Elecrical Issue - Cannot Start Car

antgtir

antgtir

New Member
Here goes- driving my car last weekend I flashed someone to say thankyou for letting me by in a street. After doing this the abs light came on and the engine stalled. Tried starting and there is nothing. On barrel position 1,2,3 electrics are ok, turn to 4 and try to start and nothing, all electrics switch off. No fuses are blown both in cockpit and engine bay. All relays seem to be working fine. However when I take the 4th fuse from the bottom (right side of fuse box) the abs light switchs on along with all ignition lights, turn to start and nothing again. Can someone tell me what this fuse is for as it may give me some clues as to the problem. Also if anyone has had this problem before and has fixed it, can you please let me know what it is, it's driving me nuts to say the least. Many thanks, ant
 
antgtir

antgtir

New Member
Many thanks matey, that gives me something to go off. I'm going to check the wiring to the ecu next. Fingers crossed there will be a loose wire lol.

Ant
 
snoon

snoon

New Member
defo check the ecu wires. When mine was on standard ecu it cut out a couple of times. It started again after i disturbed all the wiring loom going into the ecu. Never actually found out which wire was loose. Seemed like i could just move them all about and it worked again!
 
fubar andy

fubar andy

Moderator & N/W Rep
Staff member
Check that your batt leads are tightened up.

I did that the other week; car died and had similar issues.

I checked the positive connection and it was loose, tightened up it was fine.

Might not be the true issue, but worth a look.
 
PobodY

PobodY

Moderators
Staff member
fubar andy said:
Check that your batt leads are tightened up.

I did that the other week; car died and had similar issues.

I checked the positive connection and it was loose, tightened up it was fine.

Might not be the true issue, but worth a look.
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Now that you mention it, I've had that too... gave me a bit of a fright, but I gave it a waggle and a thump down harder onto the terminal... and she lived again.
 
antgtir

antgtir

New Member
red reading said:
5 litre's of petrol and a match!! that'll fix it
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This solution is very tempting i must admit lol, I hate electrics :lol:

Im going to have to get it sorted as we have the OC track day soon and by jove im going to be there if it kills me :lol:

Ill keep you all posted as to the development or lack of as the case may be, fingers crossed hey.

Ant. :doh:
 
T

Tim

New Member
It's not something daft like a blown headlight causing a short is it?

If you flashed your lights and it died, are the two not connected some how or merely a coincidence?
 
antgtir

antgtir

New Member
Tim said:
It's not something daft like a blown headlight causing a short is it?

If you flashed your lights and it died, are the two not connected some how or merely a coincidence?
Click to expand...
I shall check to be sure, however the first time it happened the lights were ok. Its definately connected but i think its more to do with either the switch or wiring from or to the switch or wiring on that part of the circuit.

Ive read through the wiring diagram and tried to trace were the wiring goes to and comes from and coupled with the fuse query i had in the previous post im getting closer to the ECU it seems.

The search goes on:roll:

Ant.
 
antgtir

antgtir

New Member
Looked at the ecu and the wiring seems fine, no obvious breaks or loose connections at the plug end or splice sections. Tried swapping the relays around also to see if it may have been one bust or sticking but they seemed ok also.

Not sure if the dip beam switch is the culprit and it needs the stalk / switch mechanism changing, but would have thought disconnecting the stalk would have isolated that one, maybe it's a closed loop type circuit I.e if the stalk is disconnected the circuit is broken

I'm running out of options really and not getting anywhere fast lol.

Tried the battery suggestion, all is tight, present and correct.

Anyone anymore ideas?

Ant.
 
G

geoff pine

Well-Known Member
Yes i have used him to sort out why mine would not start and i am planing to use him again once i get the shed back on the road. Its going for its mot next week i just got it insured to day so its looking good for the next north west meet . I think it cost me around £40 phone him and ask him his hourly rate :thumb: p.s hes called Colin
 
campbellju

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
The thing with auto electronics is the whole car is your negative wire so a dodgy earth can cause strange unrelated problems. Cleaning up and remaking your earths on a 20 year old car is good practice if you have not already done that. As a starting point you can check the voltage drop from before and after your earth connections back to the battery to get a feel for whether they are degrading or not.

If in doubt get the professional out.
 
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