Last year I had a lot of work to sort out a non starting issue which, having changed all the electrical components under the bonnet turned out to be a dead petrol pump. That was the first time in 15 years of owning Gleneagles when this had happened but eventually it was identified and sorted. Now the car starts, runs perfectly for two seconds and cuts out… Again and again so it’s definitely a pattern. Trying the OBD and the LED gives nothing - no sign of life at all. Then I noticed the engine check light doesn’t come on so I’m thinking there’s a connection in a unresponsive OBD and no check light. I have replaced the CAS, coil pack and Fuel pump relay. Any ideas from the hive?
There is no check engine light on UK spec NA. Your symptoms seem related to a transponder immobiliser issue to me.
Might it be worth trying a different key??
yes, both keys tried. No difference… Thanks for the input.
Hi, Robbie. On the tachometer there is an orange security light, so not an engine check light, which flashes on briefly as the car starts. That is in a car with an immobiliser. On the problem car it doesn’t come on with the current fault but I had the immobiliser removed and the ECU reprogrammed last July. The car ran perfectly until Thursday 13th.
If i hit a bump in the road too hard, the plug to my AFM falls out and I get the same symptom you’re describing. Crank, starts, 2 seconds, idle sinks until it cuts out. Plugging the cable back in fixes it.
Could be an issue with your AFM, or the cable that plugs to it. Check the plug and socket for dirty/bent/broken/corroded connections.
(Don’t unscrew the two phillips heads by the AFM plug and pull it out, that insta-bricks the AFM by ripping the solder pads off the internal PCB.)
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Hi Bruce,
Just double check that your various centre console switches are plugged in properly. I had a similar issue ('97 Dakar) and it turned out that I hadn’t plugged the handbrake switch back in. As soon as I plugged it in, the car started perfectly fine. Also, check the hazard lights are plugged in too.
Some kind of cutoff kicks in it seems.
Fingers crossed for you,
Rob
Thanks Rob. The problem is it went to bed on Thursday night no problem having been used as usual but on Friday morning it would not start. No tools were used on it between running sweetly to cutting out immediately after starting. In July last year, in desperation when all the engine bay electrics had been changed to no avail, it was decided to remove the immobiliser as it seemed like an immobiliser problem. Luckily there’s an electronics company near me that specialises in ECU interrogation and tuning. I have now returned the ECU and immobiliser to them and they are going to take a look tomorrow. Fingers crossed. The original problem last year was a dead fuel pump and in 15 years of owning Gleneagles - I’m picky - I had never had a fuel pump die. It turned out to be an expensive fix but everything was fine up to 13th March.
Rather simplistic idea from me…but years back my Mk1 started to die off when super hot hot at high revs. Starting was hit and miss from cold. It either started on the button…or it did not. Turns out…2 or 3 older Magnecor leads were suss. They looked OK…just were’nt. I reverted to boring OEM and that was that. Go figure eh?!!
Have you been back to the basics of compression, ignition and fuel?
I think we can ignore compression or the engine wouldn’t run.
We inowcwe have a spark initially but is there still a spark after the engine has cut? Is the engine sropping because the sparks have stopped? This
could suggest immobiliser. Is there continued fuel pressure as the engine cuts out?
Could there be enough pressure to start the engine but not enough to supply enough fuel to keep the engine running?
As you say though, weird that the engine was fine when you switched off but not when youvswitched on again.
Best of luck
Well, it’s running again. I went back to ECU Decode in Westbury, Wiltshire and Darren asked for the ECU and Immobiliser box which he had disabled back in July in an attempt to solve a problem which turned out to be a dead fuel pump. This time he reconfigured the ECU to take power in through a different route - me neither it’s just magic as far as I’m concerned - and this apparently bypassed a potentially sticky ignition switch contact. He was experimenting with a new way to solve the problem and it worked!! Thanks for all the input and I hope this chapter stays closed.
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