Help - Car won\'t start....

[mark-ashley]

Hello all !
 
I have an FDS3 which has been running fine for the last year or so. I started to get high engine tempratures so at the advice of Clive, changed the rad for a Koyo as there were no leaks on the system so put down to a fuzzed up rad.
 
At the same time, i had the fuel filter and plugs changed all round, again, supplied by Clive and fitted by my mechanic.
 
Car ran sweet although on a couple of occasions the coolant alarm went off, it looked like it was losing water but i have since topped up and all seemed fine, car ran without the alarm buzzing in my ear !
 
I went to check the coolant  again as i was a bit worried that i may still have a leak, coolant appears to be full to the brim, i also replaced the filler cap as i dropped that into the engine (i have since recovered it), filler cap supplied by Clive, i mention his name as he knows way more about these cars than i and would always supply the right part, fired up the car, left it running for a minute or so and then shut it down and left it overnight.
 
I didn\'t move the car without a filler cap in place.
 
Came out the next morning and found some tosser had hit it again leaving me a nice crack in the front end which i have just had re-done for the same reason and again, surprise surprise, no note to say sorry, here\'s my insurance details etc...
 
Went to fire up the car, turns over but won\'t start and the coolant light and annoying alarm comes on again, kept turning it over till i ran the battery down which didn\'t take very long, not impressed, bought jump leads, tried to jump start, no joy, turns over but won\'t start.
 
It almost starts and then dies much like it is flooded...
 
I have tried starting it with the clutch down in first with full throttle pressed to try and clear any flooding but doesn\'t seem to make a difference.
 
Called the AA, they checked that the plugs had voltage on them which they did, they also messed about with the fuel pump relay and checked some fuses but no joy, still won\'t start.
 
The plugs i had fitted were FD-IG001-NGK BUR 9EQ SPARK PLUGSand as i said, when it came out of the garage it was fine, ran like a dream.
 
It has been a bit cold here but it has started fine from cold before, has never let me down.
 
I have noticed that when i have stopped turning it over there is a residual white smoke creeping out of the exhaust, it has always smoked white a little when starting up but then clears once the auto choke thing dies down and the RPM\'s idle down to about 1000....
 
Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated as i will now have to drive a 1.4 fiesta till it\'s fixed !
 
Cheers
 
Mark

[shaunwil]

Sounds like the battery is dead and the consequent turning over has flooded the car. The cold weather kills batteries for fun.

Stick the battery on charge and then when charged press the accelerator fully down and turn over, do it for about 10secs and then turn off, turn over same way a couple of times. Then try and start it. Should splutter into life !

Shaun

[mark-ashley]

the battery is deffo dead, have been trying to jumps start it off a fiesta. Tried the accelarator down trick too but no joy. Maybe there isn\'t enough juice in the  battery or the plugs are soaking wet now too. I\'ll pull the battery and charge it tonight, don\'t fancy trying to get the plugs out unless I really have to. Don\'t have a garage or drive so will have to be done on the street.

[nikp]

I would say it\'s flooded, and can\'t start to poor battery. Early in my ownership I had the same thing. Couldn\'t start my flooded car. Mind you, that time i did manage to start it off a jump. But if the battery is fubar then I would look into buying a brand spanking new one.

[jackaleks]

had exactly the same thing and cleared it up today.

pulled all the plugs yesterday and blocked the holes. cleaned the plugs with a little WD40 and scratched off any crap then left them overnight in in the boiler cupboard. stuck them back in this morning and jump started it from my Astra no problem!

i also squirted oil into the plug holes and gave the engine a hand crank before blocking up the holes overnight.

[mark-ashley]

how difficult did you find getting the plugs out, have yet to try this one on my own!

[jackaleks]

it\'s a pain in the arse, but if i can do it any diy mechanic can!

jack the car up and get under the passenger side. you should be able to get to the plugs from there. i just used a small ratchet spanner with a swivel socket extension and a 14mm plug socket.

it\'s more awkward than difficult, as it\'s so tight under there. i had more trouble plugging the holes (bits of clean, non-fluffy rag) than getting the spark plugs in and out.

[mark-ashley]

wicked, well, if it doesn\'t start after the battery charge then that is what i\'ll have to do, thing is, i\'m no mechanic so the only jack i own is the one that came with it and my collection of tools are not worth writing about !
 
Fingers crossed for the battery !

[jackaleks]

it\'s quite a fiddly job and you need to spend a bit of time under there, so there\'s no way i\'d do it without a pair of axle stands at least. i\'d never trust the little Mazda jack!

[nicholasnismo]

I flooded mine a while back and was told to put a bit of enging in the plenum, remove the black flexi hose on the left hand side of the plenum and pour in a bit of engine oil, will smoke like hell when started but did the trick for me.
 
Nick

[mark-ashley]

Hmm, gonna try the battery first i think !
 
Whne you say remove the black hose on the side of the plenum, ss that the little black hose that goes onto the standard ABV ?
 
I whipped that out and replaced it with a bailey dump valve so i now have a blue pipe going to the side of the plenum, it\'s a bloody small hole to get some oil into though !
 
I\'m at work at the moment and can\'t picture what hoses go to the plenum off the top of my head, all i can remember is there\'s an intake elbow on the right which you can take off to get to the "bloody hard to get to" spark plugs !
 
As for jack stands, true true, supplied jack is good enough for changing a wheel but not for working under the car, will be giving the missues dad a call again to see if i can borrow some jack stands and a decent jack, borrowed a battery charger off him last night !
 
Hopefully a fully charged battery will do the trick :-)

[nicholasnismo]

it\'s about 14/15mm pipe on the left of the plenum which goes over to the servo I think.
 
Nick

[mark-ashley]

OK, so, i called the friendly AA people again as they have more tools than i have !
 
Pulled the plugs, made sure they were clean, cranked over with the EGI fuse out to clear any residual fuel.
 
Only seems to be the top two that are getting wet according to the AA guy.
 
Also had the battery hooked up to the AA guys truck to charge.
 
Heated up the plugs and injected a little oil into where the plugs go, refitted plugs, cranked over, then put the EGI back in, splutter but no firing.
 
Car still won\'t budge.
 
Am concerned that A: it won\'t start and B: the coolant alarm keeps coming on everytime when blatantly there is coolant aplenty, it\'s full to the brim.
 
Have also noticed where we have been trying to turn it over that fuel is dripping out from somewhere, AA guy said that is probably fuel coming back up from the exhaust and out of the cat ?
 
There was no sign of fuel leakage on Saturday when i tried to get it going...
 
Maybe also i have fuel leak but if that was the case then i think there would have been way more fuel on the floor considering how much i have been trying to get it started...
 
So the car has now been left still not working and with all plugs and leads back in....
 
If i carry on trying to fire it up i\'m going to burn out the starter motor.
 
With the constant coolant alarm buzzing and after reading through a few threads, maybe the ECU is gone ?
 
Could i have blown it trying to jump start ?
 
Anyways, i\'m at a bit of a loss now, anybody live near Brixton that knows a thing or two about these crazy cars that could give me a hand ?
 
I make great tea and am willing to supply food and possibly cash !
 
Basically, HELP !

[mark-ashley]

STILL NO JOY !
 
I have deflooded the enging countless times, AA have been out three times, i\'ve towed the ******* thing round the block ten times and still no go....
 
Anybody got a can of petrol i can pour over the bloody thing as i feel like setting fire to it....

[Kevin]

I was going to say bump start it but sounds like you\'ve already tried it.  There must be something more than just flooded if it wont even bump start.

Have you checked that you\'re getting spark, fuel and compression correctly?