Had a mobile diagnostic technician check the car today. All components, wiring, relays etc are ok, but still no spark, which only leaves the ECU. I have since been in touch with BBA Reman who will check and repair the ECU.
I have already done a trawl of second-hand ECU's but this is a rare beastie. Lets hope this sorts it as my son returns from Oz this Sunday and will want his car back. I have offered Liz the use of the Jaaaag, but she is used to small cars and likes to be able to see where the front and rear of the car are when sitting in the drivers seat.
I just cant see it myself did he do a switching test on the injectors?? Is it single or multi point injection? What was it he did, carry out a plug in diagnostic test?? Were there any faults stored?? Usually if an ecu is at fault it would store a code and would not let you erase it. Did he bring any live data up on his diag tool while you cranked it over??
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
Not exactly sure of everything he did, but he did connect it to his diagnostic system and there were no faults stored. One anomaly was that the air temperature was 3 degrees and it was recording a water temperature of -1 degree. Following diagnostic check, the first check was to confirm that that there was no spark. He tested the crank sensor for resistance and when cranking the engine. he also checked the old crank sensor, which was ok. Coil pack ok, relays ok. He spent an hour checking.
The ecu is being collected on Thursday. If there is no fault it will cost me £30 and be returned. Apparently, if faulty, it can be repaired, which will cost an arm and a leg, but less than the down payment on a new car, and will have a lifetime guarantee (not too much of a risk on a 20 year old car).
Lol at least his price was fair. I hope you get to the bottom of it its a shame your so far away I'm sure I could get to the bottom of it. Least if you get ecu checked out you know it's another thing you have ticked off the list. Bba reman are good but sometimes a bit pricey. I use a local firm by me who have test simulators for all sorts of ecus there very good.
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
Well it's not the ecu! BBA rang today to confirm that it was ok and I should have it back by Thursday. This saves me a lot of money, but doesn't get me any closer to resolving the problem. However, it is reassuring to know that the individual components are ok and I can concentrate on looking at things like the loom and connectors.
I think I understand (or not) that noid lights will allow me to test whether I have a pulse at the injectors, but does it have anything to do with the lack of a spark at the plugs. Forgive me if I am being thick, but I have not progressed beyond distributor, coil, points and condenser.
Looks like I may yet invest £12.60 on a set of noid lights!
watch this also as it saves me loads of typing explaining things lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAipVwCdwSQ
Although you are testing to see if you have an injector pulse this is usually linked to the same pulse which switches your ignition coil which in turn is read by the ecu from the crank sensor and trigger wheel mounted to the crank pulley, or is some times cast into the fly wheel on other makes of vehicle.
Another question is have you used different keys and did you send them with your ecu so bbm could check the transponder side of things??
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
Many thanks for the explanation and links, it's beginning to make sense.
I didn't send the key with the ecu as this car does not have a transponder as it pre-dates the introduction of the transponder in 1995 when Fiat first used the red and blue keys.
Cool let me know the results it must share the same key set up as in the fiat uno with no transponder. Your car must have just missed that set up as it was around that year the blue and red key system went on the punto and cinqucento. Will be interesting to see if you have an injector pulse or not. Are the plugs wet when you have been cranking it for a long time?? If you have no injector pulse check all the wiring from the crank sensor to the ecu may be your culprit
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
Noid lights arrived today. Result - no pulse at the injectors.
May not be able to do much tomorrow as the car is outside and I have seen the weather forecast. Also have to travel to Heathrow, then have visitors for a week! However, I will concentrate on the wiring from crank sensor.
Interestingly, the wiring diagram doesn't show an earth wire on the crank sensor. It has three wires, two of which connect to the ecu. The third is shown as splitting in two and is shown as two broken lines with no direct connection to anything. looking at the diagram for other Punto models, they have the same split broken line, but with a connection to an earth wire. Do I assume that it is the earth?
Just as I suspected. The wire your talking about is just a screen wire don't worry about it. Think as the crank sensor as a switch so check for breaks in the wiring with a multi meter. Check the pins in the plugs as well prone for going green.
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
Any news?? Try this as well with your multi meter. I know you fitted a new crank sensor but you never know:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsTvKgWZxP4
This is an original rac training video clip to I remember it when I first started and did my 3week training coarse lol
The good old days when they give you as much training as you wanted now its all gone! Its all about the roll up stuff these days, get out there quick as you can kick the tyres and move on!
So I did lol completely moved on and out
JON'S AUTOS the garage that comes to you... [email protected]
www.jonsautos.co.uk
www.facebook.com/jonsautos
I tested the wiring and it all appeared ok, so I followed the RAC video. I tested the old crank sensor and got a fairly high reading of 490 ohms. I then tested the new sensor (fitted) and got 10 ohms. the video suggests in the region of 400 ohms. I refitted the old sensor and it fired immediately and ran for 20 minutes. I then switched it off and then tried to start it again, but with no luck. I checked the resistance and it was up to 485 ohms. I left for about an hour and the resistance was down to 450 ohms and it started immediately. I stopped it after a few seconds, but it would not restart.
Would I be right in assuming that the old sensor is faulty and the new sensor is even worse?
