Why the feck wont it start???

[paul-wh]

The Tuscan has been out on the driveway for the past few weeks while we were having some work done on the boiler and its way of repaying me for leaving it out in all that snow was a flat battery. Totally flat! Not even a flashing immobiliser LED.

After leaving it overnight on the heavy duty battery charger/starter which I now keep in the boot I got in the car, turned on the ignition, pressed the button on the key fob and didnt get the whirr of the fuel pump and the oil light didnt go on. Needless to say when I turned the key nothing happpened! Tried inserting the immobilser key into the socket and then starting it and still nothing. The key fob button does work because it sets/unsets the alarm okay. I have checked the fuel pump fuse and this seemes okay.

I have checked the manual about the immobiliser and it says after pushing in the immobiliser key the light will extinguish which it doesnt. It lights solid for a couple of seconds and then continues to flash as before. Any ideas what it should do really?

Anybody else had this problem and solved it before I start to rip out all the other fuses to see if they are okay? I have had a look at them in their sockets and none look blown.

Cheers in advance.

Paul.

[CraigAlsop]

Maybe your battery is knackered?

[paul-wh]

I did wonder that however the voltage on the display says between 12.5 and 13 volts and all electrical things in the car work fine. With the lights on main beam they dont dim when I turn the ignition which I might have expected if the battery wasnt holding a charge.

[luca brazzi]

Tried pressing the fuel sender reset in the boot, under the flap where the tyre weld cans are. There's a 'thing' sticking out with like a button on it. Press it and try again. Purely guessing though.

Steve

[paul-wh]

Hi Steve,

How yer doing? I did try that but I shall try again a few times like you suggest.

Cheers

Paul

[TUS 373]

Could it be possible that the alarm is now out of sync with the key fob/s? There is a procedure to resynchronise them. When I got my car and was going on holiday with it, I dug the spare keys out to find they did not work. A quick call to a dealer gave me the method to re-sync and it was fine then. Not sure whether that has anything to do with the immobiliser though. I expect if the fob can get you into the car, it should be capable of being started assuming no other problems. I'll shut up now..............

[johnwilk]

Probably a long shot, but some Tuscans have suffered from poor earthing contact at the earth strap due to corrosion. Might be worth checking?

[bertie]

If the immobiliser LED isn't going out it sounds very much like an alarm / immobiliser problem.

If the battery has been very flat, and mine has done this, the immobiliser can think that when the voltage changes rapidly when you charge it, it's being tampered with and lock out for a period, 20 mins I think.

If the battery is now re-charged try locking it and leaving it a while, then give it a try.

Other than that, give it a kicking and phone the dealer!

[paul-wh]

Bertie,

I spoke to the dealer and they also reckon an immobiliser/alarm problem. The likelihood is that the alarm and keys have gone out of sync. They say the only method to reset it is to plug it into the Meta software at the garage and reset them.

I'm of home now to break of a branch and give it a damn good thrashing for misbehaving like that.

Cheers

Paul