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Won't start - any ideas?


Rich350z

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Happy New Year Zed owners :-)

 

Drove my 350Z on Friday (as I had been all week to and from work), no issues at all.

 

Went to drive it today (Monday) and it won't start. Battery volt display inside the car was showing over 12 Volts, and the engine was turning, but no ignition. We had snow yesterday and it froze overnight, but it's got up to 4 degrees today. I am hoping it's just a frozen fuel pipe but given the temp today, I'm not too sure.

 

Any ideas on what I should check? If you can, in your answer treat me like I'm stupid (because you won't be far off!) :-)

 

I will try and upload the video so you can hear what it sounded like....but in the meantime, any clues?

 

Thanks all, and stay safe.

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Ah, interesting! Hadn't really noticed that lol. It sounded like there was enough juice going through (as after 7 or 8 attempts prior to hooking up the jump leads I could hear the battery dying then), so I am wondering if the battery was not the issue originally, but then trying to get it started drained the battery? Or, it could have been the battery from the very beginning - but wouldn't the voltage meter on the dash have shown less than 12v? Or does it not work like that?

Edited by Rich350z
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Hi Gents,

 

Well, after working a 89 hour week last week, I finally got around to changing the battery this evening after work. I bought  an "upgraded" one as per other threads on the forum. Well, after having to remove the battery tray half way through fitting because I dropped a spanner down there (TWICE!!!) I finally replaced the battery - taking me a record breaking time of 1hr :-)

 

Anyway - TL;DR The changing of the battery has not fixed the issue.

 

Any further advice?

 

I've checked, and the red flashing immobiliser light goes out when I turn the key, so its not that (I assume).

 

So I'm guessing fuel or ignition, but I am not sure where to start.

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3 minutes ago, jase4072 said:

Can you hear the fuel pump when you first turn the key, sounds like fuel isn't getting through?

 

Just a thought.

 

Jase, what does the fuel pump sound like? Is it the slight electronic whirring noise you hear as you turn the key?  If so, yet I can hear it.

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So, update! Radomness warning!

 

Fitted new battery yesterday........was doing EXACTLY the same as it was before. Tried it a few times just to make sure fuel had chance to get through the system etc.....but just couldn't get it to start.

 

Went out today, connected my OBDII reader, just to see if it threw anything up before I resigned myself to getting the garage to come and tow it away...........turned the key - started!! O M F G!!!!

 

I am hoping that it was a gremlin and that I needed to lock and unlock the doors having fitted the new battery, in order to magic something into life - but this seems unlikely.

 

Anyway, thanks for your help everyone, fingers crossed it will start again in the morning!!

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41 minutes ago, Olly350z said:

That sounds like it was flooded, which would happen with repeated starting attempts 

 

But the repeated attempts starting it (prior to new battery) were about a week ago - so wouldn't the flooded fuel have evapourated by the time I went to try it with the new battery yesterday?

 

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55 minutes ago, Rich350z said:

 

But the repeated attempts starting it (prior to new battery) were about a week ago - so wouldn't the flooded fuel have evapourated by the time I went to try it with the new battery yesterday?

 

 

That is a very good point, and normally I might have said yes. My only thought would be if its been extremely cold in your area, the fuel would've been denser and maybe unable to evaporate. Perhaps a rise in temperature has then allowed it to clear? 

 

Hypothetically speaking of course, I've never known electrical gremlins like that to just disappear. There is always a root cause 

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19 hours ago, Rich350z said:

So, update! Radomness warning!

 

Fitted new battery yesterday........was doing EXACTLY the same as it was before. Tried it a few times just to make sure fuel had chance to get through the system etc.....but just couldn't get it to start.

 

Went out today, connected my OBDII reader, just to see if it threw anything up before I resigned myself to getting the garage to come and tow it away...........turned the key - started!! O M F G!!!!

 

I am hoping that it was a gremlin and that I needed to lock and unlock the doors having fitted the new battery, in order to magic something into life - but this seems unlikely.

 

Anyway, thanks for your help everyone, fingers crossed it will start again in the morning!!

 

Could be weird NATS quirk after the battery was replaced. Hope it's gone for you.

 

Only time mine wouldn't start was cam position sensor, but that did chuck a proper error.

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On 04/02/2021 at 10:22, Stutopia said:

 

Could be weird NATS quirk after the battery was replaced. Hope it's gone for you.

 

Only time mine wouldn't start was cam position sensor, but that did chuck a proper error.

 

What's NATS?

 

Yeah, no error codes thrown up, and like your situation (read in the voice of Keith Lemon, who says it in the voice of Eamon Holmes!) I would expect a code to appear for something like that.

 

More cold weather due this week - so lets see if the cold weather causes a repeat (although it wasn't really cold on the day I replaced the battery, so I don't think it was dense fuel Olly).

 

Will update you all (crying) if it throws a fit in the week.

 

Thanks agaoin everyone for taking the time to read, and reply :-)  Stay safe all..............and no meets ups during lockdown - especially not opposite the nick like the group in Nottingham (or wherever it was) last week!

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On 07/02/2021 at 17:56, Azurez33 said:

It’s not water getting somewhere it shouldn’t is it? Down in my engine bay fuse box I had to strip out because it was getting corroded and causing issues, it’s right next to the battery 

 

I had the battery out last week, and under the battery plate/seat/bracket (whatever it's called) there was a small amout of water, but there was no sign of corrosion down there, and I lifted the black box that is clipped just infront of the battery (I think it was a fuse holder) and there was no obvious sign of rusting there

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So, went to start the car this morning (0 degrees c), having driven it all last week until Friday - and guess what?! SAME ISSUE! Wouldn't start!

 

So, called out breakdown this evening, who took a look, and says that the fuel pump is kicking in, and that he doesn't know what is causing the issue, but thinks it could be one of two things:

 

1) The immobiliser.  We both noticed that even after turning the key in the ignition, the red light flashes rapidly a few times, before remaining lit.

 

2) The krank sensor.

 

He then left. :wacko:

 

So, I'm about to trawl through the forum to see if I can find an answer/solution to either of these - but if anyone has anything that can help, shout!

 

Cheers

 

Rich

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1 minute ago, stevezzz said:

the weird thing i noticed in your video is the showing over 14v before running 

Possibly because at the time I was filming the video was when it was connected to my wifes car trying to jump start it - could that explain the extra volts?

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So I've just gone and tried the ECU error code pedal dance trick - and the flashing reply was a little weird and unexpected.

 

So, 2 slow flashes, 6 fast flashes, 2 slow flashes

 

 

Stevezzz - yeah possibly no fuel getting through....but it's just trying to work out if that's due to a mechanical issue or an electrical one.

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