Hi all. Im hoping someone can help me with a starting issue on my wifes 1.4 Active Sport.

Its got an intermittent fault which I cant solve and my wife now doesnt want to drive the car with our 10 week old baby in it in case she gets stranded anywhere.

When you turn the ignition key the dash lights all illuminate as they should but the car will not even turn over. It will however bump start very easily and then start perfectly fine for a while again.

My neighbour checked the battery and the output was fine. We also added a booster pack just to be 100% sure it wasnt down to a low charge. I removed the ignition wiring to hotwire the car to rule out a worn ignition barrel but the car still didnt turn over.

I rocked the car in gear to rotate the starter incase of a flat spot to rule that out too. Ive tried the spare key incase of a communication problem, again, nothing.

I also added a booster cable from the battery to the gearbox casing incase of a corroded earth as ive read they can fail, not that either!

Has any one got a diagram of the fuse box please detailing what each relay is for? It may be coincidence but my neighbour gave everything a wiggle and then it started but as we dont know which relay does what then we cant narrow it down.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Wes

Thanks for all the replies everyone, clearly you have all been enjoying the sun today and been far too busy to come on here.

A little update - After searching through various threads on here I read about the possibility of water ingress into the fuse box. After removing the box sure enough water dripped out of it. Hopefully that explains the intermittent aspect as it absolutely hammered it down here last night and my wife remembered it had rained the last time it happened too. I removed the box completely and gave all of the contacts on the bottom side and the harnesses a good dosing of WD40 to disperse any residual moisture. Fingers crossed it was just the lid not sat properly allowing the water ingress.

Has anyone figured out exactly where the water gets into the box?

I would still like to see any diagrams too if possible detailing what each relay in the fuse box does if anyone has a link?

Cheers

Wes

If that doesn't cure it, I hadd a similar problem on the daughter's car. Try a SECOND jump lead, this time from the battery negative to the BODY (as well as the one from the battery negative to the engine block).

In our case, although the earth cable LOOKED OK, it had actually turned to powdery green mush INSIDE the insulation at the point where the body earth terminal is crimped part way down it.

The lid on the fusebox (at least on ours) is fiddly to fit securely because the bonnet release cable gets in the way. I think many people don't actually make the seal at the edge nearest the wing as a result.

Thanks for replying. Ive just tried starting the car after more rain and its fired straight up so im hoping it was just the lid not seated correctly as you said. The car has still only done 21000 on an 07 plate!

On a side note ive just been looking at Avocet door hinges as you were replying, spooky!