4 replies to this topic

[MELANTRAFALLS]

Hi

 

The wife has a 1996 spi, which intermittently wont start. It cranks over but doesn't start. Other times it will crank over 5 or 6 times before it finally fires.

 

Ive already checked the battery voltage, coil voltage, all the earths, and replaced the coolant temp sensor but its still the same. Ive got no lights showing on the dash, and I cant get my snap on machine to talk to the car through rover, eobd, or heritage software. It had a new starter motor and the black relay pack around 2 months ago.

 

any pointers?

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[spiguy]

I would suggest disconnecting the crank sensor connector and cleaning up the contacts. The engine won't fire until it sees crank sensor pulses when cranking. That said, you shouldn't get coil voltage when cranking if the ECU hasn't seen pulses from the sensor... When you got a reading on the coil, were you cranking the engine, and was it a time when the car did fire, or didn't?

 

My 92 SPi seems to take about 5 cranks (well, technically that will be 5 compression strokes,but you know what I mean - 5 dips in the cranking speed) before it fires when it's cold. But it does always start.

[humph]

On the diagnostics front have you got the machine plugged into the correct socket? There are two identical sockets in the engine bay, one is diagnostics (Black cover), one is alarm (green cover). 

 

When was your fuel filter last changed? I had a similar issue last year and changed a few bits, but the problem eventually appeared to be a block fuel filter. This may have been caused by the fact it hadn;t been chagned for a couple of years or the fact that the car had stood over the winter with fuel deteriorating in the tank (& filter).

 

My spi fires immediately even when cold.

Edited by humph, 24 April 2015 - 11:50 AM.

[FlyingScot]

Start with the basics, lack of dash tell tale lights plus your intermittent issue points to earths (which you have checked) and the fuse box.
Ive had issues with SPis before where the fuse box looked great but when I unscrewed it from the bulkhead it was all corroded in the back.
If not this then it's a big cup of tea a wiring diagram and a multimeter to check out why some elements don't have power.
You mention cranking and sparking but what about fuel? Does the pump prime when the key is turned to II ?

FS

[spiguy]

Sorry, didn't notice the bit about no dash lights   Go with FlyingScot's advice....