2003 1.2SE struggles to start if left for more than a day or two

[tobyd]

Hi,
The Micra seems to be running well and has sailed through it's MOT without any advisories. The only issue I have is that if the car is not driven for a couple of days it can take lots of cranking to get it started. It is as though all the fuel in the system has drained back to the tank. After a lots of cranking it starts with a pull of smoke and then runs fine again.
It's only happened a couple of times as the car gets a lot of use but does anyone know what it could be?
Cheers

 

[john2175]

Hi There

I had a similar issue , i tried the diagnostic tool and the usual camshaft sensor etc came up , but alas it was the chain which had stretched , hope this isn't your case but it sounds very familiar when they initially start to stretch starting becomes a problem and randomly.