Non Starter After Very Wet Weather

[Keith Bowler]

Jumped in my LS this morning and found that it would not start.

It turns over fine and before you ask yes it has fuel in the tank and everything lights up as it should when you turn on the ignition.

I did coax it to start and it ran it for about 5 mins but when I turned it off to restart it it would not start again so I left it as I did not want to kill the Battery. This ruled out any issues with the transponder in the key.

This is the first time in all of the 4+ years I have owned this car that it has let me down so I suppose I should not complain.

Any advice and/or things to check before I call out my breakdown service.

[Chasdad]

Could it be a weak Battery. A dead cell perhaps

[Keith Bowler]

Battery is fine, the favourite at present is the crankshaft position sensor which my Lexus specialist tells me can fail with little warning causing the starting problems I am experiencing.

It appears that they are designed to fail abruptly rather than gradually to avoid more serious engine issues and damage.

[GrahamG]

Any chance you might have flooded the engine with fuel?

I did this for the first and only time after 10years of Mk III ownership. Simple blipped the throttle a little before cranking and was embarrassed when the AA man started the car by sustained cranking.

Apologies if this is too simple a diagnosis

[steve2006]

I was going to say the CPS also or the wiring to it, may be worth getting a hairdryer on it to see if it is water related although failure is generally down to heat sensitivity.

You cpuld also disconnect the MAF and see if it starts without it.

No EML I take it when the engine did run?

[Keith Bowler]

Well, got home in the evening of the day that my car would not start, opened the drivers door and started the car without getting in and woe behold it started on the button.

As GrahamG mentioned I must have inadvertently pressed the gas pedal as I started it up on the day it would not start.

Put the smile back on my face and has started on the button ever since even with loads of rain so maybe damp was not the reason.

Keeping fingers crossed!

[Cotswold Pete]

Well, got home in the evening of the day that my car would not start, opened the drivers door and started the car without getting in and woe behold it started on the button.

As GrahamG mentioned I must have inadvertently pressed the gas pedal as I started it up on the day it would not start.

Put the smile back on my face and has started on the button ever since even with loads of rain so maybe damp was not the reason.

Keeping fingers crossed!

Fingers crossed for you, seems that more than just me accidently blipped the pedal when firing up the car.

Just got into the habit of tucking my feet around my ears while turning engine over

[ambermarine]

The flooding of the engine is a very easy thing to do and it sometimes occurs when the car is first started and taken out of the garage then turning off the ignition to shut the garage doors.The restart virtually floods the cold engine and douses the plugs with fuel and they cannot spark, continually turning the key just makes the problem worse.

Usually leaving the car for ten minutes after the first failure allows the fuel to evaporate and the engine starts normally.

I don't get this problem now as I fitted a door closer last year after straining my back pushing the door up.