Fires then dies

[oblark]

Ecu has been unplugged for 24hrs, still fires and dies. Disconnected the maf and no different.

All the time it's firing and dying the lambda light stays on.

[PNuT]

I would try unplugging the immobilizer next & see if it acts any differently to how it is now.... they don't run for very long! almost so it gets to idle revs & dies immediately

Its always going to be tricky when you have various systems fitted! What would vol fcr read on your car? I never tried it on anything apart from the 4.3 ecu & I think most of my obd wiring has now gone anyway....

[oblark]

I would try unplugging the immobilizer next & see if it acts any differently to how it is now.... they don't run for very long! almost so it gets to idle revs & dies immediately

Its always going to be tricky when you have various systems fitted! What would vol fcr read on your car? I never tried it on anything apart from the 4.3 ecu & I think most of my obd wiring has now gone anyway....

I've done some more checks, I have 12v going to all 5 coil packs and a good spark, The fuel pump fuse is ok and I have fuel pressure, the injectors are pulsing. As all of the above check out ok I would hazard a guess the fault is not with the immobiliser.

I have vol-fcr but it will only read the fault codes when the engine is running.

[LeeT5]

For the record gents, an alternator whether faulty or not, won't cause the symptoms the OP has.

Was the battery disconnected whilst you changed the alternator? If so, then it's more than likely that your ecu has lost all its 'learned' settings and now can't start due to adaptation not complete.
It is possible that there may be too many fault codes preventing the car from starting. This has happened to me before on various makes and models.
If your 100% certain that you have have 12v and 5v present at the MAF, switching signal at the injectors, normal amp draw and 12v at the fuel pump fuse with fuel pressure in the rail, then the car should run.

Double check all your fuses before doing anything else as it's very easy to blow a 5 or 7.5amp ecu fuse.
If they are all ok then it will almost certainly be immobiliser related.

Have you tried locking the car....wait for the led to settle after about 30 seconds, then unlock and try to start the car.
DONT TOUCH THE THROTTLE ON CRANK!!

See what happens. It has to something simple.
Remember of course that you will induce faults and error codes if you unplug sensors whilst the ignition is on!

[oblark]

Was the battery disconnected whilst you changed the alternator? If so, then it's more than likely that your ecu has lost all its 'learned' settings and now can't start due to adaptation not complete. The battery was disconnected whilst the alternator was changed, when I moved the battery to the boot the battery was disconnected for well over a week, when reconnected it started with no problems
It is possible that there may be too many fault codes preventing the car from starting. This has happened to me before on various makes and models.
If your 100% certain that you have have 12v and 5v present at the MAF, switching signal at the injectors, normal amp draw and 12v at the fuel pump fuse with fuel pressure in the rail, then the car should run.

Double check all your fuses before doing anything else as it's very easy to blow a 5 or 7.5amp ecu fuse. I'll check all the fuses tomorrow.
If they are all ok then it will almost certainly be immobiliser related.

Have you tried locking the car....wait for the led to settle after about 30 seconds, then unlock and try to start the car.
DONT TOUCH THE THROTTLE ON CRANK!! The car can only be locked with the key as the remote fob stopped working years ago.

[PNuT]

I have vol-fcr but it will only read the fault codes when the engine is running.

even the non 4.4 stuff?

I would have assumed you would have been able to read the abs/immobilizer/cruise or whatever your car has?

do you still have an alarm fitted? the original 850 one?

[Doingitsideways]

Hmm...

Sorry to jump in, but does the dash LED do anything during any of this?

From reading all the above, I'm pretty convinced it's an immob problem.
I have spare fobs here, I could send you one to pair to the car to try if you like?

[claymore]

On 4.3 mapped ecu's, the immobilizer is disabled, my rear engine wont start on a standard ecu, does exactly the same as Robs, I have to use a mapped ecu in it

[oblark]

even the non 4.4 stuff?

I would have assumed you would have been able to read the abs/immobilizer/cruise or whatever your car has?

do you still have an alarm fitted? the original 850 one?

I'm running a M4.4 ecu, it still has the orginal alarm fitted but I don't have a key fob to arm the alarm.

Hmm...

Sorry to jump in, but does the dash LED do anything during any of this?

From reading all the above, I'm pretty convinced it's an immob problem.
I have spare fobs here, I could send you one to pair to the car to try if you like?

The dash LED does nothing,

On 4.3 mapped ecu's, the immobilizer is disabled, my rear engine wont start on a standard ecu, does exactly the same as Robs, I have to use a mapped ecu in it

I'm I right in thinking with the M4.4 software from VS the immobiliser is disabled ?

[Doingitsideways]

Well you'd be welcome to give one a whirl, just give us a shout.

[Dangerous Dave]

I'm I right in thinking with the M4.4 software from VS the immobiliser is disabled ?

Yep, the immobiliser is disabled in the VS hacked binary

Just a quick thought, have you tired reflashing the software to the ostrich? I remember reading about a problem from ages ago when someone with a TT had to reflash it as something had gone wrong somehow. And as TT uses the same hardware (ostrich) it may be duplicated?

[oblark]

Update - still fires & dies.

I was convinced the problem was the maf so I got a working maf & 2 key fobs from ettienne (Steve)
Fitted the maf - no change
checked all 35 fuse - no change
reflashed the ostrich - no change

Tried to code the fobs to the car, on the 5th turn of the ignition with the fob button pressed the led on the dash flashes for 10 seconds then goes out. Both of the fobs would code themselfs to the car - could this because the immobiliser is disabled in the ecu binary or I have a immobiliser fault.

Sparyed some WD40 in the ignition lock and wriggled the key when starting - no change
After spending the day trying to the car started I managed to flattern the battery.
I'm at a complete loss why it won't start, all I did was change the alternator.

[Doingitsideways]

On fifth flick of the ignition, the light flashes.
Should then stay lit for a second when the fob button is pressed.
Each fob to be used must be logged, one after the other before ignition off.
Then ignition off to save them I think.

Not sure, but I think that unless you turn the ignition off before the led stops flashing, the system disregards it and reverts to previous settings.

[stribo]

It does sound like an immobiliser problem, Rachel's V70 does the same thing occasionally, just needs locking and unlocking with the fob, and it's fine. Obviously you can't do this with no fob, and if your immobiliser is disabled anyway, then it's a moot point anyway. Does Steve's BSR code reader not bring up any codes? my generic code reader doesn't need the engine running to read the codes, just the ignition on. As I'm working in Romsey, I could always pop in, and plug it in for you to try.

[claymore]

My friend did have a similar fault with his alternator, it had a dead short in it, without looking back at your posts, have you disconnected the wiring from the alternator and tried it, I'm pretty sure that would have been the first thing you did.

[jimka]

Tried a new/working battery on it and checked the alternator's regulator? It may be causing your ECU to go nuts. Welcome to try my battery if you need to borrow a new one.

[PNuT]

My friend did have a similar fault with his alternator, it had a dead short in it, without looking back at your posts, have you disconnected the wiring from the alternator and tried it, I'm pretty sure that would have been the first thing you did.

I would assume the same! I probably would have just removed the belt first though!

assuming it has no immobiliser yet showing the same symptoms I would be suspecting an ecu fault! or something affecting the ecu after initial start up.....

I would also remove the alarm relay & jumper terminal 50E & 50F on the 210 side as the alarm relay can stop it running....

[RichT4]

Have you made sure all plugs to sensors haven't been knocked, and the little wire that plugs into the alternator is still in place?

[oblark]

It does sound like an immobiliser problem, Rachel's V70 does the same thing occasionally, just needs locking and unlocking with the fob, and it's fine. Obviously you can't do this with no fob, and if your immobiliser is disabled anyway, then it's a moot point anyway. Does Steve's BSR code reader not bring up any codes? my generic code reader doesn't need the engine running to read the codes, just the ignition on. As I'm working in Romsey, I could always pop in, and plug it in for you to try.

The hacked M4.4 software from VS will only allow the fault codes to accessed when the engine is running, its something to do with the baud rate.

My friend did have a similar fault with his alternator, it had a dead short in it, without looking back at your posts, have you disconnected the wiring from the alternator and tried it, I'm pretty sure that would have been the first thing you did.

Will try this today

Tried a new/working battery on it and checked the alternator's regulator? It may be causing your ECU to go nuts. Welcome to try my battery if you need to borrow a new one.

The battery is only a few months old.

I would assume the same! I probably would have just removed the belt first though!

assuming it has no immobiliser yet showing the same symptoms I would be suspecting an ecu fault! or something affecting the ecu after initial start up.....

I would also remove the alarm relay & jumper terminal 50E & 50F on the 210 side as the alarm relay can stop it running....

Will try this today aswell.

I've been thinking about why it won't start,

When it fires it revs to 1500 rpm then dies, if the throttle is depressed when the engine fires it make no difference.

To me it's got fuel and a spark as it firing,
But it won't run - to make it run the ecu needs to know the following,

Amount of air being drawn in.
Position of throttle butterfly.
Position of the crank & cam shafts.

As its firing you would think all of the above are working, I've changed the MAF for a working one. So today I'm going to start by trying Claymores & PNut ideas if they don't work I'm then going to changing over sensors to hopefully find the fault.

[Dangerous Dave]

Good luck

If it is the same map as the volvospeed one then I think you can enable pre start OBD2 so you can retrieve any codes. You need to connect via the OBD port and send a 'o' via a terminal emulator (like realterm)

Info at the bottom of the page here: http://m44.wikia.com/wiki/Data_logging