Why won't my car start?

[Colin_P]

How handy are you with the spanners and where are you? Boy or Girl?

This is what you need to do to minimise cost...

Join this forum, and search for someone who can do a free (well, a few beers or money thereto would be rude not to) fault code scan http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk If you are a girl, say so and you'll get help quickly!

As for the fault, for the car to cut out abruptly then one of two things (these are likely culprits but the code scan will confirm, but could be anything);

Crankshaft position sensor
or
Engine management power relay, (relay 109)



If you are in East Berks, I could help you.

 

[Illaveago]

From the description of the year I would have thought that it would be either OBD1 OBD2. On board diagnostic 1/2. Can you have a look at the dashboard to see if a little picture of an engine lights up and stays on with the ignition on. If it does it will mean that a fault has been detected and will be able to track it down with a fault code reader. Sometimes camshaft or crankshaft position sensors fail in which case the engine won't run.
As you mentioned earlier that the breakdown chap has already moved the car on the starter then cranking it of one more time shouldn't do any more damage.
If it was the cam belt you may be lucky if you were driving slowly and the valves were in a position where they didn't say hello to one another.

I had a Vectra which bent 8 valves. I repaired it with the help of a friend, a few months later the gearbox went, had that repaired and to cap it all on New Years Eve of that year I had a minor heart attack. The next year didn't start very well either as I was rushed in flashy light siren job as I had a gastric ulcers which had been bleeding.

 

[DaveReading]

If it was the cam belt you may be lucky if you were driving slowly and the valves were in a position where they didn't say hello to one another.

I don't think it makes much difference what speed you're driving, if the piston and valves make contact it's not going to end well. Though I remember reading (when it happened to me a while back) that apparently in a lot of American engines there is enough clearance above the crown that it can't happen, not sure if that's true. Anyway, I still have one bent valve from my Xantia as a souvenir.

Another breakdown that happened to me, and may be relevant here, involved failure of the MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor, which in a Ford results in the ECM taking it as a hint to kill the engine instantly. That made for an interesting few seconds when doing 70 in the outside lane of the M6.

 

[raleighnut]

I don't think it makes much difference what speed you're driving, if the piston and valves make contact it's not going to end well. Though I remember reading (when it happened to me a while back) that apparently in a lot of American engines there is enough clearance above the crown that it can't happen, not sure if that's true. Anyway, I still have one bent valve from my Xantia as a souvenir.

Another breakdown that happened to me, and may be relevant here, involved failure of the MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor, which in a Ford results in the ECM taking it as a hint to kill the engine instantly. That made for an interesting few seconds when doing 70 in the outside lane of the M6.

The American engines you refer to were sidevalve or as termed over there 'flathead' V8s

 

[Illaveago]

The single OHC 1800cc Cavalier had sufficient clearance. My brother's Sri made a sound like somebody strimmming and then silence. He was lucky, no damage done.

 

[Cold]

When my car did the same it turned out to be the crankshaft sensor removed it cleaned it put it back in and never had a problem since.

 

[Levo-Lon]

A muti meter would be handy..

 

[sight-pin]

[QUOTE 4097206, member: 9609"]thats a bit like looking for a gas leak with a box of matches, if the belt has gone, spinning it on the starter will probably destroy the engine, one of the pistons will hit a valve and thats the egine buggered.

to the OP, going from your original post, its not your cam belt. Its 30 years since i worked on petrol engines, I just do diesels now, but I would start with ignition,


Yeh, rest it there, don't hold it with your fingers, - you get a fair tickle from an ignition coil.[/QUOTE]

It'll already be too late as far as putting a valve through a piston as he's been turning the engine during trying to start it. It could well be electrics i'm not saying it isn't, but my suggestion was just to check the belt. This can also be done by removing the key from ignition (just to be safe) selecting 2nd or 3d gear and rocking thr car back and forth. Oddly enough i'm also a time served x diesel mechanic.
Just to add, The cause could be anything, even down to lack of compression or simply driving through a puddle and knocking out the electrics from the info the OP supplied.

 

[swee'pea99]

In case anyone's interested (and thanks again for all who helped out) I gave up on any idea of trying a fix once the idea of damp had pretty much been ruled out, and had it flat-bed trucked away to the garage where they quickly tracked it to a worn out coil. Replaced, good as new. Had it serviced for good measure, new oil & anti-freeze and plugs - total damage £170, including the recovery. Pleased with that. As I said to 'er indores, 'Ed's Range Rover probably depreciates by more than that every week.'

 

[Illaveago]

Thanks for the news, it tends to play on your mind a bit "I wonder if they got it sorted?"

I am glad it is now fixed.

 

[Levo-Lon]

In case anyone's interested (and thanks again for all who helped out) I gave up on any idea of trying a fix once the idea of damp had pretty much been ruled out, and had it flat-bed trucked away to the garage where they quickly tracked it to a worn out coil. Replaced, good as new. Had it serviced for good measure, new oil & anti-freeze and plugs - total damage £170, including the recovery. Pleased with that. As I said to 'er indores, 'Ed's Range Rover probably depreciates by more than that every week.'

classic fault in older cars..leads, distributor cap, coil.. its working back from the plugs until you find where the electric feed stops..coils can be a pain..as they tend to be intermittent..

modern cars have coil packs integrated into the plug ht cap..so you have 3,4,5,6 of them etc to go wrong..

glad you got it sorted ..and the cost was very accetable..i think a basic service on my car is 220 touch ..grr