2001 GS 430 cut out and wont start

museumsteve · January 27, 2018

Off to work this morning, 200yds down the road the car coughed and cut out. Turns over fine but doesnt start. Disappointed to learn my breakdown cover didnt cover me as less than a mile from home so £100 to take it 200yds.

Any ideas? Should i be looking at fuel pump? Anyone in GU area (i'm GU14) that can look. I'm happy to pay :)

bobmc · January 27, 2018

Certainly sounds like a fuel issue, hope you get sorted out soon without to much expense.

I used to have a ford focus which had a similar issue. Trick to getting it to start was getting under the car and giving it a good wack near the fuel tank. Had to replace the fuel pump in the end though

karrenstanly · February 2, 2018

Something similar issue happens to one my friends car. I think I really need to ask him how he get rid of this.

museumsteve · February 2, 2018

Struggling now. Had a mechanic (with excellent rep) look at it briefly Monday and then for a few hours today and he came up non the wiser.

Originally he said the fuel seemed to smell and taste funny. He ran, what he said, were full diagnostics to the capability of his equipment but nothing was showing. He said the plugs were soaked in fuel but I assume that may be because I had been trying to start it for a while?

I've managed to borrow a car from a friend for now but I do want to get this fixed. The car's in great condition and in the last 6 months I've had all wheels refurb'd, new discs and pads all round and an MOT with no advisories..the car is wonderful so worth spending a bit on.

Now I'm getting a bit more desperate to find someone that can come and have a look for me. I'm happy to pay going rates, never after freebies.

TigerFish · February 3, 2018

Did the guy say he'd read the codes with his equipment? Were there any codes stored?

museumsteve · February 3, 2018

6 hours ago, TigerFish said:

Did the guy say he'd read the codes with his equipment? Were there any codes stored?

He said there were no codes at all. He could not find anything wrong and he was completely baffled.

TigerFish · February 3, 2018

Ok, fair enough.

Does the flashing security light go out when the ignition is on? (Just in case the immobiliser has kicked in)

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museumsteve · February 3, 2018

Immobiliser light goes off as soon as I put the key in. I wondering if I should get one of these companies out to drain the fuel incase it's contaminated.

Mihanicos · February 5, 2018

Assuming that the scanner could read all the codes, this eliminates any malfunction of the car.

The only variable that can fail to start a petrol engine is the fuel. I strongly suspect that somebody put diesel fuel in the car and not petrol. The mechanic mentioned that the fuel had a peculiar smell and taste.

Take a sample of the fuel for analysis or simply drain it and try again with petrol. It will struggle to start until the fuel lines are cleared from the existing fuel.

museumsteve · February 5, 2018

3 hours ago, Mihanicos said:

Assuming that the scanner could read all the codes, this eliminates any malfunction of the car.

The only variable that can fail to start a petrol engine is the fuel. I strongly suspect that somebody put diesel fuel in the car and not petrol. The mechanic mentioned that the fuel had a peculiar smell and taste.

Take a sample of the fuel for analysis or simply drain it and try again with petrol. It will struggle to start until the fuel lines are cleared from the existing fuel.

Thanks for the reply.

I filled it up, when it broke down I ended up ringing the garage to confirm I had used an unleaded pump and they confirmed I did. I have already emailed the garage and Texaco to let them know of the issue just to make some prep in case it is contaminated fuel.

I'm off Thursday so will find a company to come and drain the fuel and keep a can as a sample and go from there I guess.

TigerFish · February 5, 2018

You didn’t mention refuelling in the original post. When was it refuelled compared to the cut out and non-starting problem? How low on fuel before the fill up? I’d expect issues to show very quickly if the fuel was so poor that is resulted in not-starting, there’s not a whole heap of fuel in the lines to flush out before hitting fuel from the tank (I don’t recall if there is a loop back to the tank on the 430, which would make it an even shorter time).

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museumsteve · February 5, 2018

I didn't relate refuelling originally.

The light came on as I got to Basingstoke so I stopped at the first garage and filled up. I stopped in town and then drove back to Farnborough, so around 20 miles in total.

The next morning it stopped after 200 yards.

museumsteve · February 7, 2018

Fixed!!!!

Had a mate round this evening for us to spend a bit of time having a look before I contact another mechanic or even Lexus tomorrow and with possibly a stroke of luck we found a cable that was touching the back of the drive belt and had almost cut through the cable. The cable turned out to be from the crank sensor (I assume), the shielding had been destroyed and I guess maybe it was shorting out or something. There was also another cable that had been touching slightly. We cleaned and repaired and the beast fired up first time. Took it for a drive and as good as ever.

Problem now is I got grumpy on the weekend without my car and went a bought a Merc SLK 350 :D

Not sure what I'm going to do yet.