172 suspected electrical fault

[-Ant-]

Hello Cliosport

I have recently picked this up from my cousin for good money as it refuses to start at the moment

Here is the back story of how it became nothing more than a lump of steel..

My cousin took it for a spin and then suddenly it just cut out and wouldn't fire up. Diagnostics flagged up the throttle body (feed 10 or something??) so they replaced that with a second hand unit but still had no luck starting it. Diagnostics were done a second time but now they couldn't communicate with the throttle body.

From the story he told me it sounds as if a wire has broken somewhere in the loom.

I have scanned for fault codes myself using an elm reader but that showed nothing.

Here is a video of what happens when I try start her up. Notice when I first turn the ignition on the immobiliser doesn't disengage, a second turn deactivates it. Could this be a root of the issue?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDzjwUwLQrg

Has anyone come across a similar problem before?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

​
Cheers
Ant

 

[MicKPM]

Flashing STOP light indicates a level 2 failure... check ALL the fuses and relays first.

Mick

 

[-Ant-]

Thank you for the reply Mick.

I checked the fuses and relays as you suggested. All the fuses were fine, however I did find a duff relay. The black one nearest the wing (pictured) was faulty.

I replaced this with a functioning one but no luck with start up.

You mentioned this is a 'level 2 failure'. Can you explain what that means in the great scheme of things?


Cheers
​Ant

 

[MicKPM]

It means the cars network is passing the system checks but theres still an issue... normally a relay not switching.

Really a diagnostic session is in order to put an accurate finger on whats wrong.

 

[-Ant-]

Okay. So is it not worth going at the loom checking continuities or will I be pissing in the wind?

 

[MicKPM]

Until you know exactly what is wrong what are you going to look for and more importantly where?

 

[levaz]

earth strap in passenger wheel arch.

Happened to me, Renault robbed me £200 to fix a 10 inch strip of wire :dead:

 

[mattjk]

if its an earth just try putting a jump lead across to the hoist hook and see if that solves it.

 

[-Ant-]

Until you know exactly what is wrong what are you going to look for and more importantly where?

Well I was going to start at the throttle body as that's where previous diagnostics pointed too.

earth strap in passenger wheel arch.

Happened to me, Renault robbed me £200 to fix a 10 inch strip of wire :dead:

if its an earth just try putting a jump lead across to the hoist hook and see if that solves it.

​I will check out this earth strap before I do anything else.

 

[mattjk]

i know the one he means by the front gearbox mount. just connect a jump lead and see if it solves it, if nothing changes then its not that. If it does happy days and look at a more permanent solution.

£200 to diagnose and replace an earth isnt too bad may have taken a few hours.

 

[levaz]

i know the one he means by the front gearbox mount. just connect a jump lead and see if it solves it, if nothing changes then its not that. If it does happy days and look at a more permanent solution.

£200 to diagnose and replace an earth isnt too bad may have taken a few hours.

TBH, the price breakdown on the invoice is fair (sort of) once you take the time to find the fault into consideration.
Was more pissed I didn't spot it myself before though, as the bill was something like:

£80 - Clip diagnostics scan
£70 - Hours labour
£14 - earth strap
+ VAT

Its just the fact the if I'd have looked more thoroughly, I'd have spotted it myself, thus saving a large sum.

 

[loggyboy]

earth strap in passenger wheel arch.

Happened to me, Renault robbed me £200 to fix a 10 inch strip of wire :dead:

An loose earth strap caused a near identical problem on mine. The strap on mine was one hidden away at the back of the gearbox that had come loose. Well worth a check before money is spent elsewhere.

 

[levaz]

Also to note from OP.

Mine cut out whilst driving, been good as gold for 200 miles that day. Parked up for 5 mins maybe, jumped back in, did 600 yards, cut and refused to start.
It was giving all sorts of errors, uncoded keys, immobiliser issues, injector problems.

 

[-Ant-]

For you guys with the earthing problem - did it turn over, just not fire?

 

[levaz]

yea, turned over for 4-5 seconds then cut, key out, key in, turns for 5 seconds, cut.

 

[-Ant-]

I checked the earth strap in the passenger wheel arch. It was very green and corroded on the body end so cleaned that up. I also checked the loom earth on the rear of the gearbox which was fine but It still refused to fire. Are there any other earthing points to check?