What's the usual troubleshooting routinue with starting problems on bx 16v's.
Car ran fine over weekend doing approx 300 miles, came back to my place yesterday, dropped things off at home went to tesco, shopped for an hour came back, filled up nearly empty tank with petrol, put shopping away, drove a couple of miles to pool for about 90 minutes drove back got back 6:30ish in eve.
This morning no ice, starter turns nicely but no firing up at all (after 10-15 tries) . Stopped and came to work by bus as didnt't want to kill battery until I got some advice. Can't particularly see anything specific on the forum.
(message initially posted on bx16v message board)
Thanks
BX 16v (1990 phase 2) Starting Troubleshooting
Moderator: RichardW
-
Jon
<font color="blue">Non Starting BX 16v Trouble shooting.
1) No Spark. Failure of ignition module (common). Failure of coil. Problems with distributor cap (expensive).HT Leads shorting out.
2) No fuel. Failure of fuel pump relay (likely). Failure of electric fuel pump (less likely)
If Mr Smith or Mr Eaton check into the Forum these rabid BX 16v enthusiasts may suggest more, but the above, i.e. lack of fuel or spark have got to be the first things to check.</font id="blue">
1) No Spark. Failure of ignition module (common). Failure of coil. Problems with distributor cap (expensive).HT Leads shorting out.
2) No fuel. Failure of fuel pump relay (likely). Failure of electric fuel pump (less likely)
If Mr Smith or Mr Eaton check into the Forum these rabid BX 16v enthusiasts may suggest more, but the above, i.e. lack of fuel or spark have got to be the first things to check.</font id="blue">
Chris,
Firstly just do a troubleshoot on it as you would any other car; check for spark & then petrol getting through.
Just out of curiosity, when did you last change the fuel filter?
I'm not trying to pre-empt anything but I try to retrace my steps when things like this happen & the fact the car did a long trip OK then got fuel & then stuffed up, gives the impression that there just "may" be a connection. That's an easy one to check by just removing the fuel line, put the line into a glass bottle or metal container & get someone to hit the key to the start position. If the filter was a bit dirty, the fuel going in may have stirred up enough muck to finish it off.
After checking the fuel & assuming it is OK, I'd then remove the dizzy cap, check the rotor and internals & again get someone to spin the motor on the key to be sure the rotor is in fact turning; after refitting the cap, a plug then connected to one of the leads should test for spark.
Once you narrow down the area of the fault, it shouldn't be too hard after that.
Alan S
Firstly just do a troubleshoot on it as you would any other car; check for spark & then petrol getting through.
Just out of curiosity, when did you last change the fuel filter?
I'm not trying to pre-empt anything but I try to retrace my steps when things like this happen & the fact the car did a long trip OK then got fuel & then stuffed up, gives the impression that there just "may" be a connection. That's an easy one to check by just removing the fuel line, put the line into a glass bottle or metal container & get someone to hit the key to the start position. If the filter was a bit dirty, the fuel going in may have stirred up enough muck to finish it off.
After checking the fuel & assuming it is OK, I'd then remove the dizzy cap, check the rotor and internals & again get someone to spin the motor on the key to be sure the rotor is in fact turning; after refitting the cap, a plug then connected to one of the leads should test for spark.
Once you narrow down the area of the fault, it shouldn't be too hard after that.
Alan S
Not really
Opened bonnet, had a look at cap to see what spanner needed, may have put a hand on cap or proximity of ht lead for balance but nothing else
The only things I did were yesterday morning, leads off the coil, spray with wd40 in case of damp when it didn't originally start..
i'll probably take the coil - dizzy lead off tonight and have a look at it to see if the connections & wire are o.k.
Opened bonnet, had a look at cap to see what spanner needed, may have put a hand on cap or proximity of ht lead for balance but nothing else
The only things I did were yesterday morning, leads off the coil, spray with wd40 in case of damp when it didn't originally start..
i'll probably take the coil - dizzy lead off tonight and have a look at it to see if the connections & wire are o.k.
Chris,
If you remove the plug from the coil and give it a spray with WD40 as well as the socket it plugs into. Follow this with a washing off with petrol and blow out with compressed air.
I've found that a lot of BXs seem to suffer from what feels like a set of dodgy points used to in the old carby/distributor cars (ie) intermittant missing at slow cruising, occasional backfire or spit back & unexpected cut out at idle, that seems to have the owners looking for all kinds of expensive and complicated cures when this in effect can more often than not be the cause. In the LT plug you have + as well as - pins & it doesn't take a genius to work out what happens if they start tracking across.
The WD40 & petrol job sometimes needs to be repeated several times on both the plug & the socket to fully remove the problem. I live in a coastal area & in the tropics so I get a double whammy of this with salty humid air at some times & hot & dry at others so I get a "salty crust" which promptly turns to conductive track as soon as the weather conditions change.
A coat of silicone grease on the plug prior to refitting once you know you've cleared the problem away helps to prevent it from reoccuring too soon after.
Alan S
If you remove the plug from the coil and give it a spray with WD40 as well as the socket it plugs into. Follow this with a washing off with petrol and blow out with compressed air.
I've found that a lot of BXs seem to suffer from what feels like a set of dodgy points used to in the old carby/distributor cars (ie) intermittant missing at slow cruising, occasional backfire or spit back & unexpected cut out at idle, that seems to have the owners looking for all kinds of expensive and complicated cures when this in effect can more often than not be the cause. In the LT plug you have + as well as - pins & it doesn't take a genius to work out what happens if they start tracking across.
The WD40 & petrol job sometimes needs to be repeated several times on both the plug & the socket to fully remove the problem. I live in a coastal area & in the tropics so I get a double whammy of this with salty humid air at some times & hot & dry at others so I get a "salty crust" which promptly turns to conductive track as soon as the weather conditions change.
A coat of silicone grease on the plug prior to refitting once you know you've cleared the problem away helps to prevent it from reoccuring too soon after.
Alan S
Chris,
The way these things carry on is really quite dramatic.
When I first bought my 16V it had a stutter that was only evident at about 40 - 80 kph or at the speed normally used when cruising in town areas. It shook so much that I was afraid I was going to do damage to the drive train. The "smoothest" performance was gained by accellerating rapidly & then just backing right off until the speed dropped & then doing it all over again.
After changing plugs, leads, filters and anything else I could find, I decided to clean this thing. It was a bit better so I redid it a couple of more times & now I can pull away from around 25kph in top gear without any spluttering. My sons TZi was the same but he was a bit slack & didn't clean it properly & it just stuck him up. With his, we needed to clean it about a half dozen times before we actually properly cleared the problem.
Alan S
The way these things carry on is really quite dramatic.
When I first bought my 16V it had a stutter that was only evident at about 40 - 80 kph or at the speed normally used when cruising in town areas. It shook so much that I was afraid I was going to do damage to the drive train. The "smoothest" performance was gained by accellerating rapidly & then just backing right off until the speed dropped & then doing it all over again.
After changing plugs, leads, filters and anything else I could find, I decided to clean this thing. It was a bit better so I redid it a couple of more times & now I can pull away from around 25kph in top gear without any spluttering. My sons TZi was the same but he was a bit slack & didn't clean it properly & it just stuck him up. With his, we needed to clean it about a half dozen times before we actually properly cleared the problem.
Alan S