TD4 Diesel 2001 - won't start

[bubble16]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what I can try with the useless hunk of junk I currently have parked outside my house!!

We have been having intermittent problems with it stopping when you are driving (lose all power, grind to a halt, won't restart) or not starting full stop. The first time it happened (stopped when driving) we took it to the local garage who recharged the battery (OH tried so many times to get it to restart he killed it), checked it over and couldn't find anything wrong with it. Ended up pressing a red button on the right at the back of the engine and it started. Since then every time it has happened (about 5 more times) the magic red button has been pressed and the thing has started.

Until of course this morning. I got in it, started fine, drove to the end of the road to turn around and the red battery warning light flashed. Decided (a) wasn't going to drive it anywhere as I didn't want to get stranded (b) check handbook to see what it meant. Stopped back outside my house, checked handbook (not good news) then thought I would check to see if it was still on or if it was a one off due to the torrential rain we are having (I am an optimist!) Wouldn't start, just clicked. Locked and unlocked the car, no change, pressed the magic button, no change.

I have looked on different forums for suggestions and am now fairly sure my key fob batteries are low, beeping when I get in the car, would this make a difference? I am presuming not as from what I understand the immobiliser works off a chip in the key. Someone else with a similar problem replaced the ignition switch - could this be the problem?

As I am sure you have gathered from the this rather rambling explanation my mechanical knowledge is pretty much limited to where to put the diesel so please make any suggestions idiot proof. Thankyou!!

[TEMPL4R]

If the red button is square shaped and on the bulkhead, that is the inertia switch, it cuts the fuel off in an accident. They do go sensitive, pressing it resets it.
To test it, you can pull the plug off the bottom and bridge the two wires.

If it's just clicking and the inertia keeps tripping, that can be low battery voltage. Check it's charging. Most car systems give problems with low battery voltage. Constant jump starting doesn't help either as that creates surges and ECUs log faults.

If it does spin over and just will not fire and the battery drains, get an injector bypass test done to see if one is leaking. It's acommon rail engine, that means all the injectors use a common high pressure feed and if one is losing pressure, the lot do.

You really need to start with a fully charged battery and go from there.

Chris

[bubble16]

"If it's just clicking and the inertia keeps tripping, that can be low battery voltage. Check it's charging. Most car systems give problems with low battery voltage. Constant jump starting doesn't help either as that creates surges and ECUs log faults."

Thankyou for your reply. Its round but I think it is something to do with the fuel, although my log book says this is only on petrol models?? The battery thing makes sense as the red battery warning light means there is a problem charging the battery. Does this mean the battery is knackered or something more serious? Or do I need to change the battery and take it from there? NO idea how to check it is charging.

[TEMPL4R]

If the charge light is on, it isn't charging so you need to check the system out. Don't just assume it's the alternator, a lot of cars use an ECU to control it.


Inertia switches are usually on petrol engined vehicles, but are being fitted to a lot of cars now.

Chris

[bubble16]

Yay, trip to the garage on Monday it is then :-( Thankyou for the help