(T) cinq wouldnt start :(

just fitted my altenator last night and everything was going good until 2NITE
i was driving along and stopped at some traffic lights as i pulled away a RED light can on that looked sort of like a petrol pump end or a gun firing stuff out?? anyways i carried on and realised my lights where working but not my electiric windows.

so i pulled over and switched off, tried to start it back up again and the starter motor would just move abit but not enough to start. so anyways i kept trying and finally after about 15mins it started. so i carried on driving as i pulled into my road i changed down gear into 2nd and my cinq went all weird i couldnt go faster than 20mph and the more i slowed down the slower the top speed was, i then realised my lights has gone out and my clock light, so i switched my lights off and boom i nearly got wip - lash as my cinq went back to its normal self?? can someone please help me as im going to southport tommorow

thanks alot kris

anyone??

mine did this a while back -

The red light is the fuel injector warning light. When the ecu isn't getting enough power, it sends weird values to the injector, which is making the car flood - which is why it was so difficult to start.

The problem is power - you said that you'd changed the alternator. On my cinq, the problem was just the fan belt - it was really old and wouldn't stay tight. Anyways, I changed it, drove about, then tightened it again after a few days. That stopped all the stuff you describe happening. Give that a try.

Bear in mind -

Doing the fan belt properly is a wheel off job (and the cowl inside the arch), you can get to the bolts much better from the side.

The cinq handbook says that the belt should have about 10mm play on it - I reckon this is still too much as the flywheel gets hot. It's vented so it shouldn't. You can check this by popping the bonnet and touching the wheel with your fingers after a decent (10mins+) drive.

It's always worth getting in with a wire brush and cleaning up terminals too. And while I'm at it, what age is your battery - does it hold charge?

hope that's helpful,

Thom...

Is it new alternator or a second hand (could be duff)?

It definatly sounds as though not enough current is getting back to the battery

are you sure everthing is securly connected and that none of the cables are broken are all the earth straps in tact check really well!!

is the belt tensioned correctly is it slipping?

if you are sure all this is OK if you have you got a mutimeter check the battery with the engine not running then running the reading should be about 14volts (more than with the engine off) switch things on lights etc the votage should drop but stay above 12v if it doesn't alternator is probaly NFG

juist been out driving as my cinq started this morning and then it cuts out on me, i think its the batterys as wen i tried to jump start it the c.d. player came back on, as i carried on driving i tryed using the electric windows and then engine cut out

Not explicitly.....the ECU warning light means theres a problem with the Engine Management System. It might be a sensor playing up, or might be something inside the black box.

Might sound silly, but are we talking flywheel as in thing on RHS of engine that the clutch sits on? Or the harmonic balancer on the opposite end, that the fan belt drives off? I can understand the balancer getting warm due to the friction, but not the flywheel (due to the same effect)

But if it were alternator related specifically - the battery light would come on. Id be tempted to think its due to the power supply to the ECU tho

Its the alternator. Does the warning lamp illuminate when the ignition is on? You haven't put an LED in the place of the warning lamp?

Cheers

D

Have you checked all grounding points yet? I had some similar killer problems on my old uno when the main grounding point was shot - it'd work intermittant. Sometimes when turning on lights / pressing brake pedal / indicators etc, car electrics would cut out. Car would still run fine, but then it wasnt ECU controlled.

There was no warning to this either, it just didnt work sometimes. No lights would come up suggesting a battery problem. A twiddle of some wires and it'd work again. Its possible that when you changed the alternator, you've upset the grounding wire...

And when i say check the grounding points, i dont mean just look at them Actually take them off and give the terminals a clean and re-key the body with some production paper. Also check the quality of the connection between the terminals and the wires - sometimes they corrode and need re-crimping.

Im 90% sure its a grounding issue

thanks AOB. The balancer yeah, not the flywheel (still new to this "beginning to actually understand how the car works" lark )

didn't realise the injector light was indicating ecu faults - still waiting for my haynes manual.

thom...