Turning over but won't start. VIDEO

[Prohibiting]

Hi all,

I'm hoping you can help diagnose this please. I've just tried my Clio 172 and it won't start (it struggled last week too after several attempts). The battery is strong as you can hear and it's trying to turn over but now completely not starting. Am I right to assume this is the starter motor or fuel pump? It had new spark plugs, coil pack, injectors and HT leads 2 months which rules those out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOqU2At6ocQ&fe...

Thoughts?

[poppopbangbang]

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/Cambiare%20Tips%20...

As a temp fix you can bend the pins on the CPS outward slightly to improve the connection with the worn terminals in the connector.

[GreenV8S]

Prohibiting said:

Am I right to assume this is the starter motor or fuel pump?

It's spinning over quite briskly, so safe to say the starter and battery are OK.

No reason to assume the fuel pump is OK since this has nothing to do with the engine cranking over.

Prohibiting said:

It had new spark plugs, coil pack, injectors and HT leads 2 months which rules those out.

Why has it had all those parts? What was the last thing done immediately before the problem started?

[Prohibiting]

poppopbangbang said:

http://www.partinfo.co.uk/files/Cambiare%20Tips%20...

As a temp fix you can bend the pins on the CPS outward slightly to improve the connection with the worn terminals in the connector.

Thanks, my friend who has a Clio 172 cup thinks it is this fault too. He said it happened to him and he pulled his off and simply cleaned it.

GreenV8S said:

Prohibiting said:

Am I right to assume this is the starter motor or fuel pump?

It's spinning over quite briskly, so safe to say the starter and battery are OK.

No reason to assume the fuel pump is OK since this has nothing to do with the engine cranking over.

Prohibiting said:

It had new spark plugs, coil pack, injectors and HT leads 2 months which rules those out.

Why has it had all those parts? What was the last thing done immediately before the problem started?

It was misfiring badly 2 months ago so I wanted all those bits refreshed. Plus I was taking it to a track day 3 days later so didn't have time to change one bit at a time, see if it works, change another etc.

[E-bmw]

Check for a spark at the plugs.

Listen to hear if the fuel pump is priming before the final turn of the key to start.

Check to see if the plugs are wet with petrol after trying to start.

Have a compression test done.

[Prohibiting]

Update. I cleaned the original crank shaft sensor and it made no difference. I ordered a new crank shaft sensor and fitted that.... no difference.

Can someone explain to a novice the best way of checking for spark and fuel?

[E-bmw]

E-bmw said:

Check to see if the plugs are wet with petrol after trying to start.

AKA - Test for fuel

[E-bmw]

Test for spark -

Pull the HT lead/coil off a plug, plug a spare spark plug/one off the car into it & rest it against the engine so that the metal part of the plug is resting on good earthed metal & try to start the car whilst looking closely (dark garage is best) for sparks between the plug electrodes.

[poppopbangbang]

Prohibiting said:

Update. I cleaned the original crank shaft sensor and it made no difference. I ordered a new crank shaft sensor and fitted that.... no difference.

Can someone explain to a novice the best way of checking for spark and fuel?

The issue with the crank shaft sensor is due to the plug on the loom, not the sensor itself. Have you changed the crank sensor for the later one and swapped the connector on the loom accordingly (as the pins/key way is different between new and old)? The new spec one will be blue rather than black.

If you've just fitted a new crank sensor it's likely there could still be a broken terminal in the plug. If you have no spark then the most likely failure is the crank sensor assuming you have power at the coil and you can check that easily with a multi-meter.

[Prohibiting]

poppopbangbang said:

The issue with the crank shaft sensor is due to the plug on the loom, not the sensor itself. Have you changed the crank sensor for the later one and swapped the connector on the loom accordingly (as the pins/key way is different between new and old)? The new spec one will be blue rather than black.

If you've just fitted a new crank sensor it's likely there could still be a broken terminal in the plug. If you have no spark then the most likely failure is the crank sensor assuming you have power at the coil and you can check that easily with a multi-meter.

Yes fitted the new loom as well by cutting the old one off and used solder sleeves to connect the new one.

Anyway, to update again I called my RAC to come out. Problem solved... he found a dodgy relay connection in the engine fuse box. Pulled it out, cleaned the connectors, engine started first time.... all good now