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Fitted the cosworth brake upgrade today, then went out for a test drive, everthing was fine and the brakes felt pretty good. Stopped at the local shop on the way back and then the car wouldn't restart. Fuel pump was priming, engine tunrning over and definately getting a spark, but wouldn't fire.
Ended up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
Ended up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
angus99 said:
Fitted the cosworth brake upgrade today, then went out for a test drive, everthing was fine and the brakes felt pretty good. Stopped at the local shop on the way back and then the car wouldn't restart. Fuel pump was priming, engine tunrning over and definately getting a spark, but wouldn't fire.
Ended up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
Dodgy calipersEnded up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
CHIMV8 said:
angus99 said:
Fitted the cosworth brake upgrade today, then went out for a test drive, everthing was fine and the brakes felt pretty good. Stopped at the local shop on the way back and then the car wouldn't restart. Fuel pump was priming, engine tunrning over and definately getting a spark, but wouldn't fire.
Ended up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
Dodgy calipersEnded up calling the AA. The AA man had a look and tried to start it a few times, by which time the battery was going flat so he connected up his battery pack and then everything went completely dead including the dash lights. After a bit of messing with the wiring above the battery he found the main earth from the battery at fault. Gigling the wire about, just where it goes behind the dash, cycled power on and off (and the Alarm). We eventually Managed to get power back and crank the car over a couple more times but still wouldn't start.
Looks like I've now got two new problems, the orignial starting problem (possibly the imobiliser?) and the dodgy earth cable.
Was hoping to start fitting the coil packs and trigger wheel tomorrow, but looks like i'm going to remove the dash to have a look at this first.
Had a bit more time to think about this and pretty surre its not the immobiliser which caused the original probalem. Had a similar problem before which turned out to be the fuse feeding the ECU. So reckon the ECU is not fully powered up. Another possibility is noise from the coil preventing the ECU seeing the correct RPM. Will plug in the laptop once I get back from work and see if the ECU is working properly.
As for the power drop out issue I think your right and it could be a dodgy earth connection somewhere. Hopefully it won't be too diffucult to trace back the wires. Think I'm going to have to remove the dash top anyway to check what was causing the burning smell and smoke.
As for the power drop out issue I think your right and it could be a dodgy earth connection somewhere. Hopefully it won't be too diffucult to trace back the wires. Think I'm going to have to remove the dash top anyway to check what was causing the burning smell and smoke.
Managed to get power back, plugged the laptop in and ECU data seemed fine, Cleaned plugs (which were wet so definately getting fuel. Tried to start again and still wouldn't start although it almost fired a couple of times.
After a few attempts I noticed the burning smell again which i traced to the earth wiring where it attaches to the chassis, just in front of the gear stick on the passenger side. The chassis bolt was also very hot, so need to check all the earth wires around the dash.
Any other ideas?
After a few attempts I noticed the burning smell again which i traced to the earth wiring where it attaches to the chassis, just in front of the gear stick on the passenger side. The chassis bolt was also very hot, so need to check all the earth wires around the dash.
Any other ideas?
if its hot it means that there must be high resistence, try cleaning up the earth points and it could be that the earth lead has corroded inside and needs replacing, try running a jump lead along the same path and see how it goes.
I'm no expert though so could be somthing totaly different but thats what id be looking at
I'm no expert though so could be somthing totaly different but thats what id be looking at
Gave it once last try this morning before disconnecting the battery earth and installing a new one and it started first time?
Still going to change the eath cable as I think the dodgy earth may be affecting the ECU so it isn't picking up the correct revs from the coil, especially when the battery voaltage is a bit low.
Also have the dash top off (well the two passenger side bolts anyway) the wiring looks fine, but will do a full check once I can get the drvers side bolt off. At least I've found the source of a a couple of irritating rattles caused by loose stuff under the dash.
Still going to change the eath cable as I think the dodgy earth may be affecting the ECU so it isn't picking up the correct revs from the coil, especially when the battery voaltage is a bit low.
Also have the dash top off (well the two passenger side bolts anyway) the wiring looks fine, but will do a full check once I can get the drvers side bolt off. At least I've found the source of a a couple of irritating rattles caused by loose stuff under the dash.
angus99 said:
Managed to get power back, plugged the laptop in and ECU data seemed fine, Cleaned plugs (which were wet so definately getting fuel. Tried to start again and still wouldn't start although it almost fired a couple of times.
Might the engine be flooded now? Starting on full throttle for anything as long as 60 seconds will usually clear this. That said, if you're seeing somke from behind the dash I'd sort that first!Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff