A friend of mine has an intermittent starting problem with her 2002 MG ZR 1.4 petrol.
It goes like this:- Get in car, put key in ignition and turn key. Nothing happens. No starter, no click, no sound, no petrol pump noise....nothing!
The dashboard lights come on. The radio works. But nothing happens in the engine dept when you turn the key.
Then count to 10; turn off the ignition, turn it on again and it usually fires up. Doesnt always start 2nd time though. Sometimes you have to repeat this about 6 or 7 times.
However you do have to wait 10 seconds or so before retrying or it just wont fire up. A couple of mechanics have looked at it and have no idea whats going on , nor have they ever seen anything like it before.
Needless to say shes about ready to smash the thing with a tree branch!
Anyone any ideas please?
Cheers
Trev
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i find birch is best
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"a little man in a big world/"
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I would guess it's the ignition switch, or possibly a relay driven from the ignition switch.
you could wire in some LEDs to show that it has power in each of the ignition circuits (there are probably two or three going through the ignition switch) and they will show which circuit is dropped.
Has the car ever cut out while running ?
If it is fault ignition switch, then this is a possibility.
You say that you don't hear the petrol pump - and you would hear this if it was just the starter solenoid.
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Yes,I thought that but on some vehicles the pump doesn't cut in until the engine starts to rotate.
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If you have a multi-meter,Fluke make a pickup that pierces a tiny hole in the wiring insulation to reach the core;much easier to check for live wires than other systems.
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Not sure of MG, but IIRC 400 immobiliser supplies the earth to starter relay and I think the fuel pump relay,so it may be that thats playing up.
its a fairly common problem on both 200/400 series Rover,though unless its just relays playing up(doubtfull)would look at immobiliser-just a thought as this fault is hard to find?
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Steve
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