Car will refuse to start

[Terry172]

Last time I drove the car was Saturday night / Sunday morning and parked with nothing wrong

Came out to the car tonight and the bugger wont start!!

1) immobiliser light goes out
2) I normally hear the fuel pump prime but I am getting nothing except a ticking sound from the relay in the engine bay
3) I have tried disconnecting the battery as this helped me in the past but this time nothing
4) the car will turn over but will not fire up....no fuel because the pump hasn't primed and will not run
5) connected the rstuner and there are no error codes...reset an I get an ecu initialising code in red which looking on here means that the battery was disconnected
6) I try the fuel pump actuator test and the pump does nothing, where as before I can hear pump going on and off. Instead I am getting ticking noise from the fuel relay
7) I have checked all fuses in the engine bay and beside the glove box
8) maybe unrelated but just incase..I stupidly used my other key which I have not used for ages and left it in the ignition (not switched on) while I was on the phone and then tried to start the car....could this have caused a problem some where?

Help will be much appreciated before I give up on French cars for good and sell it/break it

 

[Terry172]

Forgot to add I tried the fuel inertia switch just in case as well

Also when I was changing the battery over a while back now the car would not start and was doing the same thing. When I checked the + terminal I heard something click the other side of the engine and car has started ever since. Tried the same trick tonight and nothing

 

[Terry172]

Just to add things as I remember them....

The last time I drove the car was Sunday afternoon which was a short drive which meant nothing went wrong after the motorway drive before and left over night

Following on from the bit I said about something coming alive/clicked in to life on the drivers side of the engine when playing with the terminals last time I had this problem..... Anybody know of a sensor on that side which does this so I can check it? I am thinking something keeps coming lose which is connected to those wires on the positive and this time it has either broken or come away so no amount of moving those wires is going to change it this time

 

[olliewebbuk]

TDC Sensor?

 

[Dunn]

yea check the TDC on top of the bell housing , undo the 2 10mm bolts iirc and give it a clean up

 

[Terry172]

Cheers lads I will add that to the list of checking as well

So far I am going to;

1) Replace the 5A fuse in the bay incase the one I have is faulty
2) Swap over the 3 black relays in the bay to see if the fuel relay is faulty
3) Check the TDC sensor
4) Check the earth points. I only know of the battery one and gearbox one....where are the others located?
5) Direct 12v feed to the pump to check the pump primes

Anymore ideas please let me know

 

[TheEvilGiraffe]

Give the inertia switch a hefty wallop

Immob or fuel relay at a guess ?

 

[Terry172]

Thanks to the english weather the last couple of nights, I have not been able to get out and work on the car ..... the only thing I managed to do before the heavens opened was swap the 5A fuse over lol.

Will work on it this evening hopefully and get it fixed before the MOT tomorrow, which atm I will be cancelling in the morning.....

 

[olliewebbuk]

You not got a garage or a friend with one Terry172? I'm sure there might be a member local to you who might let you borrow their dry area for a few cans. All you can do is ask I guess.

 

[Terry172]

You not got a garage or a friend with one Terry172? I'm sure there might be a member local to you who might let you borrow their dry area for a few cans. All you can do is ask I guess.

Unfortunately I don't have one and my friends one is back up in Croydon..... plus I have no way of transporting it there, tbh if I was going to transport it any where then I would drop it off to a specialist and be done with it lol

 

[olliewebbuk]

Buy a cheap gazebo in the B&Q sale?

 

[Terry172]

Buy a cheap gazebo in the B&Q sale?

That's not a bad idea, in fact my g/f's grandad has one so I will borrow that while I try and hunt out the problem.....

 

[olliewebbuk]

They're perfect mate. I'd have one if I didn't live near my parents (they have a huge garage).

 

[Terry172]

Can the tdc sensor or any other sensor in the bay stop the fuel pump from priming?

I have swapped the fuses over, swapped the 3 black relays around and still the pump won't prime!!

Greenflag are on their way to me now just so another pair of eyes can look the car over. Will report back afterwards, fingers crossed they find the problem, fix it and me is happy again

 

[Terry172]

Right boys and girls the car is up and running again.

He checked the fuses - all good
Checked if it was fuel related by spraying fuel directly in to the throttle body and turning it over, car tried to start so we knew there was a spark
Checked the pump by giving it a 12v feed, car started and promptly died after the 12v feed was stopped
Checked the inertia switch and all seemed ok
Checked the relays - all good
Circuit the wires attached to the relay board and we have found there must be a loose wire because when he was moving it around the fuel circuit became live and the fuel pump primed and the car started

Taken the car out for a drive and fingers crossed all stays ok until I can get the relay board rewired

If you have home start defo get them out unless you have everything including fuel in a can to test everything

 

[Correy]

Where did you measure the 12v feed ? As I need to do this on mine ?

Cheerz Correy

 

[Terry172]

Where did you measure the 12v feed ? As I need to do this on mine ?

Cheerz Correy

Locate the fuel pump under the back seat. Unclip the wire connector and with the ignition on test the wires to see if you get a 12v reading. If you do then try and get a 12v feed directly to the pump to see if the pump primes this then let's you know if it's the pump or the connector block it self playing up. If you don't then check your wiring underneath the relay board to see if you get a 12v output from the output of the relay

 

[Correy]

Ah okay mate thanx for the tip will do it tomoz

Cheerz Correy