conundrum/opportunity/nightmare involving a DB7 V12 Vantage
Discussion
N7GTX said:
The passenger side airbag cover is hanging down. I assumed it may have gone off or, now more likely given your update about the bumper, perhaps someone thought it was the glovebox and forced it open? If so, a minor fix.
N7GTX apologies somehow I missed this post of yours - and thank you 
Hi everyone! Sorry to have gone quiet for a bit. I am just waiting for my Barn to be emptied so I can bring the 'Ston back from where it is nestling in someone else's barn. It can't be worked on there so I have to have it here for that.
In the meantime I'll get hold of one of those gadgets that N7G suggested, and whatever else may be needed to do that particular test on the fuel pumps. If that works then we may well be away!
I'll be back!
Best wishes to all
In the meantime I'll get hold of one of those gadgets that N7G suggested, and whatever else may be needed to do that particular test on the fuel pumps. If that works then we may well be away!
I'll be back!
Best wishes to all
Breaking news one and all!!!
Firstly ... contrary to the evidence of my extended absence I am neither dead nor interred somewhere or otherwise discommoded ...
Finally ... the person who was using my Barn has hoofed their stuff out ... and I've hoofed my stuff out as well ...
And there was an unexpected result!!
It's a Christmas Miracle! I've found the Holy Grail!!
The plan is to transport the 'Ston to said Barn first thing in January ... and then do the clever thing with the fuel pump relay ... Time will tell!
Firstly ... contrary to the evidence of my extended absence I am neither dead nor interred somewhere or otherwise discommoded ...
Finally ... the person who was using my Barn has hoofed their stuff out ... and I've hoofed my stuff out as well ...
And there was an unexpected result!!
It's a Christmas Miracle! I've found the Holy Grail!!
The plan is to transport the 'Ston to said Barn first thing in January ... and then do the clever thing with the fuel pump relay ... Time will tell!
Hello everyone and a Very Happy New Year to you 
It's been a while, so here's a quick recap ...
Early 2018 the Aston DB7 V12 Vantage went off to the original dealer to be sold on ... while there it was seized by creditors' agents with me none the wiser ... after a month of failing to get hold of the dealer I reported it stolen and the police tracked it down to a chop shop in Derby, with its bumper and wings off and the windscreen out, and looking very poorly.
Forward three years of monthly phone calls
the police finally released the car back to me ... we didn't realise the extent of the damage so had it delivered to a garage who we hoped would tidy it up for sale for a few quid and everybody's happy ... sadly, no ... a very painful and stressful fortnight later I had the poor thing retrieved from the garage and brought up here
BUT!!! by then my Barn was full of someone's entire household possessions, as they were staying at mine 'between houses' ... the UK housing market being what it is, the Aston ended up housed in someone else's Barn, cosily next to the pen full of sheep and the wood store - for 9 months!
FINALLY my friend moved out and their stuff got taken away ... next up - get the Aston into my Barn ... should've been simple ... oh no ...
First, I turned up at the other Barn without the key and had to hair back in my small-but-scrappy silver Honda Insight Mk1 at breakneck speed to get the key - possibly the most exciting part of my Winter experience, I couldn't stop talking very loudly highly adrenalised for a good 84 minutes ... 1980s flashbacks abounded
Got the car loaded up and off they went - here it is rounding the corner
And here's the slope he then had to reverse up with 2 tons of vehicle on the trailer, and the narrow track he had to negotiate to the Barn
He and his trusty assistant managed to do this, with much pulling forward and reversing and edging along - by this time it was getting dark ...
And then, after what is now 5 years since the Aston went off to be sold, and several journeys up and down the land and being stored in several different places, just when we thought we were there - the bloody thing wouldn't go in the Barn! There's a 2 inch lip on the way in and the driver, his assistant, me and my friend couldn't get the damn thing in! After much rocking back and forth, and of the car too, and cursing and theorising and application of wood blocks, bits of plastic etc - I walked round the corner and recruited a neighbour who willingly joined us with the words 'I'll have to hold back because I have a hernia at the moment ...' ouch! We all set to again, now 5 of us with just the one hernia between us but prognosis not good for further damage ... - no good ... so I called round and got another neighbour to leave off his festive festivities to bumble down and join - and we did it! hurrah!!
Phew!
Next up ... my secret genius friend is coming down to see if we can't get the fuel pumps pumping or feeling of whatever it is they do and then we'll see!
Honestly I can't wait to hear that gorgeous throaty engine fire up once again - I'll have to hold myself back severely to not buckle and decide to keep the old girl - don't let me do that!!
Stay tuned ...
It's been a while, so here's a quick recap ...
Early 2018 the Aston DB7 V12 Vantage went off to the original dealer to be sold on ... while there it was seized by creditors' agents with me none the wiser ... after a month of failing to get hold of the dealer I reported it stolen and the police tracked it down to a chop shop in Derby, with its bumper and wings off and the windscreen out, and looking very poorly.
Forward three years of monthly phone calls
the police finally released the car back to me ... we didn't realise the extent of the damage so had it delivered to a garage who we hoped would tidy it up for sale for a few quid and everybody's happy ... sadly, no ... a very painful and stressful fortnight later I had the poor thing retrieved from the garage and brought up here BUT!!! by then my Barn was full of someone's entire household possessions, as they were staying at mine 'between houses' ... the UK housing market being what it is, the Aston ended up housed in someone else's Barn, cosily next to the pen full of sheep and the wood store - for 9 months!
FINALLY my friend moved out and their stuff got taken away ... next up - get the Aston into my Barn ... should've been simple ... oh no ...
First, I turned up at the other Barn without the key and had to hair back in my small-but-scrappy silver Honda Insight Mk1 at breakneck speed to get the key - possibly the most exciting part of my Winter experience, I couldn't stop talking very loudly highly adrenalised for a good 84 minutes ... 1980s flashbacks abounded
Got the car loaded up and off they went - here it is rounding the corner
And here's the slope he then had to reverse up with 2 tons of vehicle on the trailer, and the narrow track he had to negotiate to the Barn
He and his trusty assistant managed to do this, with much pulling forward and reversing and edging along - by this time it was getting dark ...
And then, after what is now 5 years since the Aston went off to be sold, and several journeys up and down the land and being stored in several different places, just when we thought we were there - the bloody thing wouldn't go in the Barn! There's a 2 inch lip on the way in and the driver, his assistant, me and my friend couldn't get the damn thing in! After much rocking back and forth, and of the car too, and cursing and theorising and application of wood blocks, bits of plastic etc - I walked round the corner and recruited a neighbour who willingly joined us with the words 'I'll have to hold back because I have a hernia at the moment ...' ouch! We all set to again, now 5 of us with just the one hernia between us but prognosis not good for further damage ... - no good ... so I called round and got another neighbour to leave off his festive festivities to bumble down and join - and we did it! hurrah!!
Phew!
Next up ... my secret genius friend is coming down to see if we can't get the fuel pumps pumping or feeling of whatever it is they do and then we'll see!
Honestly I can't wait to hear that gorgeous throaty engine fire up once again - I'll have to hold myself back severely to not buckle and decide to keep the old girl - don't let me do that!!
Stay tuned ...
Yes I have successfully found not one but two barns! Thank you for the humour, definitely needed in regard to this project ... So - update! My secret genius friend (SGF) popped down on Monday and we spent a happy couple of hours in the freeeeezing Barn trying to start the car and failing that to find out why not ... short answer, it didn't even crank 
BUT it turned out that all the body parts are there - and the allegedly missing glove box cover is in fact intact
and the interior is in beautiful nick - honestly I'd forgotten just how MAGNIFICENT this beautiful car is - breathtaking
Anyway - here's what we did - (dictated to me by SGF so I could post it here :-) )
We attached a battery
All the lights came up on the dash - yay
We put the car in park
We bypassed relays by bridging the two terminals in the fuse box in the boot to feed power direct to the pumps
We checked that was live with the ignition on
We listened to the fuel filler - no sound - and no vibration when a hand was placed on the pumps
Unplugged pumps directly at the top of the tank - we had 12V there - after 3 or 4 seconds this went down to 6V (is this supposed to happen?)
I'm not 100% sure what we discovered by doing all this ... but in any case it didn't crank or fire up or anything
Question - does anybody know how hard it is to get the petrol tank out? in case we find we need to do that?
Thanks very much in advance for any and all insights/questions - seriously everything is very much appreciated
Oh! PS here's a nice pic of the engine ...
Wishing everyone a warm cosy evening with favourite beverages
BUT it turned out that all the body parts are there - and the allegedly missing glove box cover is in fact intact
and the interior is in beautiful nick - honestly I'd forgotten just how MAGNIFICENT this beautiful car is - breathtaking
Anyway - here's what we did - (dictated to me by SGF so I could post it here :-) )
We attached a battery
All the lights came up on the dash - yay
We put the car in park
We bypassed relays by bridging the two terminals in the fuse box in the boot to feed power direct to the pumps
We checked that was live with the ignition on
We listened to the fuel filler - no sound - and no vibration when a hand was placed on the pumps
Unplugged pumps directly at the top of the tank - we had 12V there - after 3 or 4 seconds this went down to 6V (is this supposed to happen?)
I'm not 100% sure what we discovered by doing all this ... but in any case it didn't crank or fire up or anything
Question - does anybody know how hard it is to get the petrol tank out? in case we find we need to do that?
Thanks very much in advance for any and all insights/questions - seriously everything is very much appreciated
Oh! PS here's a nice pic of the engine ...
Wishing everyone a warm cosy evening with favourite beverages
To remove the fuel tank you can download the repair manual here: https://en.aston-martin-club.com/manual_download.p...
12v at the pumps but no sound or vibration means they are probably seized up. In a working system, you turn the key to ignition on - 12v. You can hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds. Then the power is cut. This is to prime the fuel system ready for a start. You turn the key to the start position and once again 12v is supplied to the pumps and the car starts.
No need to bypass the relays or fuse box. A good battery and simply test for 12v at the pump connector to prove the electrics are good. If the engine wont crank you need to check for 12v at the small wire on the starter motor.
Presumably you have tried and managed to turn the engine by hand?
12v at the pumps but no sound or vibration means they are probably seized up. In a working system, you turn the key to ignition on - 12v. You can hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds. Then the power is cut. This is to prime the fuel system ready for a start. You turn the key to the start position and once again 12v is supplied to the pumps and the car starts.
No need to bypass the relays or fuse box. A good battery and simply test for 12v at the pump connector to prove the electrics are good. If the engine wont crank you need to check for 12v at the small wire on the starter motor.
Presumably you have tried and managed to turn the engine by hand?
Edited by Viper201 on Wednesday 11th January 17:25
Viper201 said:
To remove the fuel tank you can download the repair manual here: https://en.aston-martin-club.com/manual_download.p...
12v at the pumps but no sound or vibration means they are probably seized up. In a working system, you turn the key to ignition on - 12v. You can hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds. Then the power is cut. This is to prime the fuel system ready for a start. You turn the key to the start position and once again 12v is supplied to the pumps and the car starts.
No need to bypass the relays or fuse box. A good battery and simply test for 12v at the pump connector to prove the electrics are good. If the engine wont crank you need to check for 12v at the small wire on the starter motor.
Presumably you have tried and managed to turn the engine by hand?
Viper thank you very much that's very kind and helpful 12v at the pumps but no sound or vibration means they are probably seized up. In a working system, you turn the key to ignition on - 12v. You can hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds. Then the power is cut. This is to prime the fuel system ready for a start. You turn the key to the start position and once again 12v is supplied to the pumps and the car starts.
No need to bypass the relays or fuse box. A good battery and simply test for 12v at the pump connector to prove the electrics are good. If the engine wont crank you need to check for 12v at the small wire on the starter motor.
Presumably you have tried and managed to turn the engine by hand?
Edited by Viper201 on Wednesday 11th January 17:25
I'll confer on those points at this end and come back ...In other news ... I forgot to mention these other points ...
In the fuse box the bottom middle relay is missing (number 16) - we think this might be something to do with the manual gearbox, which of course this car is auto so maybe it was never there?
And there's a weird thing with the driver's window only moving a few mm with the button held down. And needing repeat applications of button to move in mm steps. Any idea about that?
Mystery mystery!
Thank you as ever for any all comments and suggestions
If you are lucky it may just be that the window guides where the glass moves up and down is too tight and restricting the motor. Squirt some WD40 into the guide grooves and try.
If not, more likely the control unit in the door is faulty. Early DB7s used one type of unit and later ones another. They are available and much more reliable now. New ones are NOT cheap.
The part number is in this link if you need to search for a second hand one: https://astonmartinbits.com/models/1-DB7/parts/173...
If not, more likely the control unit in the door is faulty. Early DB7s used one type of unit and later ones another. They are available and much more reliable now. New ones are NOT cheap.
The part number is in this link if you need to search for a second hand one: https://astonmartinbits.com/models/1-DB7/parts/173...
AM4884 said:
what was the voltage at the battery when it went to 6v at the pump?
Sounds like a really weak battery (or frozen pumps, but I'd bet battery first).
I hope not! The OP has a 'secret genius' to help so fingers crossed they know about electrics and did actually test the battery and read the voltages both before and after. I sincerely hope that it was a good condition and fully charged battery with sufficient cold cranking amps and amp/hour rating for the car.Sounds like a really weak battery (or frozen pumps, but I'd bet battery first).
OP - please say yes!
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