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Let me start by saying that my D2 has been a great car but the last couple of years have been a love-hate relationship. It started again on Monday morning this week that the car didn't start but after a couple of tries it finally roared to life, it went fine on Tuesday but on Wednesday afternoon it failed to start again on the first try but the second try she did so. Now it's Friday AM and failed again and hasn't given a hint of wanting to.
Here's the history:
1. New starter was put in back in March by the dealer.
2. New battery less than a year. Battery has been checked and it's as good as new.
3. 2 year old Crankshaft Position Sensor. DYI
4. VCDS is not posting any fault codes so I don't know where to start doing the diagnostics.
5. No noise from the starter trying to engage.
6. Instrument cluster has all the displays present when turning the key to ACC.
7. There is a phone noise through the speakers after the second attempt but not the first.
Any HELP as always is very much appreciated, thank you in advance. I'm trying to keep the car for my youngest son who is about to start driving next year.
Given the lack of cranking entirely-- Do you have the little 'security icon' lit up on the dash? Full dash lights?
Also, have you checked the "battery feed line" inter-connect where the large-gauge feed connects to the front of the car? It's a PITA< but given Michigan weather it's a common place to see corrosion-- connection gets bad and you get inconsistent electrical supply-- especially to the starter.
if that looks OK, you can also disconnect the battery in the trunk and just "hot jump" the starter to see if it will crank the engine over or the solenoid-relay isn't clicking in.
Tom
Last edited by Oxnardo Ring; 07-20-2018 at 05:33 PM.
I think I'd try jumping it, maybe the battery test was inaccurate and you have a bad alternator and/or battery. The "phone noise" makes me think it's low voltage.
I did jump it with leaving the cables still connected, it started after the second attempt. This leads to believe that either the alternator or battery is bad. I will have the battery retested again, but if the battery is tested good again then that leaves the alternator. Thanks for the assist.
OK, well at least that narrows it down a bit. I wouldn't discount that ugly little inter-connect junction where the feed comes up from the trunk. I've had a couple of cars come from back east where the corrosion had gotten in there. You'll get weird electrical non-start gremlins even with a fresh battery.
Usually a bad alternator will show a "Red Light ON" at the dash indicating low charge voltage-- and that will usually persist for a few days before it crumps.
Fortunately, a regulator repair on the alternator is one of the few repairs on the car (PCV valve is the absolute easiest) that qualify as 'Easy'....
If you have stuff tested at the auto parts store expect them to be wrong a lot of the time.
Oxnardo is correct, I had an alternator fail and I got a red indication on the dash. It's pretty easy to test the voltage as well, you can usually get a multimeter for free from Harbor Freight if you do not have one. The battery, fully charged, disconnected from the car should be 12.8v or at least 12.6, that's pretty weak bout can be tolerated. I have one that runs about 12.5 and it'd work but would be too low to start the car after 15 minutes or so with the key on, engine off (I was working with the computer).
In the car and hooked up the voltage will be less as the car draws a fair bit when awake and with the trunk and interior lights on, you might see only 12.2-12.3v at the battery if you just pop the trunk and test the battery with the car just waking up. 12.5v if you fake out the trunk lock and let the car settle back to sleep.
When running you should see 13-14v, if it is less than that the alternator is probably bad. Sometimes it;s just the voltage regulator / brush assembly though and they are $20 and easy to unbolt from the back of the alternator and replace once the alternator is out. Huco brand is what I have been using these days on about 5 of my cars.
Just checked my 2001 with a 6 month old AGM battery and recently rebuilt alternator, I got a display of 151 Key on, engine off and 163 with the engine running. Both times the blower motor was on pretty much full.
Cheers,
-Joel.
Also good call re: the electrical junction under the inner RF wheelhouse. It can get really corroded.
Just to update you guys, I was still having starting issues and with the battery fully charge and tested. The alternator is good which led me to check the connection in the RF Connector and that was good but I found a small set of wires that led to a push button up top. I proceeded to press the button and it tried starting the car, once I put the key in the ignition and turned it on then pushed the button and started the car. I rotated the button and tried to start it from the key and all is fine, but I don’t believe this button is OEM, the picture is below. It seems that the button maybe starting to fail so I will replace it and go from there.
Whoa. So, is that an ignition defeat hack? Yeah, that's non-standard...
that button in the upper right hand corner is the "hood closed sense"... which I lately found is essential to getting the alarm system to arm right. Figures.
But, yeah, that other one is a "custom feature". Hmmm, keep your eyes open for other "enhancements"...
OK, well at least that narrows it down a bit. I wouldn't discount that ugly little inter-connect junction where the feed comes up from the trunk. I've had a couple of cars come from back east where the corrosion had gotten in there. You'll get weird electrical non-start gremlins even with a fresh battery.
Usually a bad alternator will show a "Red Light ON" at the dash indicating low charge voltage-- and that will usually persist for a few days before it crumps.
Fortunately, a regulator repair on the alternator is one of the few repairs on the car (PCV valve is the absolute easiest) that qualify as 'Easy'....
When you say PCV valve, I thought the D2 A8 doesn't have a PCV valve, just breather hoses? Am I mistaken?
FL cars had a Min-Pancake looking thing perched right up on the back of the engine. Two hose clamps, easy-peasy.
PFL equivalent is buried in the hoses between the back of the intake and firewall.
Bad time to ask, as I'm just doing one on my M60 in the M5 clone-- 7 impossible to locate screws and a bunch of hose-pipes to align, buried behind the motor, undernath the overflow coolant reservoir.
07-20-2018, 02:04 PM
Will NOT START... HELP!!!
