It ran fine and now it wont start :(

[ropeman23]

It's 2.1 water cooled caravelle. It's up to now driven perfectly, but has now let me down.

Driving around all day to day, not a problem. Decided to investigate why my heater blower doesn't work (any ideas on that would be great too) so I have been disturbing a few wires behind the dash, nothing to intrusive.

Once I'd decided I couldn't be bothered to remove the facia I decided to move the bus to another parking space just down the road. It started fine, I pulled away and after about 15 seconds it died. Now it wont start. It will turn over for ages and fire every so often, then it does one of two things 1. per like a cat for 2 seconds then die. 2. misfire badly for 2 seconds then die. It seems like fuel starvation!? Any ideas?

Is there anything under the dash that I could have knocked which would cause these symptoms or is it a red herring?

Ta.

[HarryMann]

Well, does sound like fuel starvation, so at least check the filter behind the tank or change it...

[ropeman23]

How do I get to that? Is it in the Haynes manual?

[eatcustard]

If you look under the van drivers side about halfway back you will see it (its a silver cylinder)

Yes is is in Haynes manual

Page 1.16

[Mocki]

sounds to me like you may have stopped the fuel pump working......
check you havent dislodged one of the earths on the earthing crownbehind and to the left of the fusebox, by maybe pulling on the heater fan wires..........

*WARNING*
PLEASE remember a 2.1 injection fuel system is under very high pressure .

[HarryMann]

Aha, 2.1 lecy pump, sounds like Mocki has got it bang on there...! They do like a bit of fuel pressure

[ropeman23]

Went out this morning and it started first time, typical!

Once running there's a strange noise coming from the drivers side. Scratchey / white noise kind of sound. I found the fuel filter, which I am assuming is ok for the time being, next in the fuel line is a black cylindrical unit. This is where the noise is coming from, and last in line is a bigger cylindrical silver unit with Bosch written on it, which I persume is the pump?

If the silver thing is the pump what's the black unit? And does it sound like it's on its way out?

[big red bus]

The larger of the units is the filter. Smaller one is the pump and sounds like the one making a buzzing noise. All pumps make a noise but depending on how noisey yours is may indicate it being close to the end of its life? mine has been noisey for 3 years now and still not died so just because it is noisey may not mean it dead yet. Sure from memory the filter is after the pump but easy, just have a look because the pump has 2 wires connected to it and the filter just a pipe in and 1 pipe out.

[ropeman23]

These things have big fuel filters!

The black one must be the pump then as it has wires going to it. The thing that worries me is the sound is not a constant which I would usually expect from a pump and I'm pretty sure it's just started to make the sound. I can actually hear it better inside the bus. Still 100% coming from the pump though.

Annoyingly enough I can't get it to cut out again.....

[HarryMann]

As Mocki says, check the earthing star under n/s of dash, si the pump is not seeing a full battery voltage when under load, that might be the cause of that noise.. it's struggling!

[ropeman23]

Hmmmm, interesting. Checked the earthling crown and all seems to be ok there, but do you think this could be part of a larger problem?

I've only had the bus a little while and all the time there has been an intermittent fault with the starter motor...... or so I thought. Sometimes it just goes click and the engine doesn't crank, turn the key a few times more clicks, then all of a sudden it will turn the engine. This problem stopped yesterday and now the fuel pump is making funny noises. Related?

I have a receipt from the previous owner stating the battery is only 2 months old. I don't have a volt meter to hand to test the battery, but the lights work fine and if I disconnect the coil from the distributor it will crank for ages so I'm guessing the battery is fine. Do you think this could still be an earth?

I hate electrics!

[eatcustard]

A silly thought.

Sometimes it just goes click and the engine doesn't crank, turn the key a few times more clicks, then all of a sudden it will turn the engine

If you take your steering cowling off and wiggle the black block that connects you your ignition switch, see if that helps
It worked with mine

[HarryMann]

I have a receipt from the previous owner stating the battery is only 2 months old.

That's a cluie maybe, in that it#s not unknown for the battery to be replaced when not necessary, because the electrics are giving confusing synptons which haven't been fully diagnosed.

Re-make all those earths and the main crown earth maybe, just in case... if you clean them with any abrasive then you'd need to apply some No-Crode or electrical grease/vaseline to prevent rapid re-corroding taking place... Did that area seem dry? as it's not far from the classic screen edge water ingress.

[ropeman23]

Did that area seem dry? as it's not far from the classic screen edge water ingress.

I think you're onto something here. It didn't seem wet, but I think it has been getting wet. I found the washer jet hose is not connected and just dangalging around under the dash so no doubt that has been giving everything a healthy squirt of water every so often.

I'm not going to get a chance to strip the wiring down on the crown till Wednesday / Thursday, but I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the help so far. ;0

[ropeman23]

Cleaned all the contacts up yesterday, they didn't look bad, but having put it all back together it's seems to work fine. So many thanks for all the help.