Dreaded Engine start/No start.. please help!

[roryfromnz]

Good morning peeps!

I was desperatly hoping some one on here would be able to help me with my problem... :-(

This morning i went to start my car up and all i get is cranking with no fire.. Seems very strange as this past weekend i drove the car down to Rotorua and back (400kms+) and it drove relativly well.. Although i had noticed it boost cutting every now and then under heavy load.. boost pressure is set to 10psi? Anyways once i got back the car had been sitting for a few days not being used. Then this morning .. no go!

I turn ign on and the dash lights up fine, CEL comes on and then after a few secs goes off.. Then when i turn the car over it cranks for a while then the CEL light comes back on?

I have some time to check things after work.. I did a look around on the forum and found a whole list of other things people has suggested to try. Im going to check fuses, ill check there is fuel going to the rail and also spark... I unplugged the cable that goes to the MAF and reinserted along wit the two plugs on the belt side.. a grey one and a black one.. one ran to the injectors.. Tested and same thing..

Any suggestions would be greatly appreacated as i am lost!

Thanks again!

Rory

[Nick Mann]

Fuel? I know of someone who has called out the rac because they thought the car was dead. It was just a blown lamp in the fuel warning light.

[Subaru ETA]

Has it been moved a short distance and turned off? Try a flood start - foot flat on the accelerator and wind it over for a good 30 secs without stopping.

When you do this does it cough or smell rich?

[Davezj]

the two connector on the pulley end of the engine are the crank angle sensor and the cam angle sensor. if you disconnect these and try and start the car, the ecu sees there is a fault with the sensors and the ecu shuts off the spark and the fuel.
doing this will cause some error codes to be logged and the next time you look at the error code you will see these logged.

there was a post on here a few weeks ago about non starting car that was driven to it's resting place, and then in the orning would not start.It turned out that the car was parked on a slope and there was not much fuel in it and it was a case of there was no/very little fule pick up due to the fuel running away from the pump due to the slope so it would not start.
if you have red light or only maybe 1/8 of a tank, get 15L of fuel and put it to make sure, or role it to a flat area and try and start it
hope you have lots of fuel in it.

[roryfromnz]

Hey guys, thanks for the info. Will try the flood method tonight to see what happens.
I have over 1/2 a tank of gas and its premium 98+ so shouldnt be a problem with an empty tank?

The other thing is while it had been sitting we have had a bit of a rain storm for the past 3 days.. the car sits outside so perhaps something has shorted? The car doesnt leak inside.. but im guessing it might be related..

[roryfromnz]

Oh and it is sitting in a flat position

[Gly]

check the crank sensor wring, and the IFS sensor,

[Gly]

you should prob pull the error codes, ground pin 1 on the obd plug, search for error codes on the forum.

[swinks]

My money on either crank angle sensor or ifs like Carsten suggested.

[roryfromnz]

Thanks Carsten
will i need something to read the diagnostic.codes? Ill check all wiring tonight over a bottle of beer or two... haha

Im abit of a noob for.names so what is the ifs sensor and where is it located?

[Nick Mann]

Ignition Failure Sensor.

Located near the oil filler cap, bolted to the front rocker cover.

[Davezj]

Thanks Carsten
will i need something to read the diagnostic.codes? Ill check all wiring tonight over a bottle of beer or two... haha

Im abit of a noob for.names so what is the ifs sensor and where is it located?

you will have to clear the error codes you created when you you unplagged the crank and cam sensors before as the codes are stored once triggered and even if the error goes away the error code is still stored and displayed when you check them next time.
disconnect the battery of a few mins and then reconnect it. this will clear all the error code relating to the cam and crank sensor.
then try starting the car again and you will get only the code that are actually happening now.

[Gly]

Thanks Carsten
will i need something to read the diagnostic.codes? Ill check all wiring tonight over a bottle of beer or two... haha

Im abit of a noob for.names so what is the ifs sensor and where is it located?

no, just a bit of wire to ground the diagnosis pin, and the errors will flash on the dash, like morse code...

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthr...ht=error+codes


the IFS is the little black thing on the front cam cover, you can bybass it and the car will start (if its the issue) by connecting pin 3 and 4
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthr...cation-Removal

[roryfromnz]

Awesum thanks again! Looks like i have some tinkering todo tonight! :-)

[roryfromnz]

Slight development and more questions.

So i came home and i tried to start the car. Car Started! for about 2 seconds then died.. Checked the IFS tried to short pins 3 and 4 no difference.. I tried the flood start no difference..
I took the back seat out and took the fuel pump panel off turned ignition on and i couldnt hear any fuel pump noise but i couldnt take the pump out as i was unable to unscrew the big black circle holding the pump in.... ill need to find out how to take that out as i want to replace this anyways..

Ok so after about another 10 minutes i tried to start it again and again it started but this time less then before.. maybe like a second?

Anyways Id like to know where the diganostics plug is located to ground pin 1?

Thanks agian for all the help.. im sure we will have it up and running soon!!

[Gly]

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthr...ght=obd+pinout

its just down under the dash drivers side, approx by left knee when seated

you wont hear a stock fuel pump, its fairly quiet. also i believe it isn't running unless the car is being cranked/running

[roryfromnz]

Hey i was doing more research and found that if you unplug the MAF it will start on default. Now i unplugged and cranked it over for quite a while then it started! Seems to idle ok with it unplugged. I plugged the Maf back in and all of a sudden the engine starts reving up and down quite dramatically up and down for a while then cuts out. Its really weird. Only did this about 2 times now it wont start again. I think it could be a pump issue? or maybe maf?

[Gly]

diag codes will tell you if its the maf

[roryfromnz]

Ok how about this.. Went back to the car again about another bottle of beer and Poof! Car started without an issue and stayed going. Left it run and rev'd it no problems... ARG! All i can put it down to is it was sitting outside in the rain for 3 days after some hard driving and wouldnt start.. now its been dry for a day and horray it goes??

So bringing it back to the Fuel pump.. do you know how to get the big black ring off holding the pump in place? I want to put a walbro in.. also is it the 341 or 342?

Thanks!!!

[Davezj]

If you disconnected the battery to clear the engine codes the idle control valve will need to allowed to resetup it's idle position.
Try to start engine with air con on set to min temp and fan heat blower on max air flow.
Start engine and it will probably start then the engine will die, start the car a few times as it will probaly die 4 or 5 times. Then the idle will sort it'self out.
Well that is how it is supposed to work.

But you probable have other issues other than idle control valve setup, but it will not help you situation.