Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[asp383]

think my car may have finally died.

 

lately, when using, it's been acting as though the battery was a little low, although i'm thinking it was more the starter motor, as it starts sluggish, but does fire up. with the recent heavy rain we've had, the central locking has been non existent, with only the drivers door & fuel cap locking on the key, the other doors have had to be done manually & the boot has remained unlocked.

 

this morning, it unlocked (although the indicator lights didn't light up), got the family loaded up & went to start it, noticed the glow plug light didn't come on, tried it a couple of times, still no glow plug light (has always come on, even if just for a second or 2), turned it over & it just wasn't firing up. did the usual of take the key out, lock/unlock the drivers door & retry (usually sorts it out if it doesn't fire up), but this time still not firing up.

 

put my snap-on scanner onto the car (always keep it in there) & it kept saying unable to communicate with ecu, tried it several times, even tried a neighbours car, which it worked fine on.

 

now, i'm wondering if the ecu or the ecu relay has got damp because of the weather. either way, i think i'll be looking for a replacement sooner rather than later, as my girlfriend is pregnant (due july) & we can't be without a reliable car, as my mother in law is disabled too & we're her nominated drivers.

 

anyone else had this experience with their mk1 1.9tdi?

[SilverBeast]

Have you got a voltmeter?

If so:-

(i) Check the battery voltage with ignition off.

(ii) Check the battery voltage with ignition fully on (normal running position before point at which engine turns over)

(iii) Check the battery voltage while you have someone turn the key to the cranking position.

Report back

[gregers]

id be checking under the passenger seat.

[asp383]

battery tested ok, voltages are fine & turning over strong enough. same if jumping off another vehicle.

 

which relays/modules are under the passenger seat?

 

not really got time to spend on looking at the car, as not normally getting home from work until after 8pm & not really in the mood after 14 hours at work, so if i can't get it running enough to sell, i'll just drag it up to the local scrappy

[gregers]

well iirc the central locking/alarm module is underneath the front passenger seat,so this may well be sitting in water from a leak from the rear washer pipe that has a join right above the module,common problem found in the faqs.

or the wires in the doors have broken/frayed hence why the central locking doesnt work.

[asp383]

Thanks gregers, will check. Would make sense, as it normally plays up after prolonged heavy rain, although it has always started before & never not had the glow plugs light not come on or not be able to communicate with the ecu

[gregers]

also make sure you have the under tray insitu,if not can cause all sorts of problems.

[asp383]

Just an update...

 

 

I've been trying the car every evening when getting home & on the weekend, it started up & I used it to pick my eldest up from mother -in -law's, pop to shops & get home, central locking is still a bit iffy... Unlocking ok, but not locking every time.

 

Certainly suggests non starting problem was related to the wet weather we've had. But as per my op, I can't have an unreliable car & come June/July, it just won't have the required space for a buggy & shopping with all 7 seats in use & with the Mrs requiring frequent hospital appointments at the moment, I think time has come to change car now, rather than in a few months time.

 

As much As I like the galaxy & the ability to get 55mpg out of the mk1 if driven sensibly (reckon I could even better that if just doing motorway journeys), I'm having to move up a size.. 9 seater! No reason why in the future as the kids get older, I couldn't go back to 1 at some point.

[asp383]

Well, as I had the day off work for hospital appointments this afternoon, I took my eldest to school, car started & got there fine, wouldn't restart when I went to come home. No glow plugs light.

 

Looked under passenger seat, nothing there, just a empty storage space. Car is still parked at the school, had to walk home & get a hire car for today.

 

My mrs is trying to get me to look at galaxy's around 2005, most seem to be at least the same mileage as my mk1 & those I've looked at with less all seem quite rough inside, so of course, I'm starting to think "are these starting to get to that troublesome stage?" so I keep trying to put her off.. Really struggling to want to commit to another galaxy at the moment.

 

Looking at a Nissan pathfinder in the morning, but the only negative so far is the height & if my disabled mother - in - law will be able to get in & out ok (I can always get a caravan step for her), at least I could always send the video of her trying into you've been framed 

[chrispb123456]

If you have no glow plug light and no communication with ECU then you have a terminal 30 supply fault, this is usually caused by poor solder joints in relay 109 you will find it in the main fuse box in the third layer see link below

 

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/ford/index.php/topic/8810-relay-30-replacement/?do=findComment&comment=68423