S2 2.9 won’t turn over - any suggestions pls?

[AJC77]

Happy New Year and unhappy no start :-(

It’s been stood in the garage for 5 months on a battery conditioner. Rolled it out to start it and warm it through and no go. First time it’s ever done that as always has started first turn of the key. Not getting the fuel pump whir, and oddly the speedo needle spins round and round when ignition turned to II (start) .... The battery is fine putting out 13.1v on a simple tester.

I’m thinking it might be a relay perhaps? Where should I look / check first?

Thanks, Andrew.

[GreenV8S]

AJC77 said:

Not getting the fuel pump whir

Maybe an alarm issue?

If I were you I'd focus on the starter motor circuit first since that is the simplest. The starter motor should be grounded to the battery -ve via the engine and chassis - as a sanity check, confirm that circuit is intact. Battery +ve should be connected to the main power terminal on the starter solenoid so check you have battery voltage here. The solenoid control input should have battery voltage applied when the key is in the cranking position and this should be somewhere in the region of 12.5V (maybe higher if the battery has been on charge recently).

If you don't get 12V at the solenoid control terminal, check the voltage at the switch. If there's a break, candidates would be the dreaded yellow connector near the switch, or the alarm. Once you've sorted that out you may find the other electric / electronic funnies 'go away'.

[AJC77]

Thanks GreenV8S.

I think I’ll check the Cobra immobiliser out too, as you say it could be related to that.

[Sandgrounder]

In truth, it could be any number of things.
I had the same issue a few years ago. After removing the alarm (I didn't like the start-up fuss anyway), and tinkering with the fuel pump, etc. it turned out to be as simple as an earth wire attached to a rocker cover bolt head.
Obvious when I think about it as the rocker (cam) gaskets had just been changed, so some silicone had got under the bolt head, though hindsight is a wonderful thing.
If only I had started with the wiggle test!

Good luck!

[phillpot]

Sandgrounder said:

it turned out to be as simple as an earth wire attached to a rocker cover bolt head.

That is possibly the worst place I can think of to attach an earth wire!

[AutoAndy]

...if not replaced already, then your yellow connector could have finally burned out - take of the steering cowling and look for the big yellow connector...pull it apart and marvel at the chard remains...will lead to no ignition.

[GreenV8S]

phillpot said:

That is possibly the worst place I can think of to attach an earth wire!

Agreed. Well worth removing that abortion and if the original earth is faulty then fix that properly.

[AJC77]

AutoAndy said:

...if not replaced already, then your yellow connector could have finally burned out - take of the steering cowling and look for the big yellow connector...pull it apart and marvel at the chard remains...will lead to no ignition.

Thanks AutoAndy.

Is the “Yellow Connector” easy to replace? I’m not familiar with it (clearly a newbie and/or up until 2019 had the most reliable S2 in the UK lol). Can it degrade stood still in a garage?
Anyone got any piccies handy of it?

[AJC77]

Googled it. I now see via the “Yellow Connector” thread on here.

If it’s burnt out I’ll replace it with electrical block connector, assuming that’s a safe fix?

[Maffe]

Just love posting this picture here


This was how it looked like after winter storage for me a couple of years ago

[GreenV8S]

AJC77 said:

If it’s burnt out I’ll replace it with electrical block connector, assuming that’s a safe fix?

No!

Make a proper crimped connection, or a soldered connection if you can't crimp. Electrical screw terminal connectors are not a suitable way to join these wires and will lead to reliability problems in future.

[phillpot]

GreenV8S said:

Make a proper crimped connection, or a soldered connection if you can't crimp.

Not generally a fan of "chock block" connectors but with the limited space inside the cowling I did use them to replace my Yellow connector. Nice big ones (30 amp?), strip enough insulation back so that the wires overlap and the two screws clamp both wires.
That was some years ago and all is still good............... touch wood !

[v8s4me]

Anderson connector...


Fit and forget

[AJC77]

Hi all,

So removed my steering cowl to find that I don’t have a big yellow connector lol. It must have burnt out a long time ago for a previous owner and had since been rewired. I wiggled the wiring around with the car in the garage and on the battery conditioner and started to get the fuel pump priming so peeled back the electrical tape to find no signs of burning or deterioration....
At that point I’d concluded that the rewire may still be the issue and was preparing to cut through and chocblock to test further, however the terrible lighting in my garage meant I needed to disconnect the battery conditioner and push it out into daylight.
I gave it one last try outside and now not even the fuel pump was priming which made my think could it still be the battery? Even though it showed 13v on the tester when I checked it. So I threw my spare battery on and hey presto, fired up perfectly first turn.
I should never have doubted it, it’s not missed a beat nor broken down in the 4 years I’ve owned it. Instead it was the 6 year old crappy Exide battery

Anyway thank you all for the advice, and first rule of the S series is never doubt the S series