Hi everyone!
Wife was driving home yesterday when car lost all power and ground to a halt! Towed car home and now it won't start. The engine cranks but does not fire up.
Checked the plugs were firing, checked cambelt was still ok, checked all fuses all ok, put a gallon of petrol in as the guage was showing a quarter full (just in case fuel guage was faulty!)
I've had the car for nearly 5 years and it has been regularly serviced and belts and pulleys changed. It has been running great, has 92K on the clock.
Any ideas greatly appreciated!
GazKaz
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Can you hear the fuel pump prime itself when you turn the key to position 2?
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Hi Dave
Yup, checked that as well. Pump does prime when key is in position 2
GazKaz
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Not sure about the Z18XE but on my pre facelift Vectra there are separate relays for the fuel pump and the injectors, maybe worth checking to see if yours is the same. I bypassed the injector relay with a paperclip and the car started in my case.
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Hi SpamCan61
Had a auto electrician come out before. He checked if there were any fault codes showing, and there was not. Then checked to see if the fuel was getting to the fuel rail by the injectors and there was none. Then he shorted the fuel relay to check that the pump was operating and it was. Then went to the top of the fuel pump underneath rear seats, disconnected the fuel pipe, shorted the fuel relay again and petrol was flowing. He then disconnected the fuel line under the car, after the fuel filter, and he said that only a very small amount came out so he suspected a blocked fuel filter.
I have replaced the fuel filter and it still will not start! He told me to call him tomorrow if I still have a problem.
Any other ideas would be appreciated
Cheers
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I'm not an expert but at the end of the day if the car is not firing at all then it is missing one of the 3 critical ingredients, spark, fuel and air.
You've eliminated any spark issues, so that leaves air or fuel. Presumably if the throttle butterfly was not opening at all there would be error codes ( I'm assuming it's drive by wire) , so that only leaves fuel. If the injectors aren't getting the voltage from the relay then that should generate error codes. All 4 would not fail at once. Has the fuel rail re-pressurised properly? I've no idea how to check that. :-/. Total ECU failure would've been noticed.
I'm stumped.
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Could possibly be a blocked exhaust.You did mention in your first post that the car gradually lost power.hth
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Hi elekie&a/c doctor
Can't see how it could be a blocked exhaust. It seems to be a fuelling problem, it's not getting to the fuel rail by the injectors. I read the Haynes a little last night and there is a fuel filter inside the fuel pump. Could this be blocked?
The car lost all power suddenly, and when my wife stopped, she couldn't get it re-started.
The auto electrician is coming back out this afternoon to have another look. He was quite surprised that it was not the fuel filter. Ah well, least there's a new one on now tho!
Thanks
GazKaz
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some times the fuel pipe from the pump to the closure plate comes of and the pump just dumps the fuel back into the tank the fuel pressure reg is on the end of the rail so that wont be an issue lift the rear seats and remove the grommit and you should see the plate open and check that the pipes are on feed and return Regards TB
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PROBLEM RESOLVED !
topbloke, exactly as you described! The fuel pipe from the pump to the closure plate had indeed come off at the pump. It was held on by one of those crimp pipe connectors. I slid it back on and the engine sprang into life! I'm gonna replace the old crimp for a jubilee clip first thing tomorrow morning si it does not happen again.
Thank you to everyone who had an input. I really do appreciate the expert guidence I have recieved over the last couple of days.
topbloke by name, topbloke by nature ;-)
Cheers everyone!
GazKaz
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