Car wont start, need to know what lights come on YOUR car dash upon starting

[Owen.C]

Hi there. I've had some problem with my K4J Clio in that it wont start. I'm going to give the TDC sensor a clean tomorrow so hopefully that solves it. However I've become a bit paranoid about what lights come on the dash when turning over the starter motor after watching some youtube videos of my car which don't have these lights.

When I turn over the car the ABS and SERV light come on but go back off when I stop turning the car over and just on ingnition. So if anyone has a MK2 ph1 clio laying around I'd like to know if this is the same deal as your car or whether this indicates other faults that would stop my car starting.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

Owen.C

 

[coolspot007007]

This may or may not help but I had the same symptoms, a new braided earth lead for the gearbox sorted that. Easy to identify, use a jump lead to clean metal on the box and to earth and see if it helps or test earth resistance with a meter. Once I got rid of those lights and it still wouldn't start I tried a second hand TDC sensor and it was intermittent. I got the new style TDC sensor (blue plug with loom) and it started first time, it's worth giving the tdc wires a wiggle while trying to start it as my plug had broken up inside.

 

[Owen.C]

Hmm that's interesting. So your ABS light came on while turning over (not starting) and then you replaced the earth and it still wouldn't start but the lights didn't come on anymore.

I wonder if just the faulty earth would stop it starting.

 

[Owen.C]

Hmm, replaced the TDC and now jump starting it from a DCI 80. Which solved the ABS light but it still wont start. I can here the fuel pump prime but with lack of a spark plug remover I'm not going to have much luck checking for a spark or fuel.

s**t.

 

[Owen.C]

Ok next plan of action is replacing the engine control relay, I believe it does the spark plugs and injectors which would stop it firing even if I can hear the fuel pump.

Apparently there's 3 relays, one for Engine control, one for starter motor (obv fine) and one for radiator fan (presumably works, never heard it come on though). Is it fine just to plug the fan into engine relay and test it? Never messed around with this sort of stuff before.

 

[coolspot007007]

Just swap the 3 relays around and see if it helps, it didn't help with mine. I bought 3 from Halfords which came to about £30 (wanted to check them ASAP) to completely rule them out, then just took them back. You can get them from RS much cheaper, but my local one is miles away. Was it the full replacement blue TDC with the bit of loom? Externally my connector looked a bit shabby but ok, inside it was in bits meaning one of the pins just pushed back instead of connecting.

 

[Owen.C]

No it wasn't a blue one but the connectors looked immaculate. I'll revisit the TDC with new plug and the blue model once I've swapped relays over. Really need to get the plugs out to see if they're wet and or sparking and that should help me out a lot.

Hopefully the tool isn't too much of a problem to get a hold of.

 

[daveypower]

check for fuel and spark first, when turning the car over lossen the nut on the end of the fuel pressure rail to see if fuel is coming through, check spark plugs visualy and check leads using the screwdriver method in the lead, also you could have a bare wire that has shorted against the engine block or engine bay etc and has blown a fuse, this is one of the first things to look at, check your main fuses, id put my money on a blown fuse for fuel. go through each one if your not sure.

If it is a fuse then it could have failed, or you will have to find that bare wire because it will blow again.

 

[Owen.C]

Yeah looks like it. Gunna have to find a torx set and spark plug socket.


Just to confirm my ABS light illuminates when using my battery but jump starting it makes it go away. Could this just be a slightly flat battery or would an earthing fault on my car stop it being jump started?

 

[Owen.C]

Ok so I sent it off to see what a garage says and they tell me that the immobiliser is switching off the dash light but isn't disarming the immobiliser so no spark. They haven't been able to locate a dodgy wire anywhere and now advise to send the ECU off to have the immobiliser removed Does that all make sense?

Such a strange and now quite expensive problem.

 

[daveypower]

its easy to check for no spark mate, are you getting fuel though? listen just check all your fuses under dash and engine bay, 1 by one if your not sure.

 

[Owen.C]

Might be no fuel as well I'm not sure. But the guy who tested it says the immobiliser is being deactivated at the switch (and thus dash light goes off) but it's still showing as active on output of ECU via diagnostics. So a wiring fault somewhere but after checking the easy and likely places it will be cheaper to bypass it than to keep tracing it and fixing. Fuel pump was working and I changed relays before sending it off.

 

[MicKPM]

Sounds like a cop out to me but just my 10p worth.

Don't remove the immobiliser, please. Anyone with a screwdriver and a brain cell will be able to gain entry and drive your car away in seconds if you do.