Technical Failing to start

[harveybean]

Evening all,

2001 fiat ducato x230 2.8jtd swift motorhome.

Today did a few little jobs on motorhome, all going well everything as working perfectly. I had to put one of the battery tray bolts back in and moved the wiring running along side the battery. Most of this is air suspension and dc to dc charger. Went to start motorhome again and it didn't want to know.

Turning the ignition on everything lights up and goes off as it should, turn the key get one tiny starter click then nothing. Turn the ignition off and the oil light comes back on and stays on even with keys removed.

Turning ignition on everything goes off as should, but won't do anything. After a few hours switched off I noticed the oil light had gone out. Tried to start again, got one click from starter then nothing, oil light back on when ignition off.

The tracker reported its battery was being drained, so took it and the tray out as found two damaged wires (blue/white and a black)
Hunted around and couldn't find anything they could connect too close by. Blue goes live when ignition on.

I have checked the earth's on starter motor and small one on gearbox. Everything is clean, tight, and has continuity. Battery reads 12.8v and green eye is showing.

Underneath the battery tray is a conduit that comes from inside cab and then breaks into two directions. The right direction heads off to the black cover in the middle of engine bay that has some relays in. It contains red, brown and black wire, also these other two but only for a short distance. The end of these two wires looked stretched and protection was damaged at the tips.

Sorry to waffle but trying to give as much detail as possible!

Any help to get it started would be extremely appreciated.

 

[ZaphodB]

clip/clamp a temporary vehicle jump lead (the big sort with large croc clips either end) from battery -ve to a good bit of metal on the engine, and retry.

 

[harveybean]

Thank you will give that a try.

 

[Communicator]

Evening all,

2001 fiat ducato x230 2.8jtd swift motorhome.

Today did a few little jobs on motorhome, all going well everything as working perfectly. I had to put one of the battery tray bolts back in and moved the wiring running along side the battery. Most of this is air suspension and dc to dc charger. Went to start motorhome again and it didn't want to know.

Was the DC to DC (B2B) fitted prior to your ownership?

Turning the ignition on everything lights up and goes off as it should, turn the key get one tiny starter click then nothing. Turn the ignition off and the oil light comes back on and stays on even with keys removed.

The x230 had a starter relay to operate the starter solenoid. The solenoid makes more of a clunk.

Turning ignition on everything goes off as should, but won't do anything. After a few hours switched off I noticed the oil light had gone out. Tried to start again, got one click from starter then nothing, oil light back on when ignition off.

The tracker reported its battery was being drained, so took it and the tray out as found two damaged wires (blue/white and a black)
Hunted around and couldn't find anything they could connect too close by. Blue goes live when ignition on.

Just possible that these have been used to operate a split charge relay from IGN+, rather than from more conventional D+.

I have checked the earth's on starter motor and small one on gearbox. Everything is clean, tight, and has continuity. Battery reads 12.8v and green eye is showing.

On the x230, the main chassis earth, and I think engine/starter earth are bolted to the RHS inner wing forward of, and close to the RHS engine mounting. Is there any possibility that you ave inadvertantly disturbed these large cables?

Underneath the battery tray is a conduit that comes from inside cab and then breaks into two directions. The right direction heads off to the black cover in the middle of engine bay that has some relays in. It contains red, brown and black wire, also these other two but only for a short distance. The end of these two wires looked stretched and protection was damaged at the tips.

The hood which shrouds the wiper motor, possibly flame starter relay and aircon relays, is a popular place to mount a split charge relay. The wires could have originally connected to the split charge relay which has been made redundant by B2B charger. However we are missing a fridge relay. Please note that when a B2B is installed, the split charge relay operation must be dsabled, otherwise it is effectively a short circuit across the B2B

Sorry to waffle but trying to give as much detail as possible!

Any help to get it started would be extremely appreciated.

I agree with @ZaphodB that first checking should be on the earthing. I cannot believe that you unknowingly cut all the wires mentioned.

 

[harveybean]

I had the b2b charger installed, no cables have been cut by us. The swift cable has corroded and broken. Going to be replacing connectors as they are fragile and all wires looked corroded. The blue/white and black i found broken, and its original battery to battery has had fuse removed so cant operate. It was by moving the air suspension and b2b wiring that I found the broken wires, I dont know if I broke them by moving things or already been cut and just left there (wish I did know the answer to give you)

Fridge works on 12v, 240v and gas perfectly.

Starter motor was replaced few weeks ago. Going to check all its connectors are still tight. Give them another clean and replace if needed.

To the right of the battery there are two relays and a small fuse box. Just above them is another fuse box with large blade fuses. I know the small fuse box is swifts for fridge and old b2b. Relays I think might be fiat as cant find them on motorhome wiring diagram. And large fuses wires go into the wiring loom. (hope that makes sense and you can picture it)

I cant get back up to motorhome until weekend at earliest as working away. Battery is at home on charge. Jumper cables have been ordered as dont own any. I will be trying zaphodb suggestion as soon as can get up there.

According to the swift hand book the brown/green and brown/red are +ve for leisure battery to charge when engine running, and when plugged into ehu the other cable supplies a charge to starter battery.