Astra being ... well, odd ... :-(

Astra Estate 1.9 CDTI, 55 plate, Jan 2006.

Went out in it today, and it drove no problem to my first stop.It was switched off for about ten minutes and re-started ok. Drove to next stop about 2 miles away no problem. Picked up a sandwich and restarted the engine. Left it running while I ate the sandwich - probably ten minutes. Drove to next stop about a mile away, and it was just fine. It was stopped for around 5 minutes while I loaded up some stuff in the back. When I went to leave, it started ok, and then immediately stopped. I switched off and back on again. All the dash lights came on as normal, but the car with the spanner in it was flashing rapidly. Turning the key to the start position did not make it crank. Dash lights all stayed on. I turned off and on again, and then retried the start position. Still nothing. So I left it for probably two minutes, tried again, and this time it cranked and started. All lights, including the car / spanner went out as normal.

I pulled away and it felt fine, so I went on to my next call around 5 miles away. It was a quick stop so I left it running. Then back home about ten miles and all was well.

When I got back and was parked up, I tried it several times, and every time it started OK. The only thing that I did notice was that every time I turned the key on, a motor at the back - fuel pump ? - ran for about 30 seconds before stopping. I don't recall hearing it do that before, but maybe I was just listening for stuff because of its problem, and normally, I'm not.

So, anyone got any thoughts on what happened ? Is it normal for the fuel pump to always run for a while every time the key is turned on ? I might mention that I had put some diesel in it a few hours earlier

Arfa

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Arfa Daily
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ISTR I had similar (and intermittent) symptoms in a Mk 4 diesel from an overheated solder joint in the control box which sits on the back of the engine. On taking the box apart it was fairly obvious, affecting a single power transistor. Has survived some time after re-soldering although I am always a bit nervous that it might go again as the solder area didn't seem generous.

Reply to
newshound

Once you've heard it, you will now always notice it. It's to build up the pressure a bit, I guess, then stop.

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

sounds like an immobiliser fault, do you have lots of keys on the bunch? If so then try just having the one for the car seperate from the rest (completely is best)

Reply to
MrCheerful

MrCheerful wrote in news:kTwOz.1902622$ snipped-for-privacy@fx37.am:

Thanks all for the replies so far. Bit of an update. I think that you might be right Mr C. I have now had a chance to scan it, and there was a P1614 error in there, which is indeed generally an immobiliser error on this car. Doing a bit of forum reading - although I trust the people on here much more - it seems that there can be a bit of an issue with the "CIM module" whatever that is. Is it the bit that 'mates' to the key when it's inserted to disable the immobiliser ? One person said that they had a dicky battery connector in the key,although I'm skeptical that the battery is anything to do with the key identity as I'm sure the spare key that the missus keeps somewhere is not a 'magic' one and has no battery in it ?? Another found corrosion at a connector into the ECU. I've been out in it several more times since, and so far, all ok.

On a slightly different immobiliser tack, the boy had his Ford Kuga nicked last Saturday night. Just a pile of glass left where he parked it (in a certified car park next to the hotel he was staying in ...) Now that has a keyless ignition, so I would have thought that made it difficult to just break into and drive quickly away. I'm assuming that it was taken to be parted out as it would be a lot of trouble to replace the security coded window and keycard ?? But how do they do it so quickly and apparently easily ? Are all of these security systems on modern cars actually no use at all ?

Arfa

Reply to
Arfa Daily

I don't know much about immobilisers, etc. But surely switching the ignition on will eventually come down to a single connection.

But maybe they just smashed the window, released the handbrake, put it in neutral, and towed it away?

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

Most ECUs won't function unless they have received a magic code from the key. It's not the sort of thing you can change without a complete reflash of the ECU.

I have to admit I can't think of another way, apart from swapping ECUs. Perhaps Ford keys have a serious security flaw?

Reply to
Fredxxx

Column Interface Module IIRC joins everything electric on the steering column to the rest of the car.

Reply to
MrCheerful

I'm glad to learn that they've found a clever way of doing it :-)

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

It is an offence to leave the engine running with no driver in the vehicle.

Reply to
Ted H
[...]

Yes, but what is the relevance to this post?

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Chris Whelan wrote in news:X9NPz.1017609 $ snipped-for-privacy@fx46.am:

Well, there's always someone who feels it is necessary to point out some 'legal' misdemeanor. They basically have nothing better to say or do with their time. Yes, I left the engine running, but it was outside a private house where the owner came out to meet me, so it was only a case of walking to the back of the car, opening the tailgate, and giving him his item. Yes, strictly speaking it 'broke the law' but it wasn't really a case of 'leaving the vehicle unattended'. And courier drivers and Royal Mail do it all the time in much worse ways.

Going back to what someone said on the boy's car about ignition coming down to bypassing one wire in the end, that's a case of "not any more". The coil packs are fully electronic now and receive timed drives directly from the ECU as I understand it, so no ECU operation = no ignition.

Sunday night, he had a bit of news that he didn't really want. The insurance company had agreed a full loss price with him that very nearly covered the outstanding finance. He had been and sorted out a replacement and got all the finance and insurance sorted on that. He arranged to collect it from the garage on Tuesday. Then that Sunday night phone call. Plod had recovered his Kuga in Mansfield ...

So that's left him in a bit of a funny place. His missus is very ansty about driving it again now, but if he has the new one, then he will have to sell the Kuga, and is unlikely to get for it what's left outstanding on the finance, which he will of course have to find the money to settle first anyway.

And on how the Kuga was nicked. He has since discovered that it is very easy once you are inside. I won't go into how on here, but it seems to be a huge security open door for this type of keyless vehicle to me ...

Arfa

Reply to
Arfa Daily

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