. Judging by the bolt holes on the replacement part this is a common mode of removal, it’s now held in place using a strategically placed cable tie!
• ECU is under the steering column, you have to remove the bottom piece of trim in the footwell, then the ECU unit has a couple of screws which need taking out, the unit then should unslot. Remove the plugs from the old ECU and pop them in the new one before refitting.
• Plug the battery back in.
• Swap the blade from the old keyfob to the new one. We then put in in the ignition, turned it so the dashboard lit up, removed it, locked the car manually, unlocked and then started the car. Don’t know if necessary but it seemed to work.
• Start car whilst praying to the car gods.
• To get the remote central locking working I put a new battery in the fob, repeated the key in ignition/lock routine from above and then the plipper worked.
• I don’t have the radio code for my car so I’ve got to remove it and get the code based on the serial number but other than that car works great.

Might be helpful for someone that is willing to give it a go – for a car I bought for £850 it seemed crazy to spend the same again on a fix from the garage.

Edited by mikeyr on Monday 26th January 11:46

[renorti]

yes that's best way to fix it. buy complete bsi,ecu,key off another peugeot. the whole PSA range suffers with bsi problems 307.407 are common failures.
c3,c4 as well.