Completely dead but starts half hour later?

[MLH]

The sun was out today and so was the Exocet.

Ive hardly used it over the winter and took a few turns to get it to fire up. When it eventually did off i went.

About half hour later i stopped to fill up. Filled up, jumped in the car, turned the key and.......nothing!

It was giving just one click but no attempt to turn over.

Got on the phone to the RAC and arranged for them to come out. About half an hour in i decided to try again and it gave one of the sweetest starts ive ever had on the car!

So how can it go from absolutely nothing to starting first time in the space of 30 minutes with nothing having been done to the car during that time?

[stevensdrs]

Solenoid in the starter motor is sticking when hot.

[devnull]

As above, but also:

CAS Cam Angle Sensor
Crankshaft Positon Sensor (i bet it's this).

You say it's an exocet - can you still pull codes off the ECU to see what they say?

[MLH]

Thanks for the replies guys.

devnull said:

You say it's an exocet - can you still pull codes off the ECU to see what they say?

Im not sure as its running a Megasquirt at the moment.

[fatjon]

You can't get codes off a megasquirt but you can download Tunerstudio for free and see every signal, sensor and activity live in realtime which is worth much more than codes as a diagnostic tool. I use a Megasquirt on my turbo exocet and diagnosis is pretty easy when stuff goes wrong.

[thecremeegg]

Crank sensor sounds possible as I had this issue with my old Clio - wouldn't start randomly and then it would if you left it. Turns out the crank sensor was buggered and replacing it sorted the issue out.

[MLH]

fatjon said:

You can't get codes off a megasquirt but you can download Tunerstudio for free and see every signal, sensor and activity live in realtime which is worth much more than codes as a diagnostic tool. I use a Megasquirt on my turbo exocet and diagnosis is pretty easy when stuff goes wrong.

As i started reading that i realised how obvious your suggestion is and wondered why i hadnt thought of that sooner!

I turbocharged mine last year and have been using Tunerstudio ever since.

[citizensm1th]

check your engine earth strap I had this with an Audi 80 took for ever to work out what it was

[jhfozzy]

devnull said:

As above, but also:

CAS Cam Angle Sensor
Crankshaft Positon Sensor (i bet it's this).

You say it's an exocet - can you still pull codes off the ECU to see what they say?

I can understand if it's not firing, but why would those sensors stop it turning over?

[MX-5 Lazza]

jhfozzy said:

devnull said:

As above, but also:

CAS Cam Angle Sensor
Crankshaft Positon Sensor (i bet it's this).

You say it's an exocet - can you still pull codes off the ECU to see what they say?

I can understand if it's not firing, but why would those sensors stop it turning over?

They wouldn't. None of the engine sensors would. Its either the starter solenoid, battery or an electrical problem such as an earth connection.

[wildoliver]

It could be battery or earth strap but my guess with it happening when warm as opposed to cold (Battery and earth strap will show more when cold and engine needs most cranking effort, besides which when engine has been running a while even a poor battery will appear decent) it will be the starter motor, I seem to recall AK Automotive had an offer on used ones a while ago as I grabbed a couple, it was something silly like 10 or 15 quid each.

Hopefully on an exocet it's not the arse of a job it is on a 5.

[devnull]

MX-5 Lazza said:

jhfozzy said:

devnull said:

As above, but also:

CAS Cam Angle Sensor
Crankshaft Positon Sensor (i bet it's this).

You say it's an exocet - can you still pull codes off the ECU to see what they say?

I can understand if it's not firing, but why would those sensors stop it turning over?

They wouldn't. None of the engine sensors would. Its either the starter solenoid, battery or an electrical problem such as an earth connection.

You are right - i misread as 'Cranking but not firing', which would suggest those sensors - clicking is probs the solenoid. I hang my head in shame, etc.