Method for starting a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for starting a multi-cylinder internal combustion engine (1), in particular of a motor vehicle, in the forward direction, wherein the position of a piston (2) in a cylinder (3) of the engine (1) is ascertained, and fuel is injected into a combustion chamber (4) of the particular cylinder (3) whose piston (2) is in a working phase. To make it possible to start the engine reliably without an electric starter, independently of the position of the pistons (2) in the cylinders (3) before the starting process (14), it proposed that the engine (1) is first moved in the reverse direction, by the injection of fuel into a combustion chamber (4) of at least one cylinder (3) whose piston (2) is—viewed in the forward direction—in a compression phase, and the fuel compressed in the combustion chamber (4) of the at least one cylinder (3) is ignited, and the rotary motion in the reverse direction comes to a stop before the bottom dead center (UT) of the pistons (2) of the at least one cylinder (3) is reached, and that the engine (1) is then started in the forward direction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.