Won't turn over

[jeast]

Have just tried to start the Tuscan and the engine won't turn over.

I last started it about 2 weeks ago, only moved it out of the garage, washed it and put it back.

I've also noticed that when the ignition is left on the heater continues to make some sort of noise continuously unless the fan is turned off.

I also have fault code A, which I do not believe to be related (the car has has this since I purchased it), however, the fault code does not dissapear if the ignition is left on, which I think it normally does.

It appears like that there is plenty of power in the battery but when I try to crank the enging I get nothing. I'm pretty sure that there is some sort of power drain as the stereo stops working while trying to crank the engine.

The battery is always on a conditioner.

I've tried searching the previous threads and it would appear that the battery may be at fault, however, there seem to be plenty of power to everyhting else - lights etc, which would seem to rule this out.

I'm hoping that someone will be able to give me a few ideas as to what could be wrong.

[PetrolHeadPete]

99% sure it's battery
Very common set of symptoms
Needs loads of current to crank...like 100 times what the lights take
Fan running is weird
Change battery then recheck IMO

[jeast]

Thanks for the advice. I'll get hold of a set of jump leads and if it works then I'll replace the battery.

[Lucozade]

jeast said:

Thanks for the advice. I'll get hold of a set of jump leads and if it works then I'll replace the battery.

What voltage have you got the conditioner set at. I had mine stupidly on 6V and it killed the battery. Once switched to 12V it was fine.

[Chequred Demon]

Check the engine earth!

Connect a HD jumper cable from the engine exhaust manifold to the battery negative terminal and leave it for a couple of minutes and then turn it over to see if that improves things.

Its worth checking, batteries should not die in this nice warm weather.

[jeast]

Thanks for the advice. Due to wrok commitments I've not had a chance to try and fix it yet.

I started usingt the battery conditioner about 6 months ago (so am sure its on 12 volts) after my first flat battery. I was not sure if the battery was starting to fail at that point and it has finally gone now - I don't know how suddenly they fail.

I'll also try earthing the battery negative to the exhaust manifold - I want to try jumping it first as my garage points down hill (so difficult to push out) and the car is parked in such a way that I could not get the wheel off but can send one of the chidren to connect the jump leads to the Anderson socket!!!

[jeast]

I've spent the last few hours trying to start it and no luck. I've tried jump starting it and connecting the negative terminal of the battery to the exhaust manifold. No change.

I have noticed that the imobiliser light (red one) on the dash board never sems to flash anymore and I'm reasonably sure it used to. I was wondering if this could be in some way connected, although I thought the immobilise only affected the fuel pump? and that the car would stil turnover even if the car was imobilised.

I have checked all the relevant fuses that I can see on the main fuse board in the drivers footwell and everything seems OK.

Any advice or suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks,

Jon

[Shaolin]

I recently had a few odd electrical problems which all traced back to the main fuse (100amp I think) having a crack in it. It was arcing sometimes across the crack and causing lots of unrelated things to act strangley (I thought the pod was dieing). Replace fuse and everything was sorted - might be worth having a look to see if it's ok - can't help more than this as the garage did it, not me.

[PetrolHeadPete]

Is there any solenoid click or does the starter even attempt to turn ?
the 100amp fuse in the plastic box on the starter mounting plate is deffo worth checking if that's the case

[BGB autosport]

Is the fuel pump priming? If not then you might want to investigate the imobiliser.

[jeast]

When you turn the ley all the normal noises are there and I think one of these must be the fuel pump. When you try to crank the engine over nothing happens at all, apart from the stereo resets, whcih suggests a pwer drain somewhere.

There is no click from the solenoid when trying to start it at all.

I also tried bump starting it (although could not get up much speed on the drive) and it did not even try to start.

I have not checked the 100A fuse yet but don't see how it can be this, however, will have a look as soon as possible.

Can anyone tell me where the earth points for the engine / starter motor are located and I'll have a check of those as well (although nothing happened when I connected the negative terminal on the battery to the exhaust manifold.)

If it is the immobiliser, is there anything I can do to check it or is it a specialist job?

[tuscan_thunder]

I think the battery is dead. Had this in the Elise, it appears to be healthy, it's been on a charger etc, but when you try to turn the starter, it won't turn.

All lights, pumps etc operate as they should but starter won't operate.

New battery, job done.

[jeast]

I tried jumping it though the Anderson Connector from the Mondeo and that made no difference. If it was the battery I thought that jumping it like this should have worked???

I also tried jump starting it direct i.e. battery to battery in case there was a problem with the Anderson connector.

Syptoms were unfortunately still the same.

[PetrolHeadPete]

A cracked or highish resistance 100a fuse could explain it...not enough juice to energize solenoid even
Would explain why jump start made no diff
If you have a dmm it's easy enough to measure volts right at the starter when you turn the key

[Jeff J]

It sounds as though your immobiliser has packed in, not being able to crank and no fuel pump running for the first 5 seconds or so when the ignition is switched on, the flashing led indicator will also stop working,this exact thing happened with my Chimaera,they use the same immobiliser and alarm system,have a chat to Carl Baker. http://www.tvruk.tv

[tuscan_thunder]

jeast said:

I tried jumping it though the Anderson Connector from the Mondeo and that made no difference. If it was the battery I thought that jumping it like this should have worked???

I also tried jump starting it direct i.e. battery to battery in case there was a problem with the Anderson connector.

Syptoms were unfortunately still the same.

Not necessary, I've had circumstances where that didn't work but a new battery cured it.

[JamesSim]

I had the same problem with mine recently, it's been laid up for @ 8weeks without anybody near it, new battery fitted some 6 months ago and left on a conditioner.
I removed the bonnet and turned the crank ever so slightly back and forth by hand, turned the key and it burst into life.
Was out in it daily after that and no problems, Mines has been laid up due to waiting on my new slave cylinder, which arrived whilst I was there on holiday, "thanks to Keith Burgees Clever Trevor" this still has to be fitted although it was still driveable by topping up and not having long journeys allowing the fluid to heat and presumably thin, as I had no loss in fluid over the 3 days.


Kind regards,

James.

[jeast]

I had a long chat with Carl Baker (Car and Bike Installations) who spent ages talking me thorugh a dianostic procedure. He is an incredibly patient person - took 3/4s of an hour of his evening explaining which wires and connections to check over the phone. The end result is that it sounds like the imobiliser has packed in.

Hopefully it will all be fixed next week.

[Tokyosi]

I have a similar problem . The battery had run low a week back so I had to jump start the car via the Anderson connector. I then didn't get a chance to use it again til Sunday when once again , as the battery hadn't charged fully, she wouldn't start but when turning the keys you could hear the starter motor clicking. I got a chance last night for a friend to come round and give me a jump start and nothing happened at all - dash lights , doors alarm all operate but she will not turn over at all - no clicking of starter motor. Surely the immoboliser couldn't have just died between sunday and last night. Any suggestions ?

[jeast]

When I spoke to Carl he told me that it was unusual for the imobiliser to die without warning but not unheard of. I've still not been able to find another cause on mine yet, however, 6 days to go until it should be fixed.