Not starting after battery disconnect?

Biddle

Hi,

Hopefully not too much of a noob question, but my Astra's (Y Reg, SRi 2.2) alternator cable failed today, and the car broke down with my missus driving it (the battery died).

I reconnected the alternator cable on the roadside, and attempted to jump start, but now the engine won't fire. It has been working fine with no indication of any other faults until today.

Am I missing something? Is this the engine immobiliser cutting in for some reason from where I disconnected the battery terminals temporarily?

Any help gratefully appreciated 🙂

si_c1978

you should be able to leave the battery disconnected forever(i should know with mine!) and still start it so i doubt thats the problem, dunno..
im sure someone will be able to point you in the right direction

Biddle

Any suggestions guys ?

MikeS

lights on dash ?

Biddle

The usual, nothing out of the ordinary. It's as if the fuel pump has cut off, of the immobiliser has kicked in. There's a slight buzz (very quiet) coming from the right of the air filter... not sure if that's relevant.

thanks for you help.

vocky

is the battry fully charged, have you checked the hidden fuses near the battery dunno..

hoochydady

hi have u made sure its getting petrol most cars are fitted with a fuel cut off switch and have u had a look at the fuze also make sure its sparking u may have shorted the coil pack

Biddle

The battery itself is flat - but it when I tried to start it I was using a jumper pack. The engine turns over, it just won't fire.

There is plenty of fuel - and I'm sure the plugs are fine as I was driving it that morning... they are only 6mths old.

@Hoochydaddy: When you ask whether it's getting fuel, is there a way of identifying a problem? Would the fuel pump switch itself off and require re-setting somehow? How could I have shorted the coil pack do you think? Through any recent actions, or is this just something that happens after time?

Thanks again 🙂

hoochydady

wen u said( alternator cable failed today) where u on about the belt or a lead from the rear of the alternator ? thats why i said u may have shorted some thing, can u smell petrol? can u hear the pump ? charge ur batt till its fully charged switch ur ing on and listen to see if u hear the pump. if u dont hear the pump look for the re set switch it will be under the bonnet or in the boot.maby the imobliser has popt on or u may have blown a few for it or the pump ,and coil packs can go@any time.

vocky

you need to fully charge the battery and then use the jump leads to keep the power levels up

Biddle

Ok let me clarify: When I bought the car, after a few days, the battery died whilst the car was moving. Turns out, the cable between the alternator and the battery was mysteriously losing 0.8v, which was enough to kill the battery as you guys probably know. I replaced the cable (2 years ago)... but the other day, the cable became lose again. The battery died as a result of this - but I wasn't aware until it was too late. I re-attached the cable.

@ Vocky - Bought a charger today, will charge the battery fully - however I don't see what difference it would make whether the battery was fully charged or not. The engine won't fire - it turns over perfectly. I don't believe that it's a battery issue.

@ Hoochy: - I can hear a slight buzzing toward the front of the head, could that be the fuel pump? I'll have to try and find the fuel pump reset switch.. it must be something simple like that.

😉

JohnnyN

The throttle body makes a noise when you switch the ignition on. It lasts a few seconds then stops.

daaaaavek

this adds nothing to the thread, but I read the subject and thought "well did you reconnect the battery?" ..

sorry, it's been a long day.

on a more serious note, it could possibly be the engine immobilser failing to recognise the transponder in the key. best bet would be to try and get some fault codes out of the ECU and see if that points to any particular area.