P38 Refuses to start

ZeroUk · Jan 1, 2010

Hi folks I have just found you and hope you can help. I have a 98 2.5 DSE Auto. During the recent cold weather it has been reluctant to start and needed to be turned over a number of times before it fired. Then for the rest of the day it would be fine. I did not use it for one day and yesterday went to it and despite a healthy battery (it was!!) it refused to fire. I noticed the message centre shows up engine disabled or start engine. I went back to each several times during the day but it refused to fire and now the battery now needs charging. I will proberbly have to call the RAC out but would appreciate any advice so I don't get stung when I go to the garage because I am not in a position to do my own repairs.

Pikey · Jan 1, 2010

Glow Plugs???

Datatek · Jan 1, 2010

ZeroUk said:
Hi folks I have just found you and hope you can help. I have a 98 2.5 DSE Auto. During the recent cold weather it has been reluctant to start and needed to be turned over a number of times before it fired. Then for the rest of the day it would be fine. I did not use it for one day and yesterday went to it and despite a healthy battery (it was!!) it refused to fire. I noticed the message centre shows up engine disabled or start engine. I went back to each several times during the day but it refused to fire and now the battery now needs charging. I will proberbly have to call the RAC out but would appreciate any advice so I don't get stung when I go to the garage because I am not in a position to do my own repairs.

If it says " Engine Disabled" you may need to have the BECM and engine ECU re-synched. That may have been caused by cranking until the battery was flat.

Others will know more about this.
The poor starting is probably glowplug related, could be the glowplug relay or the relay connections. If you can use a voltmeter it is easy to check, put a volt meter set to 20 volts DC one lead on any glowplug, the other on a good earth point on the engine, get a mate (or the wife) to turn the ignition key to position 2, you should see around 12 volts whilst the glowplug light is lit on the dash (assuming the battery is good). Much less than 12 volts would indicate relay or connection problems.

ZeroUk · Jan 1, 2010

Many thanks for the advice

P38 Refuses to start

ZeroUk

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Pikey

Dummy Ejection Facilitator..

Datatek

Well-Known Member

ZeroUk

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