Starter Failure on 2.5 V6 2002 Conn

[PaulG]

Went to fire up this morning, engine started, but I was a bit quick with the clutch and stalled it. Went to re-start the engine, and could hear the starter motor turn but it didn't seem to turn over the engine. Needless to say the engine wouldn't re-start. At this point I abandonded ship and used the other 75 to get to work, so haven't looked under the bonnet yet. Once I get home I'll start having a look to see what is / isn't happening, but thought I'd ask if anyone has encoutered this before. I am assuming that the the starter dog isn't getting thrown in to turn the engine at the moment, but I haven't even looked under the bonnet yet, so am speculating really.
Anyone else got any thoughts please?

[PaulG]

Got home this evening, and started to investigate briefly in the pouring rain. Turns out that it is turning the engine over OK, it was just me thinking that it was sounding a bit too free. Therefore it's either fuel or electrics.
It has been sat on the drive for over a week, facing up hill, and we've had a lot of rain recently. Checked the left hand plenium chamber - full of water, even though I check it on a regular basis. It's too dark and wet tonight to start dismantling to check the centre one, but I currently fear the worst and am assuming that it could be a drowned ECU.:eek:
Will update this thread once I've had chance to investigate further.
Regards
Paul

[Mike]

Good luck Paul. Bit of a bummer those flippin drains!! :( Hopefully it'll pull through. Give the ecu 24 hours to dry out to give it every chance of working!

Mike

[davehockley]

Even though the plenum chamber is full of water it's possible that it has just flooded. I had exactly the same thing happen on my V6 190 a few months back. I stalled it when starting from cold, then left it for a few moments, then when I tried to start it again it just kept spinning over so I left it until the next day and it still didn't want to know so I held the throttle fully open and just kept spinning it over until it started, which took over a minute, with breaks in-between of course so that nothing got damaged. I never had any trouble with it again.

Regards,

Dave

[PaulG]

Thanks Mike,
Still lashing it down with rain.... Starting to wonder whether any of the longships will actually float or whether I need to consider building an ark.

[Simon]

Sounds like a flooded engine. It's happened to me in different cars in the past. The start-up sequence will have a higher fuel-suply because of the engine being cold and therefore it is easier to flood the engine if you stall it moments after it has started.

Leaving the engine for a while will give the excess fuel time to drain/evaporate away and therefore allowing you to start the car.

Nothing to worry about unless the stalling is happening frequently and without obvious cause.

[PaulG]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the advise regarding the likelihood of it being a flooded engine. Tonight has been the first evening when it hasn't been lashing down with rain, so have ventured out and checked the middle plenum chamber. It had a small amount of water in the bottom which wasn't draining, so I've sorted that. Doesn't look like it had drowned the ECU as I feared....when things go wrong I tend to look for some of the worst possibilities, that way I just might get a pleasant suprise.

Anyway, having re-assembled the plenum area, I tried firing up the engine. It span over, seemed to think about running on a couple of cylinders, then quit. Several more attempts, plus a little playing with the throttle gradually increased the cylinders being woken up, with all six suddenly deciding that they were happy to do their part. Have warmed it through on the drive and it has fired up perfectly well since, so all being well everything will be back to normal. Presume this would suggest that it may well have been a case of becoming flooded as you have suggested. I'll try not to stall it as soon as it has fired up in the future!

Will give it a run tommorrow to see how it goes, hopefully it will be business as usual.

Thanks again for the help.
Regards
Paul

[Mike]

:D

Glad its all sorted

Mike

[PaulG]

Thanks Mike,
Me too .....looking on the bright side of not being able to use the Conn manual for three days, it has given me an excuse to exercise the Conn SE Auto, usually kept for high days and holidays. It was past time for me to take it out for a decent run, just means it needs a good clean again!

[Simon]

Nice to hear things seem to have sorted themselves out. Let's hope it continues that way! ;) :lol: