Hi guys, so this is a recent issue, but honest to god I'm struggling. Simply put, my 2004 Smart (automatic gearbox) wouldn't start one morning. Two attempts produced very weak coughing followed by death, the third one didn't even get the engine rolling. I'm very diligent about checking my lights are off and stuff whenever I leave the car, but a dead battery was still my first idea. Got a mechanic cousin to take a look at it... And then come back, and keep looking.

We installed a new battery. The engine would start wheezing, but ultimately wouldn't start. We checked the fuel pump. We checked the fuses. We even went and poured some extra fuel into the damn thing to make sure it wasn't running low. Because it's such a damn particular fussy little thing, it won't let my cousin run diagnostics, because he doesn't have the right computer program for it. Currently looking into that.

Granted, the car is old, but it's been very well taken care of, the mileage is only at 80k, and never showed any prior signs of just up and dying on me. Where we stand right now, with a new battery, is the engine coughing and wheezing perpetually but never starting, the fuel pump functioning properly but never delivering the fuel to the engine I guess? And that's it. I'm at a loss, my service guy is on holiday, and it's a b***** nightmare trying to find someone to take a look at it in my a***-end of nowhere corner of the world. It's like someone came in the dead of night and cut a tube, I don't know. If we managed to run diagnostics, we'd probably get an error code and would learn more, but still. Figured I'd ask around, see if anyone maybe had a similar issue at some point. Any and all advice is much appreciated folks.