Long story short: Top finger gone, fuel pump not activating

[keesiev]

Few weeks ago I wanted to go to work with my griffith and found out the battery was dead. Shouldn't be, but kids turned of the tickle charger. I entered in a sort of roller coaster of stupid actions where things got worse when trying to get the car jump started. Finally ended up with torn connections and a completely dead car. Last week, when I tried to repair the damage, I cut off a part of my finger, so still going strong...
Yesterday I thought to have reconnected the broken connections, but the battery seems to have difficulties to charge and worse, the fuel pump is dead at ignition. I am now thinking it might be the inertia switch, as i have been messing with the electrics, but I cannot find it on my early griff 500 ( I know it is under the dash at the passenger footwell).
Given the previous experiences in this story, I do not want to take any risk to bring more damage to me or my car.
So can anyone describe where the inertia switch is located or what else could be the problem?

Thanks in advance,.

[T1pper]

First job check the battery is good should have at least 12-13 volts at rest and check the terminals are good and tight.
Not a good sign if it was totally dead even if the optimiser was swiched off.

[keesiev]

Checked the battery. It has 14v, so should be ok. In meantime think I found the inertia switch and that did not make a difference either. Maybe start with the fuses now...

[A500TVR]

Hi,

My inertia switch can 'just' be felt if I feel around behind the heater hose within (at the top)of the glove box, there is a 'plunger' type button on the top which I just is the inertia switch part.

Can you hear the Fuel Pump priming when you switch the ignition on? (Before engaging the Starter Motor)

As I am not sure if the priming and inertia switch are linked I will give it a try, plunger up and plunger down, today when I get out to the garage for you to see if the priming does not work when the inertia switch has been activated.

I am sure others here already know the answer to this question though...

Regards

Steve

[keesiev]

In fact nothing is moving, buzzing or whatsoever. No priming of the fuel pump, no tick at the starter motor. I tried some of the buttons at the dash (heater system), but they are dead to. Also when the key is turned fully. Looks like the problem is there, but I cant find a blown fuse. Any suggestions?
Headlights are functioning, locks work, windows work. Rest seems to be dead.

[shoggyraminator]

So to be clear, Does anything work or come on, like dash lights etc? If nothing is working you must have a blown big fuse or bad main connection some where. Also does the battery still show 12-13 od volts when you switxh the head lamps on, or does it drop to only a few volts?

[jimed]

I wonder if the immobiliser hasn't reset itself? There are a few posts about how to do that on here so worth a look - another thought is that the fuse in the main feed to the fuse panel may be disturbed or broken. On the later Griffs it is somewhere in the pile in the footwell but not sure re the older cars -(do they have one?) - no doubt someone will come along and tell us. That fuse (assuming it has one) is normally 80amps and is one of the stamped aluminium ones so can sometimes suffer from cracking and is worth replacing with a better quality one - and make it 100a as well.
Jim
PS Thought here - as it may be classed as non standard do you need to tell the insurer? Not sure but mine was changed and it is in the list of changes that the insurer is Ok with so could be worth noting in case ...

[BliarOut]

Sounds like you need to disconnect the battery, ensure its fully charged then reconnect it. Bringing it up to charge on the car can be unpredictable.

If you do the above you should know the alarm has been properly reset.

Have you locked/ unlocked it on the fob?

[PeteGriff]

jimed said:

I wonder if the immobiliser hasn't reset itself? There are a few posts about how to do that on here so worth a look......
Jim ...

My thoughts also. The immobiliser is a strange animal on the Griffs, can have a mind of its own if not managed correctly. Had some similar gremlins on my 430 pre cat over a year ago, traced it to a dodgy immobiliser connection in the loom of cables around the battery/fuse box area. There was an inline fuse for one of the immobiliser wires which had a poorly terminated connector, I replaced both connectors and relocated wire - no more problems! All the best, Pete

[keesiev]

Solved!
After checking all the fuses I found the one of the instrument lighting to be blown. In one way or another it is linked to the immobiliser and starter motor. So not the fuse that is supposed to do this.
Anyhow, after some hours of messing around in the footwell I heard the v8 sound again

Job done. Thanks for the input!