2008 Citroen Berlingo engine turns over ok but does not fire up, although switched off the headlights and windscreen wipers come on

Has the vehicle been serviced and filters changed ? battery at full voltage and cranking speed ?

The annual service is due next month, the mileage is 110,000, the instrument display does not show any faults apart from the yellow triangle, After several attempts to start with no success the rev counter did not move off zero when turning over so I recharged the battery to fully charged and initially it would not fire but after 3 or 4 attempts it fired OK and then behaved as normal. I took it for a short drive with no problems, stopped and left it for about 45 minutes and when restarting the electrics behaved as discussed below but the engine immediately fired up.
The symptoms are quite confusing, when the ignition key is initially turned to position 1, the display shows "economy mode" and, even though the lights are switched off, the side lights come on. When the key is then turned to position 2 to start, the engine turns over and the headlights come on. After several seconds turning over with no ignition, when the key is returned to position 1, engine stops turning, the headlights are turned off, the windscreen wipers give a single swipe and continue to operate until the key is turned to the off position when the sidelights are then turned off. When the engine does fire, the lights and windscreen wipers operate as normal.

Going into Eco mode is usually caused by a low battery . Despite charging it wont hold a charge if any weak cells . A faulty crank sensor will cause your intermittent starting / non starting .

Thanks for the responses - the battery was renewed earlier this year so I guess it will be the crank sensor that's causing the problems. Still confused by the symptoms though. Thanks again

You may have more than one fault . Even though your battery was replaced earlier in the year , never assume it is o.k without LOAD testing . It would be my first check

I had this problem changed the glow plugs and it fires straight up even on cold mornings

Thanks for the replies - eventually the fault was identified as a faulty bsi unit coupled with a faulty comms unit causing the immobiliser to kick in. A new bsi unit with a used comms unit have now been fitted and the engine now starts OK

Glow plugs may have solved your problem starting but have no relevance to the posters fault with the headlights and wipers coming on as well on non starting . As post above , the member replied with the cause and remedy for his non start