My DBS V12 09MY will not start, any ideas?

[ketPatel]

Hi everyone, picked up a beautiful storm black DBS V!2, took it to works service, had the leather re-trimmed in red, had a detailer depend 5 days at my house restoring the shine to better than factory finish any its an absolute jewel.

Trouble is for some reason it will not start on occasions.. Left it for a week with the battery conditioner plugged in, put the key in, goes through the system check with no error messages and then just doesn't turn over, doesn't been try or choke.

Am baffled, any ideas? happened a few times - left it for a few hours and then magically starts?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Ket.

[V12Vanquish]

Is it manual or automatic, if it's a manual the clutch needs to be pushed in to activate a micro switch, this may need adjusted.

[ketPatel]

Thanks for your reply - its an auto and I'm pressing the brake on key insert like I normally do.

Its strange that there are no signs of battery drainage or error messages. Happened last week when I left it for a week too. Also happened over a 24 hour period too.

I'm clueless..

[DB9VolanteDriver]

The ECU can be finicky as to how you insert and push. If you are using the start method where you push all the way in, in one motion, then maybe you are pausing just a little, thus preventing a start? Or are you using the two step method, which sometimes doesn't work either.

[Fullmel]

Pull fuse no2 in the engine bay fuse box ,then reinsert it if car starts after that take car to get a new tracker system fitted.

[roughrider]

Sensor on the brake pedal????

[AWV12]

ketPatel said:

Hi everyone, picked up a beautiful storm black DBS V!2, took it to works service, had the leather re-trimmed in red, had a detailer depend 5 days at my house restoring the shine to better than factory finish any its an absolute jewel.

Trouble is for some reason it will not start on occasions..

Congrats with your car. Please show us pics, especially of the retrimmed interior (what did it cost? I am considering doing the same to upgrade from the standard and somewhat boring grey/black).

About the starting: you indeed have to put the ECU and press the start button in one single movement to start the car. If you hesitate or do it in 2 steps, it will not.

It indeed also could be the alarm/tracker system in error, preventing the car to start.

Did you read out the OBDII errors? (can you do yourself using a bluetooth OBDII dongle, or ask the dealer to do it).

[hornbaek]

I had that with my V12V when it came back from service. All of a sudden it needed a different "speed" of inserting the ECU. So make a slow and constant movement of the ECU when you insert it whilst pressing the brake nd it will probably work. Alternative, the battery might be too weak to turn the starter motor despite the fact that it has been attached to a conditioner.

[GlynV8]

AWV12 said:

About the starting: you indeed have to put the ECU and press the start button in one single movement to start the car. If you hesitate or do it in 2 steps, it will not.....

.... unless you use the flat finger technique.

That is do not push the ECU in with the tip of your finger but rather the flat of your finger. Using your finger tip you tend to push the ECU in further than you should and then the slot will not light up red and allow you to start the car. Using the flat of your finger you can only push the ECU in until it is flush level, the slot then lights up red and you can then push it again to start the car. It is one of those unique Aston features

[DB9VolanteDriver]

GlynV8 said:

AWV12 said:

About the starting: you indeed have to put the ECU and press the start button in one single movement to start the car. If you hesitate or do it in 2 steps, it will not.....

.... unless you use the flat finger technique.

That is do not push the ECU in with the tip of your finger but rather the flat of your finger. Using your finger tip you tend to push the ECU in further than you should and then the slot will not light up red and allow you to start the car. Using the flat of your finger you can only push the ECU in until it is flush level, the slot then lights up red and you can then push it again to start the car. It is one of those unique Aston features

I could never figure out how to get the button to consistently light up; sometimes it would and other times not. Once I read about the 'flat finger' technique as described in the manual, everything was Ok with the world. Now I can use either the one or two push method reliably (I like having the red light come on).

[L0TT0]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

GlynV8 said:

AWV12 said:

About the starting: you indeed have to put the ECU and press the start button in one single movement to start the car. If you hesitate or do it in 2 steps, it will not.....

.... unless you use the flat finger technique.

That is do not push the ECU in with the tip of your finger but rather the flat of your finger. Using your finger tip you tend to push the ECU in further than you should and then the slot will not light up red and allow you to start the car. Using the flat of your finger you can only push the ECU in until it is flush level, the slot then lights up red and you can then push it again to start the car. It is one of those unique Aston features

I could never figure out how to get the button to consistently light up; sometimes it would and other times not. Once I read about the 'flat finger' technique as described in the manual, everything was Ok with the world. Now I can use either the one or two push method reliably (I like having the red light come on).

^^ this ^^

[AWV12]

Hmmmmm, it seems now I have this same problem: had a normal drive (of around 30 KMs) and then parked the car as always. Two days later, the car will not start. Only startup screen, as always, but not starter motor kicks in.

Battery is still full (to be sure, I put the battery charger also on it for a while), also the spare key does not work, tried slow, fast, etc ways of putting the key in and press start, no error on display shown, but now the yellow engine light seems to stay on after booting, connected a pocket ODBII reader to see if there are any errors: none.

What could be wrong? And more important: how to solve it???

TIA!

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Intermittent key slot would be my guess.

[AWV12]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

Intermittent key slot would be my guess.

Thx, that also can result in the amber engine light not to go off? (or does it normally go off after you started the engine? no ODBII errors).

Is this easy / complex repair for the dealer?

[AWV12]

AWV12 said:

Thx, that also can result in the amber engine light not to go off? (or does it normally go off after you started the engine? no ODBII errors).

Is this easy / complex repair for the dealer?

To be sure, I checked the battery connect switch in the boot (I never us it, and it is behind a plastic cover, so no incidentally pressing should be possible)..........the LED inside the button was OFF, I think that is ok and the way it should be?

I have a (early) 2009 car, so I assume my car does not have a (Yellow/Red) battery reconnect switch under the rear bench (driver side) as is described here: https://www.amoc.org/forum/db9-dbs;-virage/db9-won... ?

Called the dealer and we tried several ways of starting up, but no luck, so it will be shipped off to the dealer today. Since there are no other options to try, we also tried pressing the battery disconnect button, and strangely..........still no (red) light was shown. Might the whole problem be due to a faulty battery disconnect switch???

Keep you posted.

[AWV12]

Good news, the car is back and start as normal again! :-)

Problem was the wiring/switch under the clutch pedal (yes, mine is a Manual DBS :-)), so all is solved now.