Hi all,

I'm new here, but would appreciate any help anybody can offer me.

I've been having difficulty getting my 2001 Marea 1.6 to start from cold. The engine turns over ok, but will not start.

The keycode light lights when the ignition is switched on and then goes out, so I'm not sure if it's the immobiliser. I've tried both of the blue keys just in case it's a problem with one of them.

I had the battery replaced, but this hasn't solved it.

If I'm persistent in trying to start the car, it seems to start eventually, but this can take quite some time.

If I bump start the car it starts really easily.

Once started the car runs fine. Sometimes after I get it started the engine light stays on constant, sometimes it flashes, or sometimes it doesn't come on at all.

The car seems to start up no problem once it's warm.

Any ideas would be very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance,

Jay.

Hi!

I'd be thinking about an intermittently defective crank sensor! This is a large inductance made of many turns of minutely-fine wire, which generates an engine speed/pos'n a.c. voltage from a reluctor ring on the flywheel, and intermittent open-circuits in its winding are common, and a car getting harder and harder to start is typical, along with intermittent operation of the failure (red injector-spray symbol) warning light!

Since your key code light goes out I don't think you've got the usual transponder/code-box nonsense to worry about here, I'd get a new crank sensor fitted, and new plugs, and while you're doing the plugs, have a *careful* look at the coil-packs for signs of tracking on the plug connectors/tubes, as intermittent tracking produces transient pulses in the electrics that can spike the ecu with a fault-code!

Don't forget to have a diag done and the codes cleared afterwards!

Hope this helps!

Chris Williams

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your help.

Is the crank sensor easy to get at? Is it something I'm likely to be able to tackle myself, or a garage job? If myself, what's the best way to get at it?

I'll have a look at the coil pack tomorrow and see if there's anything obvious there as well.

Thanks again.

Jay.

Hi!

Its fairly easy to remove and replace - only snag is the manual (see page 30 of attached paper) suggests you need the Engine Service Manual Pub No 506.589/20 to set it correctly and I can't lay my hands on a copy of this anywhere!

If you want to replace this yourself I'd measure the gap between the sensor top and the crank phonic (toothed) wheel - (which should be 0.5-1.5mm) as accurately as you can - ***before*** removing the old one, then fit and adjust the new one to the same gap, then ***turn the engine over by hand two full turns*** to make sure the new sensor isn't catching on the phonic-wheel teeth, before you attempt to restart the engine.

If you're in any doubt I'd get a local garage to replace it - it shouldn't be more than an hour's labour in total!

Chris Williams

PS! Sorry for the atrocious PDF - I can't lay my hands on anything better - I've tried to get manuals for my Brava in binders without any luck!

hi jay bring it round to mine next weekend as it turns out im not wirking so we will be able to sort all the bits out.