Engine turns over but won't start

[Thorburn]

Just gone to start the car to head into work a bit early and the engine is turning over but won't start - sometimes after turning over a few times there is a clunking noise and it cuts completely before starting to turn over again.

Its got about half a tank of fuel in and is parked on the flat and I've checked the obvious things - coolant levels are just below max, oil was topped up recently, all fuses look okay, no mayo under the oil cap - so does anyone have any ideas of the cause and a possible solution?

[rfoster]

Tried resetting the inertia switch? That cuts off the fuel but doesn't stop the car from cranking.

[Gad-Westy]

Erm, what car is it?

[MiniDiva]

Might be the fuse for the fuel pump if it's an S1 - happens quite a bit apparently according to the AA man. Mine went and completely melted the fuse holder. (I think it was for the fuel pump anyway, something with the fuel system) Fuse was at the bottom left corner of engine bay (near battery) as you look from the back.

[Gooby]

3 choices for a fault.
Electrical.
Mechanical
Fuel

If it will turn over then you have electrics and mechanics. Start tracing the fuel supply. Start with the fuses for fuel pump. Check there is a spark at the plugs....

Sod it and call the AA.

[Thorburn]

Gad-Westy said:

Erm, what car is it?

S1, 118bhp K-series.

[Bill K 111]

If you grab the little black box attached to the ECU (left hand side of engine bay behind the boot/engine divider) and give it (and it's wires) a wiggle, that might bring it back to life. In which case you need a new black box. It's a fuel pump relay fault. This worked for me and I ordered a replacement from Eliseparts.

[Thorburn]

Will give that a try, cheers.

Where abouts is the fuse for the fuel pump? I can't seem to find it on the diagram on SELOC Techwiki. Going to pop back home in a bit to see if I can get it running again.

[Gad-Westy]

Thorburn said:

Gad-Westy said:

Erm, what car is it?

S1, 118bhp K-series.

ok, you really to establish why its not starting before replacing bits otherwise lots of little bits can ge expensive quickly. When you turn the key in the ignition, do you hear the fuel pump priming (whirring noise)? If not, skip to the bit of my reply about fuel.

When you turn it, does it try to fire at all? If not, you can rule out spark plugs and leads as you'd have to be very unlucky for all four to go at once. Its worth at this point whipping, the spark plugs out to see if they are telling you anything. If they're wet on the tips, the engine is getting fuel but no sparks, if they're whitened, the engine is sparking but no fuel.

If you have a spark problem, things to look at are your coil and its associated electrical connections right back to ECU and whip the dizzy cap off and check everything ok in there.

If you're not getting fuel, I'd say its most likely to be one of three things.

First thing is try the inertia switch (which can go off for no apparent reason it would seem). Its located underneath the ECU and wiring. Will be a black rubber switch facing upwards. You'll probably not be able to see it I'm afraid. When you find it, give the centre of it a push, if you hear it click, this will probably cure your problem.

The next thing to check is the fuel pump fuse. On my '99 111s, its accessed via the boot on the passenger side of the car underneath a plastic cover. Look for a blue fuse. I understand on earlier cars it may be located at the front of the car.

It could be the MFRU as mentionned. If its in the same place as my car, you'll find it attached to the front of the ECU. Its a black plastic box about the size of a fag packet. It has two electrical connectors going to it. Take these off by sqeezing their clips and have a look at the contacts on the MFRU unit. On mine one was black as it had burnt out. I actually got a couple more weeks out of mine after it had been cleaned up so you could give the contacts a liberal coat of WD40 or similar and see if this helps.

Hope that's some help. Keep us posted.

Edited by Gad-Westy on Thursday 14th August 15:08

[Thorburn]

Big thanks for the advice everyone.

Got back early from work and been having a look around.

Fuel pump can be heard priming when I turn the key, checked over the fuse and inertia switch just in case and both are fine.

The engine seems to catch and spin up to around 500rpm, before cutting again. I wouldn't know what to look for with regards to the distribution cap so guessing its time to get someone professional involved

Worst case I can just push it to the Dick Lovett Lotus, its only around a quarter of a mile away and flat all the way

Edited by Thorburn on Thursday 14th August 17:57

[Matelotman]

Have you checked the spark plugs? If the car is parked outside, the plugs may be doing the backstroke under the cover

[Thorburn]

Matelotman said:

Have you checked the spark plugs? If the car is parked outside, the plugs may be doing the backstroke under the cover

I didn't have time as was out last night and couldn't work out how to get the leads off - didn't want to force them and risk damaging anything.

The car spends most its time parked up in my garage, but the last time I used it had been parked at work in the rain.

[trondhb]

I had similar problems some months ago and as it eventually turned out it was the camshaft sensor that had to be replaced. Take a look at the topic on Seloc and see if you recognise the symptoms (one guy has even provided a YouTube video clip): http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=163083&...

The sensor cost £68.09 from EliseParts: http://www.eliseparts.com/shop/index.php?main_page...

[Thorburn]

Pretty much out of desperation tried disconnecting, cleaning and re-connecting all the large connectors I could find, plugged in the jump starter, and it turned over a few times then fired up.

Driven it 65 miles and all seems fine, stopped a couple times and restarted no problem so guess it must just have been a loose connection somewhere

Thanks for all the help and advice guys

[Matelotman]

good to hear (plug leads just pull off)