03 CDTi Not Starting\Cutting Out

[olliewarwick]

In the right forum now...

Hi All,

I'm having a bit of a problem with my car. There is a bit of history to this problem which can be found in this thread:

http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...d.php?t=219445 (http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=219445)

but basically I came out of the leisure centre a couple of weeks ago and the car wouldn't start. Checked the plenum and there was quite a bit of water in there, which I poked out and it drained out however, the bottom of the ecu was bone dry. A day later it started but I noticed, after it was pointed out by MarinaBrian that the oil light hadn't been on, but after a day of leaving it turned the ignition on, oil light on and it started. I took it to PhilT4 who gave the ECU the once over cleaned and checked it, also looked at the immobiliser unit as that had seen some work in the past and had a historic issue of water ingress caused by the sunroof drain, again checked and working.

Now up to Monday this week. We had rain for the first time and my girlfriend took the car out and went swimming, coming out of the car park and the car cut out, no warning just stopped. Called me, I described the oil light to her and she assured me that it was not alight (but she is not a car person so this hasn't been verified) when trying to start the car. I went out to her and the car and by the time I got there the oil light was on and it started. I checked the plenum and there was no water this time at all.

I checked the drain from the sunroof by the immobiliser unit and that appeared to be fine, and bone dry too, further to that the immobiliser unit was well out of the way for the drain.

It's worth noting that when this happens the car does crank over, it just doesn't fire.

Tank is well over half full and I can hear the under bonnet pump, not the under seat one. That said, we've had the tank almost completely empty and it starts fine.

It isn't heat related as when it happened to me it had been sat for about an hour and later about 3 hours, when it happened to Francesca it had been sat about 10 mins.

Both times it had rained.

Any suggestions would be very welcome at the moment as we are down to one, pretty unreliable, car at the moment.

Thanks in advance.

Ollie

[Greeners]

Check under the carpets for water

[olliewarwick]

Cheers greeners. I had a look at it's damp but not wringing yet. I'm sure it's had a leak in the past. What you thinking?

[Greeners]

I'd get the seats and carpets out, and sort all the sunroof drains out.

Check the extent of how long its been wet.

The side impact sensors are probably swimming

Not that it'll affect the starting, but long term its a problem waiting to happen

[olliewarwick]

Will do. But at the moment the car not starting is causing me a bit more of an issue. I've seen little adapters that have been used for the sunroof drains. Currently mine are in tact so I'm guessing this is not the issue, but willing to be proved wrong.

Ollie

[Greeners]

Ollie, I'd assume your carpet is full of water.....

[olliewarwick]

Fair enough. I guess that's the first job then. Is that an easy task? I assume it's time consuming, but are there any pitfalls.

Do you think water in the carpets could be causing it to cut out? Do you know why the oil light wouldn't be on when it fails to start?

Thanks,
Ollie

[Greeners]

It's time consuming more then anything.....

It may be a case of getting Phil to have a good look over....The oil warning light is driven by the ECU......