The Black Button says "No"

[yosini]

I did the really stupid thing the other day of stating how utterly reliable my Cerbera was. Next thing I find is that I try to start it after a month of laying up (quite common during winter for me) and realise that the last time I drove it I must have forgotten to enable the battery isolator afterwards. Pretty much totally flat. Arse. This has happened a few times over the years so I popped the battery on charge overnight after kicking myself. The next day I enthusiastically jumped in, all power looked good, alarm unlocked, interior light welcoming me etc, pressed the black button and nothing happened, not even the dash lights. Arse.

I've disconnected battery, reconnected, armed and disarmed alarm etc. And I most definitely have not fiddled with, knocked, or even looked at in a funny way, the silver key. All other things which should work without the ignition on still do.

Any ideas? Big fuse?

Thanks in advance....

Cheers

Joe

[RUSSELLM]

Can you hear the fuel pump priming, when you turn the ignition on/press the Black button ?

[Granturadriver]

And do you know if the battery is ok?

I had my battery reloaded several times to find out it was finally broken. Ligths etc were working but not enough power to turn the starter which only klicked. A new battery solved the problem.

[yosini]

literally nothing when the button is pressed, no ignition lights, no noises, nada. I'm pretty sure it's not a weak battery because previously when the battery hasn't had enough oomph in it the ignition lights still come on but the starter just clicks and then the car beeps - before I had the isolator fitted I was quite used to recognising the symptoms of a low battery....

What I didn't mention in my first post (it was already a bit long) was that I had a very similar thing the last time it did start; the black button did nothing (same as now, no ignition lights) for a number of presses so I disconnected the battery via the isolator, reconnected and disarmed the alarm and started the whole getting in and starting up process again and it worked fine.

Could the contacts behind my black button be failing, is that a thing? I know sometimes the door ones take a number of presses before they actually do anything - seems like the same thing has happened to my ignition button.

Is there a way of overriding the button to turn the ignition on/engage the starter?

Cheers

Joe

[FarmyardPants]

If your battery has run completely flat, there's a good chance it's goosed. Especially if the car's kept outside in the cold(?)
How old is the battery? Unless it's new, I'd stick a new one in. Good luck!

[ukkid35]

Headlights are strong, but the dash warning lights and buzzer don't come on?

That isn't likely to be the battery, sounds more like some sort of immobiliser

[yosini]

Hi UKKid,

Exactly my thoughts, but I've never had issues with the immobiliser before, is there a way of 'resetting' the whole alarm immobiliser system (other than disconnecting the battery, which I've done and made no difference).

I really don't want to go near the silver key having heard scary things about this voodoo thing before.

Cheers

Joe

[MikeE]

Inertia switch?

[julian64]

Have you tried pressing the red button?

[yosini]

yep, tried pressing red button loads of times too - still nothing.

What's the inertia switch though - that sounds cool....

[MikeE]

Don't know where it is on a Cerb but on a Griffith it's behind the glove box.

Look it up in your handbook?

[tejr]

Dash still lights up with the immobiliser engaged. Doubt its that or the battery. I reckon inertia switch too.

its in the boot, behind the carpet hidden around the petrol cap area.. You might need a torch and look behind the control boxes and upwards. Iirc, it doesn't intuitively look like a switch when you see it either.

[jeremyc]

Try pressing and holding the start button for several seconds. It's been known to work on some cars in the past ....

[yosini]

just checking the manual and apparently the MIL light will come on for a few seconds when the ignition is switched on - I need to check later but I can't recall any lights coming on on the dash at all when i press the black ignition button.

Interesting to look back through the manual again, so simple, I love these cars, no nonsense even down to the manual. Apart from when they won't start....

[spitfire4v8]

Ive got a test sheet I send out to people in cases like this.
I can't post it here as it involves describing a technique to start a car without actually being inside the car so could be used by unscrupulous people, but I can email it you if you want ?

[yosini]

hello Spitfire - I'll try to PM you....

[spitfire4v8]

received .. replied ..

[Byker28i]

jeremyc said:

Try pressing and holding the start button for several seconds. It's been known to work on some cars in the past ....

Up to 2 mins was the previous advice...

[Penelope Stopit]

Button


switches earth to pin A2 at ignition ECU

[gruffalo]

Had similar symptoms to this once, disconnected the ignition ECU few a min or two and all returned to normal.

Worth a go before pulling stuff apart.