Technical Punto 04 sport wont start after being laid up for 6 months.

[texx]

Hi all. Took my Punto 04 Sport off the road some 6+ months ago as some steering parts needed to be replaced.It was running perfect but has now stood idle for over 6 months. Today i put on the charged up battery and tried to start her up. Starter is turning just fine,dash lights all ok,quarter of tank of fuel but she wont fire. Could the fuel be contaminated or possible the ecu isnt reading key code? any ideas? Thanks.

 

[nitramtpr]

Fuel could be contaminated, it should cough and splutter and attempt to start though. I'd take the plugs out and clean them, then see if you've got any spark on them first.

 

[texx]

No it didnt cough and splutter.Yes good idea will check plugs to see if spark when the battery has recharged.

 

[portland_bill]

Petrol loses its lighter elements quite quickly, making it much less flammable. Ideally needs fresh fuel. There's a challenge.

 

[Ziggy122]

Ensure you have a spark to start with
Take a plug out and earth it on the cam cover

If the fuel has gone off - just use a fused/fused switched jumper wire on the relay for the fuel pump
Disconnect the fuel feed to the fuel rail and drain it into jerry cans
DONT RUN THE TANK DRY
once ur very low on fuel
Add fresh fuel
Hopefully old vs new should work its way through

Is the fuel pump even priming up when u go to ignition?
The key code / car with padlock symbol going out?

Ziggy

 

[flisko]

fuel wont get bad in 6 months, your alternator probably seized and is not allowing engine to turn that fast, remove belt and try again

 

[jackwhoo]

Check for sparks as suggested
Report back your findings

 

[s and b]

if key light going out
car cranking fast enough
you have a spark
i would suggest stale fuel too
just put £10 of fresh stuff in tank and maybe coax it with a bit of snuff

 

[judderbar]

My weed wacker would never start in the spring till I changed the petrol.

 

[varesecrazy]

No it didnt cough and splutter.Yes good idea will check plugs to see if spark when the battery has recharged.

Immobilser. And the humm of the underseat fuel pump are the basics to check.

Then sparks

 

[texx]

key/padlock light is going out. Could not see spark on quick check this morning.Will check in darkness later to be sure. Where is imobilizer located,is it in ECU. Could the ECU have gone dead due to battery being disconnected for 6 months?

 

[varesecrazy]

key/padlock light is going out. Could not see spark on quick check this morning.Will check in darkness later to be sure. Where is imobilizer located,is it in ECU. Could the ECU have gone dead due to battery being disconnected for 6 months?

If keylock is going ON. Then out immob should be ok..

is fuel pump running..??

 

[jackwhoo]

Well done checking for sparks at plugs.
Sure you know but remove all the spark plugs and lay them on metal part of engine . Crank over on starter and you should see sparks. Asking someone else to turn key so you can see plugs well is helpful.

 

[texx]

Have established petrol pump is working. Changed plugs. No spark at plugs. Now suspect ECU,this car showed same symptoms( not starting) 3 years ago and i replaced the ECU,could it have gone again? I see there are replacement Plug and play replacements has anyone tried these? Could it be coils?Although i would prefer to replace complete system if nessasary. Any ideas what else could be causing problem before i go this route and is there anyway to tell for sure if a ECU has gone west!

 

[varesecrazy]

Have established petrol pump is working. Changed plugs. No spark at plugs. Now suspect ECU,this car showed same symptoms( not starting) 3 years ago and i replaced the ECU,could it have gone again? I see there are replacement Plug and play replacements has anyone tried these? Could it be coils?Although i would prefer to replace complete system if nessasary. Any ideas what else could be causing problem before i go this route and is there anyway to tell for sure if a ECU has gone west!

hi,

ECU's don't "just fail"..

I would suspect you'd had a poor connection somewhere that either ;

overloaded the innards of the ECU.. the bit that generates the sparks is a known failure spot.. ( however it ran ok when you parked it up.. so this is unlikely,)

or you had a basic lousy cable connection that was restored during the swap over of ECU's

pretty sure the cinq/sei section has the majority of the stripped ECU info,

I'd be looking at a plug in scan for errors / connectivity,
then attempt to reset the system,

:idea: always worth trying a 2nd main earth cable too. battery NEG direct to engine metalwork.


Charlie

 

[texx]

PROBLEM SOLVED! It turned out to be the crank sensor that had failed. Thanks everyone for all of your help. Much appreciated.

 

[flisko]

PROBLEM SOLVED! It turned out to be the crank sensor that had failed. Thanks everyone for all of your help. Much appreciated.

n1

 

[Pansilu]

Hi all. Took my Punto 04 Sport off the road some 6+ months ago as some steering parts needed to be replaced.It was running perfect but has now stood idle for over 6 months. Today i put on the charged up battery and tried to start her up. Starter is turning just fine,dash lights all ok,quarter of tank of fuel but she wont fire. Could the fuel be contaminated or possible the ecu isnt reading key code? any ideas?

S

 

[Pansilu]

SAme here also after one month. I dont know what to do. Key is working but not startinh

 

[varesecrazy]

Does the engine rotate?