106 Non-starter

[B19GRR]

Hi All,

My girlfriend is currently stuck in Northampton cos her silly bugger 106 won't start. This non-starting has been going on for a while. So far the local place we use have replaced the crank angle sensor and the ignition relay. They insist it's nothing to do with the fuel side of things. It's a R reg 1.1 (oooh), when you try and start it just turns over and doesn't catch, at least when it's not working. This of course is an intermittent issue and some times it will start after a few tries, or all the bloody time when it's at the garage trying to be fixed. The mechanic now wants to pull the ECU and send it off to a specialist place for diagnosis, to the tune of a couple of hundred quid, apparently even main dealers can't do this check - hmmmm! If that doesn't show anything up (i.e. £200 down the drain) then he suspects something somewhere in the loom that will be a nightmare to trackdown i.e. even more money.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Rob

[dain bramaged]

might be a faulty coil pack as for the ecu you would be better off trying a second hand one to see if it fixes the fault

[B19GRR]

Well you've got to laugh, after she'd pretty much flattened the battery on Saturday trying to start it, I ended up going down to pick her up (tried jump starting with no luck). I then took her back first thing yesterday, car still (surprisingly dead), she did her stuff at uni and then rang the RAC. RAC bloke showed up sat in the car, turned the key and - ta da!! The fecker started. Unbelievable! So it's now back at the local garage with mechanic wondering what the hell to do.

He'd previously ruled out the coil and apparently swapping ecu's isn't too straight forward due to the immobiliser being integral or summat annoying like that. Bloody PITA silly little car!!

Cheers,
Rob

[pentoman]

Immobilizer!

My girlfriend's S-reg 1.1 sometimes does the same thing. you're driving along happily, pull over and stop. Then a few minutes later you go to restart and it won't restart! It won't even consider starting, just cranks over and over. It only happens rarely though in her case.

It is usually fixed by trying the spare key, or removing the key and putting it back in. I think the immobilizer is one of those types that picks up the key by proximity, with a ring around the ignition?

Anyway give that a try and see what you get. Or if you get stuck try dismantling the bit around the ignition and seeing if there's a 'ring' immobilizer pickup thing. try passing that over the key and then starting.

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[dain bramaged]

don't think pugs have got the imobilizer in the key its a number key pad by the gear stick this could be faulty though as the chap above has said or even a faulty ignition switch

[megamaniac]

I have seen them where the plug on the back of the key pad has started to fall off,they have a bar on the multiplug which is supposed to stop them falling off but this depends on it being used in the first place.

[B19GRR]

Immobiliser is in the key, works central locking and all. I remember years ago I ran a M reg 106 and that had the number pad immobilers set up. As such when we rang the garage, they just grumbled about it being a transponder type thing Still at the garage, still starting for them, the little bugger!!!

Cheers,
Rob

[pentoman]

I am still betting on it being that immobilizer thingy (no real basis for this though). Do you have a spare key? Keep it in the car and try it when it happens again. Might not be the key of course..

[megamaniac]

Doesn't it have a warning symbol on the dash to say it has read the key?If it does ,is it still showing the symbol? If you have a spare key you could take the proximity sensor from around the ignition lock ,stuff the spare key inside it and tuck the whole thing up in the dash out of the way somewhere. That would sort out any chance of it being the immobiliser.
Could it be a problem with the fuel inertia switch?

[B19GRR]

Well I dunno. She picked it up this morning with still no conclusive discoveries. Apparently the guy did take out the transponder ring, then forgot to out it back in and the car still started a few times after that before conking out Anyway that's back in place and presuambly the connections have been tested and the car is starting still. So God knows! At least she's in the RAC now so I don't have to pick her up when it breaks down again Anyone know how many times a year you can call the RAC out before they get p1ssed off?

Cheers,
Rob

[pentoman]

B19GRR said:

Well I dunno. She picked it up this morning with still no conclusive discoveries. Apparently the guy did take out the transponder ring, then forgot to out it back in and the car still started a few times after that before conking out Anyway that's back in place and presuambly the connections have been tested and the car is starting still. So God knows! At least she's in the RAC now so I don't have to pick her up when it breaks down again Anyone know how many times a year you can call the RAC out before they get p1ssed off?

Cheers,
Rob

Perhaps it doesn't read the immobilizer thing every time? Only after the engine's stopped a certain length of time or something?

Don't know if what the RAC bloke did will have made any difference to it or if the ring could be knackered? Fingers crossed it's gone away!

[r5bmb]

I have seen this problem a few times before, it may be worth trying a new transponder aerial (the ring around the ignition lock) it's only £17 and it's not uncommon.

I am a bit confused as to how it could start without the aerial connected, because that's how the ECU recognises the key.

Andrew

[pentoman]

Any news??

My girlfriend rang the other day - her 106 was doing this exact thing, turning over but not starting.

Eventually it suddenly decided to go, but I'd be interested to hear if it was the immobilizer for you?

[Nic Jones]

B19GRR said:

Hi All,

My girlfriend is currently stuck in Northampton cos her silly bugger 106 won't start. This non-starting has been going on for a while. So far the local place we use have replaced the crank angle sensor and the ignition relay. They insist it's nothing to do with the fuel side of things. It's a R reg 1.1 (oooh), when you try and start it just turns over and doesn't catch, at least when it's not working. This of course is an intermittent issue and some times it will start after a few tries, or all the bloody time when it's at the garage trying to be fixed. The mechanic now wants to pull the ECU and send it off to a specialist place for diagnosis, to the tune of a couple of hundred quid, apparently even main dealers can't do this check - hmmmm! If that doesn't show anything up (i.e. £200 down the drain) then he suspects something somewhere in the loom that will be a nightmare to trackdown i.e. even more money.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
Rob

Ah this sounds familiar, happened to me in my 106 a few days before I came back to Uni, mechanic changed the crank angle sensor and it seems okish now, although it does still piss about sometimes.

Try the crank angle sensor first, although I am a bit worried that my problem is the ECU as well.

Edit: thinking about it swapping keys does work sometimes as well, so I guess it could be the immobilizer in the key chip.
After turning it over with no success turn the ignition completely off and then all the way back round to 'start' in one go, this sends some kind of pulse through the ECU or sumfink and can make it work.

Good luck! Bloody surrender monkey cars.

Although it can be fun when you block your housemates tt of a boyfriend on the drive and leave him the spare key in case he needs to get out, knowing full well that spare key doesnt work

Edited by Nic Jones on Sunday 22 October 15:59