Ran fine for 100 miles with 3 stops. Half a mile from last stop lost all power. Overtemp red light,Glow plug orange light steady,temp needle at cold. Turns over on key but no hint of starting. Not overheated, coolant fine. Tried later, no lights but still no joy. LP pump buzzes briefly at key on. EML flickers twice on key on,accompanied by rapid double click from ECU. Recovery man spent over an hour checking, but couldn't connect to ECU via OBD. Any ideas folks ?

Hi Anthony, I can't offer any solutions but wanted to offer my commiserations and just hope you have now found what the issue is.

It's a supreme irony that you have helped so many folk on this forum but none of us are able to reciprocate.....OTOH if the problem has baffled you it must be a good-un

What van do you have?
(model year)

Hi both and thanks for commiserations. Van was built in 2008 and is a 2.3 120 bhp. Finger of suspicion points to the low pressure fuel circuit. Van to be recovered to my local dealer on Monday. Will post the conclusions as and when !

Hi Anthony,

Please accept my comiserations.

The common factor in all your symptoms appears to be the ECU. The fact that you cannot communicate with the ECU is worrying.

On my 2.8 JTD the LP fuel pump times out in about 10 seconds if the engine is not running. eLearn does not quote a precise time. This timing must be performed by the ECU, as the pump relay coil +ve is connected to it. I would expect that your 2.3 Multijet is similar in this respect. It seems therefore, that a small part of the ECU is still working.

As you will be aware the ECU is an electronic device, and such devices do not normally click, so what are the clicks that you are hearing?

just in case you haven't checked already, that model year had a loom running under the bonnet fise box that was prone to chafing, causing all sorts of funny things to the electrics.

Thanks again for the replies. Under normal circumstances I would be crawling all over the van with multimeter and multiecuscan. However, I am on a campsite 100 miles from home with no test kit. I had to choose between recovery to home or my local garage. It was tempting to choose the home option, but this would have meant trying to manoeuvre a dead 3 ton van on my driveway. There was also the real risk of not being able to fix it and needing a second recovery. So this time the professionals will be doing it !

Anthony489 said:

Thanks again for the replies. Under normal circumstances I would be crawling all over the van with multimeter and multiecuscan. However, I am on a campsite 100 miles from home with no test kit. I had to choose between recovery to home or my local garage.!

Click to expand...

Are you wanting to borrow some kit..??

Or just waiting until you are back

An update for those interested in the end of the story.

Main dealer carried out comprehensive wiring checks but no fault found. No communication with ECU. Substitute ECU cleared the fault, so new (exchange) ECU sourced, programmed and fitted.
Van now fine, wallet still recovering


No trace of water ingress, so presume internal fault in ECU - thanks Bosch.

Judging from the number of "We will rebuild your ECU" services, failure like this is not unheard of. Just glad I wasn't in the outside lane of the motorway when it decided to let go.