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General Car not starting after flat battery

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General Car not starting after flat battery

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amdaman

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Hi chaps been pointed to this forum for advice. My chiq failed to start after the battery went flat. Took it to a garage and they messed it up it seems. The sequence of events:

1) Took car to garage who said it was an ECU issue.
2) The 'decoded' the ECU but it still didn't work.
3) said it needed a new ECU so I bought one up off another chiq
4) Didn't work (as now I know they are coded with the keys)
5) Fetched it back the other day
6) Advised if I bought a pre 95 ECU it would work
7) Bought a pre '95 none immobilised ECU
8) Yellow key light on dash still flashing after fitting it

So what can I do? What's gone wrong? Surely a none coded ECU would work or does it have something to do with the 'code box'?

Any help appreciated!!
 
amdaman said:
Hi chaps been pointed to this forum for advice. My chiq failed to start after the battery went flat. Took it to a garage and they messed it up it seems. The sequence of events:

1) Took car to garage who said it was an ECU issue.
2) The 'decoded' the ECU but it still didn't work.
3) said it needed a new ECU so I bought one up off another chiq
4) Didn't work (as now I know they are coded with the keys)
5) Fetched it back the other day
6) Advised if I bought a pre 95 ECU it would work
7) Bought a pre '95 none immobilised ECU
8) Yellow key light on dash still flashing after fitting it

So what can I do? What's gone wrong? Surely a none coded ECU would work or does it have something to do with the 'code box'?

Any help appreciated!!
Click to expand...

Hi are you from sheffield? i think i sold you the ecu. I have emailed you .
 
Update:

The pump is not priming, is this due to the ECU or something else? With the codebox unplugged the code light goes off but still doesn't start.

Is there a fuse for the fuel pump somewhere?

PS. There is a spark.

thanks,

edit: quick update: Fuel relays are clicking with the pre 95 ECU but not with the old ECU, so we know the ECU is ok. However, the fuses are fine too. The fuel pump is just not priming and there is no fuel coming down the lines. What should we be checking next?

Thanks,
 
ey up, i'll just post in this thread instead from now on ;)

the main power relay will click when it comes on, but the fuel pump relay should click again when it stops priming (2secodns)

just trying to figure out if the fault is between the pump and the relay, or the relay and the pump.
 
ok.

according to the haynes book of lies, the fuel pump is the 20A fuse near the ECU. You say you are getting a spark, which must mean this fuse is fine and the relay is fine too as it also powers the coil packs.

From the relay, there is an orange and black (im sure i remember it being orange and green), that goes to the body loom, becoming green and black leading up to the fuel pump. The negative side of the fuel pump is a black and purple line that comes through the fuel cut off switch.

Lift up the back seats, remove the inspection plate, disconnect the fuel pump wires - and check for an earth connection on the purple and black wire. If you don't find one, hunt out the fuel cut off switch (behind the centre console, bolted to the firewall) and check that.

I am assuming you've got a multimeter here, and are fine troubleshooting like this.

It no longer sounds like an imobilsier issue, as looking at the engine specs - the fuel pump relay is the one that the imobilser cuts out, but that also takes out the coil packs amoungst other things and if you are getitng a spark then these are fine.
 
Hi Arc (gex??)

I only recall the relays clicking once, it was the same when I swapped them around too. Like you say though I was getting a spark so this must be fine. It's definately not priming though.

I have a multimeter, but how would I check for an earth? Put one side on the wire and the other to the body or connect both wires to the multimeter?

How does the fuel cutoff switch have kicked in? (how and when does it work, is it manual?)

thanks
 
yeah, i post as gex on them forums.

Within the white box are two relays. One is ECU main relay, the other is the fuel pump / injector / coil packs etc relay. I'm pretty sure you should be able to hear the fuel pump relay click in (but i may be wrong, i removed the stock ECU a while back now and run a different setup). But yeah, if there is a spark then the relay must be fine.

To check for an earth, one side to the wire and the other to the body.

The fuel cut off is an intertia switch, meant to cut the fuel if there is a crash. There is no reason for it to have activated but am just trying to think of anything that might stop the pump from working.
 
You could always disconnect fuel pump connections and run + and - from battery to pump, this will prove the pump.
If ok (and probably is) re-connect, and check connections at relay pin 5, or check with multimeter for 12v at switch on for 2 secs. Poor connections between relay pin 5 and loom are most likely. (green/black).
 
Hi chaps,

Just an update:

Just tested the purple wire and it was reading 0.54 amps. So something is going to it.

There was nothing on the green wire so suspect this is the earth?

Going to look at the replay pin 5 now.

Thanks.

Edit pin 5 the purple and balck wire is producing 12v at the relay too. The relay does click twice aswell!

Stumped now, why isn't the pump priming?
 
Last edited:
amdaman said:
Hi chaps,



Just tested the purple wire and it was reading 0.54 amps. So something is going to it.

There was nothing on the green wire so suspect this is the earth?


QUOTE]

assume the above testing is at the pump 540 mA is not a lot did you mesure the voltage at mauve/black at fuel pump and get 12v for 2 secs?.
circuit should be:
[relay p5 and 4]───12v─────[pump]────0v───[Inertia sw]─0v──[gnd]
Click to expand...
 
Hi it may have been yes, as I was unsure of the settings for the multimeter.

I didn't measure voltage at fuel pump side, just amps. I measured voltage at relay side though and it was 12v.

Another important thing to tell you: I got a battery and connected it straight to the fuel pump, the fuel pump DID work BUT no fuel was coming out of the lines?? Also the car wouldn't start.. so it looks like a fuel issue?

I want to know why it doesn't prime it's self on ignition even if it's getting power though but it did with the battery?
 
to check for a connection to ground, set it to resistance / ohm mode. if there is a connection it will show a reading, the closer to zero, the less resistance to earth
 
amdaman said:
Hi it may have been yes, as I was unsure of the settings for the multimeter.

I didn't measure voltage at fuel pump side, just amps. I measured voltage at relay side though and it was 12v.

Another important thing to tell you: I got a battery and connected it straight to the fuel pump, the fuel pump DID work BUT no fuel was coming out of the lines?? Also the car wouldn't start.. so it looks like a fuel issue?

I want to know why it doesn't prime it's self on ignition even if it's getting power though but it did with the battery?
Click to expand...

Got the pump wired up the correct way, an dit still wouldn't start, more like an ignition problem.
 
There is 100% spark.

When I connected the fuel pump up to the battery and it was working no fuel was coming through the pipes.

Yes there is fuel in the tank, will this be a blocked fuel filter or something else?

Still unsure as to why the pump wont prime under ignition though.. Will look at the ohmage at some point, what should the optimum ohm reading be for earth?
 
Ok thanks, will look into that, and this is for the purple wire right? That plugs into the fuel pump?

So any idea why no fuel was coming out if the pipes when the fuel pump was on?

cheers.
 
not sure, it should flood out. ive connected my pump with no pipes on to quickly test it and fuel went all over me :(

you have a spare car don't you (the one you origoanlly got the ECU off). try swapping the pumps over, just to see what it does.
 
Yeah got access to a front damaged one.

It's quite a drive away though so gona have to wait a bit as tied up with work, is it easy to remove the fuel pump?

It was definately on as I could hear it but nothing came out of the 2 pipes going to the fuel rail (one is a return i suspect but didn't know which)

Maybe I should undo the pipe at pump end and see if it comes out there?

Still doesn't explain why the pump doesn't prime on ignition though, that's really annoying me!
 
yeah, that doesnt make sense.

are you def testing the right bit of the pump connections, the motor - not the sender unit?

Stick the meter in voltage mode, put one on each wire to the pump - and turn the ignition on, see if you are getting 12v there.

whatever the problem with the pump, if there is no power reaching it then doesn't matter as it's not going to work!

(one problem at a time lol!)
 
Hi,

Yeah I think I got the right plug, it was a connector with two wires, one green and one purple. The purple one read 0.54amps or what ever it was when I checked it with the ignition on.

The green one didn't read anything.

I'll definately check the voltage though.

So i'll check that asap, and then the pump again see if petrol comes out of the pump side. If 12v is getting to the pump though through the loom i'll be 100% stumped as it worked with the battery.
 
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