Hi all,
Recap: Just before Xmyth this year the 50k, 1.6 (Z16SE) that we were given by Mum a couple of years ago (when Dad died), started not starting from warm.
Other symptoms were the ignition light coming on (and staying on) within 3-5 minutes of starting and erratic engine temp gauge, rev counter and speedo.
It would initially start from cold, and restart from hot but if left to cool (30 mins), often wouldn't restart till left to get fully cold.
It never cut-out or misbehaved once started.
Sometimes it would start and run for a second or two before just cutting out and wouldn't run again.
I'd tried different keys, remove and checked the instrument connector, disconnected and checked the two plugs to the ECU, run various diagnostics (Torque Pro / OP-Com) but the same error codes kept appearing (and often not clearing) on the ECU, like:
P1615 - Wrong Vehicle ID from Body Control Module (00) - Present
P1616 - Wrong Vehicle ID from Instrument Control Module (00) - Present
U2107 - CAN-Bus no Communication with Body Control Module (00) - Present
There were three clues that pointed harder towards the ECU.
1) Someone (possibly here) suggested that those ECU's (Delphi Delco HDRC, Multec) were unreliable because of (typically) poor joints between the connectors (128 pins) and the PCB.2) Whilst the engine was running, if I applied pressure to the loom where it enters the lower ECU connector, it seemed that it affected the 'effected' connectors I moved the wire, the wire moved the electrical socket connector female, that moved the mating socket connector male that in turn moved the connector to the ECU PCB).
3) Heating the ECU up to 'engine hot' with a hot-air-gun allowed the engine to start 1st time on three successive days after not starting on 10 attempts from cold.So, today I collected the ECU from the re-manufacturer (where all the interconnecting wires are supposed to be replaced (ultrasonic welded)) and re-fitted the body control module, key-fob transducer, instruments and ECU and it started first time and no bogus ignition light, and with a stable rev-counter, even with the engine hot.
I need to put the spare on to give it a proper road test (as I picked up a puncture the last time it started) so it's still very early days ... but the real proof of the pudding will be if the ECU is still holding up at the end of the two year warrantee period. ;-)
All the best and thanks again to all those who offered advice along the way. I didn't want to put any money into the car without being reasonably sure that it was going to be the right solution so every little bit of info helped.
Cheers, T i m