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« on: 15 June 2007, 14:10:25 »
My first post here and all I can bring is problems, problems ... sorry :-/
I have a V6 estate auto on an R plate which I've driven from new and which now has 88K on the clock. Despite regular servicing, it's had all the "standard" faults - water leak, oil cooler, oil leaks from the camshaft covers (and probably more things I can't remember!) and now I have something new that's driving me crackers. It's a problem I have seen reported on other forums on the 'web, but I couldn't find a specific reference to it here ...
On odd occasions (often many months apart) over the last three years or so, the engine has failed to start. Sometimes after a few minutes cranking the starter (not continuously!!) it will spring into life and will run fine for months thereafter. There's no smell of unburnt fuel when the engine is cranking, sometimes the rev counter needle 'jumps' initially before dropping to zero and sometimes it doesn't move. The EFL doesn't flash but remains lit steadily.
On two occasions in the last year, I gave up trying to start it and 1) called my pet mobile mechanic to look at it and 2) got a friend to tow me to the local VX dealership for them to look at.
1) the car started for him next morning without any problem
2) the car started for them next morning and they reported no fault codes found by their fancy gizmo
I thought about what had changed between it not starting for me, but being ok some time later. The only thing I could think of was that I had removed the key and operated the central locking. I guessed it could be the immobilizer so when it happened again this morning, I took the key out, climbed out the car and locked the doors.
Unfortunately, when I unlocked and tried to start it again, it still wouldn't !!
So, to cut a long story sh ... ahh, too late, sorry. I tried my spare key with the same result, re-programmed the 'normal' key and that didn't help either. I then spent a while smurfing the Interweb to see if I could find some helpful information while waiting for the local VX dealers to open. About 45 mins later, I decided to give the car one more try before calling the garage ... It started on the first turn of the key and sat there purring happily while I shouted rude words at it.
One more bit of information - last Summer, a bit less than a year ago, I had a problem with the car stalling at lights/junctions after about 20 minutes of driving. VX dealer changed the crankshaft sensor and cured the problem. (So I'm disinclined to believe the current problem is caused by the crankshaft sensor).
I feel that if only I could find out definitively what signals the ECU requires to see before switching on the sparks and sending fuel to the injectors, it might be possible to verify them by measurement and pinpoint the cause of the engine failing to start.
Others have reported pretty much identical symptoms in what I read on the web this morning, but the causes and cures are rather less certain.
So, can anybody help this desperate man? Please?
