I Don't Believe It!

Car failed to start yesterday afternoon. First proper fail to proceed
in 8 years. Not too shabby.

However, I suspect the immobiliser is playing up. It cranked fine (for
as long as I could be bothered holding the key!) and I could hear the
fuel lift pump so I'm suspecting the immobiliser is playing up :-((

AA man arrived in good time and, after setting off the alarm by
entering the car using just the key (who still does that these days?!)
the car fired up like a good un!! My neighbours face, who heard me
turning it over for substantial periods, was a picture - you could
hear his jaw drop. AA man was well pleased at an easy fix and time for
a chat!

Car's been ok since. Anyone any experience of this sort of thing?

Also, how the hell does the emergency start procedure *work*? It says
in my book turn the key to MAR, press accelerator fully then wait for
the engine warning lamp to flash - er no it didn't. Fell at the first
hurdle..any ideas..anyone?!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> Car failed to start yesterday afternoon. First proper fail to proceed
> in 8 years. Not too shabby.
>
> However, I suspect the immobiliser is playing up. It cranked fine (for
> as long as I could be bothered holding the key!) and I could hear the
> fuel lift pump so I'm suspecting the immobiliser is playing up :-((

How does the immobiliser work? Sounds a bit daft to allow cranking and
fuel injection.
>
> AA man arrived in good time and, after setting off the alarm by
> entering the car using just the key (who still does that these days?!)
> the car fired up like a good un!! My neighbours face, who heard me
> turning it over for substantial periods, was a picture - you could
> hear his jaw drop. AA man was well pleased at an easy fix and time for
> a chat!
>
> Car's been ok since. Anyone any experience of this sort of thing?
>
> Also, how the hell does the emergency start procedure *work*? It says
> in my book turn the key to MAR, press accelerator fully then wait for
> the engine warning lamp to flash - er no it didn't. Fell at the first
> hurdle..any ideas..anyone?!
>

None at all.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

On Mon, 11 May 2009 16:57:39 +0100, Catman
> wrote:

>How does the immobiliser work? Sounds a bit daft to allow cranking and
>fuel injection.

The lift pump is in the fuel tank and feeds the high pressure pump in
the engine bay. There's a return feed to the fuel tank so the fuel
that's not squirted through the injectors circulates back to the tank.
Common rail diesel injection is, in many respects, very similar to
petrol injection fuel systems except for the pressure involved. To
stop firing up the engine all that's needed is to not trigger the
electronically controlled fuel injectors.

As a precaution, I decided to replace the 3V batteries in the remotes
as they were original (8 years old). Bugger me..they measured a decent
3.2V. In my books, that puts the amazing remote battery life up there
with the exhausts!!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

The little bugger did it again..just when I needed it for a school and
Gym (no no..not for me) run. Had to quick march to school to get the
little 'un - boy I'm not as fit as I was 30 years ago!!!

Anyway, the engine was warm so I figured it would start (as the last
time) after about half an hour so I didn't try and persuade it to go -
just gave up and left it. Sure enough, just as before, it fired up
after half an hour and got the little 'un to her Gym class which is
several miles away. It's unheard of for me to stall the 2.4
manoeuvring on the flat in a car park but the motor just died. Oh no I
thought - but it restarted just fine.

Armed with all this info, Google is suggesting the crank/rpm sensor is
quite a common failure on JTDs over 50,000 miles. I think I'll ask my
independent to "just change it".

I'll report back on progress..

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

Zathras wrote:
> The little bugger did it again..just when I needed it for a school and
> Gym (no no..not for me) run. Had to quick march to school to get the
> little 'un - boy I'm not as fit as I was 30 years ago!!!
>
> Anyway, the engine was warm so I figured it would start (as the last
> time) after about half an hour so I didn't try and persuade it to go -
> just gave up and left it. Sure enough, just as before, it fired up
> after half an hour and got the little 'un to her Gym class which is
> several miles away. It's unheard of for me to stall the 2.4
> manoeuvring on the flat in a car park but the motor just died. Oh no I
> thought - but it restarted just fine.
>
> Armed with all this info, Google is suggesting the crank/rpm sensor is
> quite a common failure on JTDs over 50,000 miles. I think I'll ask my
> independent to "just change it".
>
> I'll report back on progress..
>

Sounds likely to be some kind of sensor failing under heat.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Catman wrote:
> Zathras wrote:
>> The little bugger did it again..just when I needed it for a school and
>> Gym (no no..not for me) run. Had to quick march to school to get the
>> little 'un - boy I'm not as fit as I was 30 years ago!!!
>>
>> Anyway, the engine was warm so I figured it would start (as the last
>> time) after about half an hour so I didn't try and persuade it to go -
>> just gave up and left it. Sure enough, just as before, it fired up
>> after half an hour and got the little 'un to her Gym class which is
>> several miles away. It's unheard of for me to stall the 2.4
>> manoeuvring on the flat in a car park but the motor just died. Oh no I
>> thought - but it restarted just fine.
>>
>> Armed with all this info, Google is suggesting the crank/rpm sensor is
>> quite a common failure on JTDs over 50,000 miles. I think I'll ask my
>> independent to "just change it".
>>
>> I'll report back on progress..
>>
>
> Sounds likely to be some kind of sensor failing under heat.
>
It's a bit worrying. The more 'complicated' these cars get the more we
can expect this type of problem.

Remember those far of days when yer motor stopped functioning? Is it
fuel, is there a spark, etc.....before long you could be up and running
again. Now you need a computer and a mind like Einstein (spelling?)!

Jim wrote:
> Catman wrote:
>> Zathras wrote:
>>> The little bugger did it again..just when I needed it for a school and
>>> Gym (no no..not for me) run. Had to quick march to school to get the
>>> little 'un - boy I'm not as fit as I was 30 years ago!!!
>>>
>>> Anyway, the engine was warm so I figured it would start (as the last
>>> time) after about half an hour so I didn't try and persuade it to go -
>>> just gave up and left it. Sure enough, just as before, it fired up
>>> after half an hour and got the little 'un to her Gym class which is
>>> several miles away. It's unheard of for me to stall the 2.4
>>> manoeuvring on the flat in a car park but the motor just died. Oh no I
>>> thought - but it restarted just fine.
>>>
>>> Armed with all this info, Google is suggesting the crank/rpm sensor is
>>> quite a common failure on JTDs over 50,000 miles. I think I'll ask my
>>> independent to "just change it".
>>>
>>> I'll report back on progress..
>>>
>>
>> Sounds likely to be some kind of sensor failing under heat.
>>
> It's a bit worrying. The more 'complicated' these cars get the more we
> can expect this type of problem.
>
> Remember those far of days when yer motor stopped functioning? Is it
> fuel, is there a spark, etc.....before long you could be up and running
> again. Now you need a computer and a mind like Einstein (spelling?)!

SteveH carries his around

FWIW even my bike needed it's brain lobotomised a while back. It just
would not start.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 145 2.0 Cloverleaf 156 V6 2.5 S2
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Catman > wrote:

> > Remember those far of days when yer motor stopped functioning? Is it
> > fuel, is there a spark, etc.....before long you could be up and running
> > again. Now you need a computer and a mind like Einstein (spelling?)!
>
> SteveH carries his around

Heh.

Not all the time. But netbooks are a handy thing to have around.
--
SteveH 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
Alfa 156 TSpark Sportwagon Veloce Selespeed - Alfa 75 TSpark Lusso
Ducati 750SS - BMW R100RT - Company Hack Focus TDCI

On Sun, 17 May 2009 11:04:04 +0100, Jim > wrote:

>Now you need a computer and a mind like Einstein (spelling?)!

Failing that, a Computer and Google goes a long way!!

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)

On Sun, 17 May 2009 00:13:32 +0100, Zathras
> wrote:

>I'll report back on progress..

...as promised. Looks like it's fixed. I never saw this fix mentioned
on Google for the 2.4 lump just the 1.9 engines (a lot more common) -
I guess it's a similar deal.

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)