Starting Xe nova for first time

[cheshiresport]

Ive come to start my xe for the first time today and battery woz a bit low on power so i hooked up my booster pack. Got all lights and battery strength, and oil pressure on dash. turned key to start and heard a click, then lost everything on dash. No lights no power on battery etc.

Ive checked all the fuses in the car. Just wondering what it is that could have gone? Can anyone help please? :cry:

[novamadman]

starter, check wiring round engine if anything is off

[fearless]

Make sure youv'e got a good earth on the engine - other than that charge your battery fully and try again tomorrow

Dave

[Philsutton]

i'd say check your earth to start with

[cheshiresport]

Fitted brand new earth wire yesterday from gearbox to passenger side chassis leg, and ive only just wired up the starter motor alternator wiring etc so im sure everything there is correct and tight

[geoff H]

Check the earth strap to the battery, if the terminal isn't tight it will give you this effect

Geoff

[fearless]

Siezed Engine ???:(

[Adam]

Do the dash lights etc come on now?
Just go out when you try the engine?

Just sounds like a faulty starter to me, dash lights go off as it draws current, but its not turning the engine over. The click you hear is the solenoid moving into position.

[cheshiresport]

No lights come on dash now, ive turned the engine by hand on bottom pulley, wouldnt have thought it would be seized??

[cheshiresport]

If the battery was totally fu**ed even if i had the booster pack on could that be the problem??

[General Baxter]

its defo the earth, as i had this problem on my v6,

[cheshiresport]

The earth onto the battery or any one of the ones on the car?

[General Baxter]

The earth onto the battery or any one of the ones on the car?

on the battery

[cheshiresport]

Ok im off work tmrw i will try it all again, check everything and see how i go with it, cheers for all your help. I may get new battery anyway though.

[Mike]

i take it you spanner checked everything before a)trying to start it and b) actually driving it?

Spanner check as in check every bolt you touched is tight so nothing falls off/out.

[cheshiresport]

i take it you spanner checked everything before a)trying to start it and b) actually driving it?

Spanner check as in check every bolt you touched is tight so nothing falls off/out.


Yeah ive spanner checked it as ive gone, Ive undone every single nut and bolt on the car over the last year doing it up. Im not trying to drive it yet, just see wether it starts up for now :thumb:

[Mike]

Yeah ive spanner checked it as ive gone, Ive undone every single nut and bolt on the car over the last year doing it up. Im not trying to drive it yet, just see wether it starts up for now :thumb:

Goody good, just force of habbit you see as i have the wonderfull job of doing it to rally car's for the BTRDA and 205 challenge day in day out!:thumb:

[cheshiresport]

Cool nice job, its been a long build but nearly done now, just lots of silly little fiddly jobs to do now

[Ian_Gsi16v]

Had a similar problem on my xe corsa, was the earth that bolts to the block by the starter

[cheshiresport]

It was a bad earth from the battery to the car body, ive sorted that now, ive got fuel to the engine now, but no spark from the coil. Going to try another coil tomorrow. I have noticed however that when i turn to key the fuel pump runs constantly. I thought they only ran until the pressure was built up? When i used to have my nova gsi the fuel pmp would come on for a couple of seconds when you first turned the key then stop again until you started the car?

Have i done something wrong??

[Adam]

Yes, something is wired wrong, the pump must be getting a constant 12v feed, instead of 12v when the relay switches.

[fearless]

Have you wired up the ignition live (black wire) for the ecu - make sure you have a live feed when cranking the engine - some lives drop voltage when cranking!!!!

Dave

[cheshiresport]

Where is the ignition live wire for the ecu? Ive today tried a fresh ignition coil but still getting no spark.

Where would the fuel pump be getting a constant 12v feed from?

[Adam]

Where would the fuel pump be getting a constant 12v feed from?
The 12v wire you've connected it to.

The ignition live for the ecu is taken from the ignition barrel.

[Ste L]

black live is there... i wired this to my fuse box

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a130/Ste_SRi/wires/DSCI0023.jpg

[fearless]

Depends which 16v loom you've used - Astra loom is as seen in the picture above - single black wire just below the dizzy.

Cavalier/Calibra loom - it's one of the connector plugs that should have ended up inside the car near the o/s/f kick panel


Dave

[cheshiresport]

Ahhh Im not sure which loom ive got, as far as the fuel pump is concerned ive used the nova gte wiring loom so all the wiring was already there. Think ive got a picture of my engine wiring loom somewhere, il try to post up a pic of it

[cheshiresport]

When i was on mig getting help with the wiring. one lad thought ive got the astra gte 16v wiring loom. He said the black/yellow wire on the engine loom was the 12v ignition feed wire??

Ive just took the following pictures of the wiring in my engine bay:

This is the two square plugs that i was told to connect together

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/3295/10003971we.th.jpg (http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10003971we.jpg)

Is this the fuel pump relay?

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/17/10003981yl.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10003981yl.jpg)

There was a small piece of red wire stuck into the terminals linking the red/blue wire to the blue wire, would this indicate that the relay is f*cked?

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9206/10003991zc.th.jpg (http://img214.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10003991zc.jpg)

Should there be any more wires connected onto the ignition coil?

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/8998/10004006bl.th.jpg (http://img71.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10004006bl.jpg)

This is one plug on the xe wiring before it goes through the bulkhead into car

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8448/10004013vd.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10004013vd.jpg)

This is another plug right next to battery on xe loom

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2743/10004021dn.th.jpg (http://img63.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10004021dn.jpg)

Then on xe wiring right before the ecu inside the car there is a small plug with two brown/white wires in it.

Hope someone can determine what loom ive got and where my problem may lie.

[Ste L]

Depends which 16v loom you've used - Astra loom is as seen in the picture above - single black wire just below the dizzy.

Cavalier/Calibra loom - it's one of the connector plugs that should have ended up inside the car near the o/s/f kick panel


Dave

:confused: :confused:

thats a cav mk3 gsi loom, well thats what the engine came from, with loom

[cheshiresport]

Is that what ive got then ste cav mk3 gsi loom? Where should the ecu wire be then? Do you think my fuel pump relay is f*cked then by the sound of it?

[cheshiresport]

Can anyone help me with this wiring problem????

[cheshiresport]

Anyone??

[Ste L]

pm me, should be able to bob down tonight, got nothing planned,

see what i can do, can only try :)

[cheshiresport]

Cheers for coming over last night ste.

Right we have found out that my fuel pump relay isnt working, and now the fuel pump itself is playing up, so i need to replace both of them. I still have the problem however of no spark anyone any ideas pls??

[Adam]

Is the ECU getting power?
Have you got a ECU light wired up?

[cheshiresport]

Im not sure mate, got the clocks in off my sport so no ecu light on them

[Adam]

Wire the ecu light wire upto the choke light on your clocks.

[cheshiresport]

Was having a look with ste last night for the ecu wire, my loom is different to his though on my square plug there is a black wire on it that is connected to black wire on nova gte loom isnt that it?

[Ste L]

Cheers for coming over last night ste.



no problem mate, cars bloody stunning :thumb: :eek:

[cheshiresport]

Cheers pal

[Adam]

Ecu light is normally blue/brown iirc.

[Ste L]

Wire the ecu light wire upto the choke light on your clocks.


the cars got a full gte loom, adz, so the choke light will act as the ecu light, because they use the same wires,

bit like mine, i put a bulb in the wrong one, now i got choke and ecu light togther, lol

[cheshiresport]

so im still stuck lol

[Adam]

If you get a ecu light on with ignition, then the ecu is getting power.
ECU getting no power=no fuel pump and no spark.

[cheshiresport]

but i need to know where the black wire comes from on my loom and what i need to connect it to on car loom

[Adam]

Black wire is a switched 12v live, needs joining to the ignition supply from the ignition barrel.

[cheshiresport]

what the black wire on my xe loom is the switched 12v live? ive joined that to the black wire on the square plug on the nova gte loom

[Adam]

The black wire on the xe loom needs a switched live yes.
Assuming the black wire on the GTE loom is a switched live, then its fine.

[cheshiresport]

how would i check if the nova wire is swiched live, with test light shouldcome on when ignition turned to start??

[cheshiresport]

And if this wire isnt switched 12v live where do i run another wire to?

[Adam]

Use a multimeter, set it to 12v.
Put one probe onto the live wire and the other to an earth(battery terminal, door lock stricker etc)
And then switch the ignition on, if its Ignition switched it will show 12v with the ignition on.

If it doesn't then you can run the XE 12v wire to the ignition switch wire at the ignition barrel, or the fusebox(i think Ste used the fusebox)

[Ste L]

yea, i used fuse box, saves putting an inline fuse in ;)

it need to show 12v when cranking too, otherwise it wont work...#
not all switched lived are cranking one's

so will need to show 12v when its cranking too

[cheshiresport]

ok i will give that a go, cheers for now lads. If this wire is my problem and i know my relay is knackered too, then hopefully i should get a spark and it should in theory fire up??

[Ste L]

in theroy yes...

[Adam]

ok i will give that a go, cheers for now lads. If this wire is my problem and i know my relay is knackered too, then hopefully i should get a spark and it should in theory fire up??
Yep, as long as everything else is wired right.

[cheshiresport]

Ha ha i really hope so

[saloonwoody]

sounds like battery connections to me

[cheshiresport]

Nah checked and re checked battery connections, does need new battery but had it on jump leads at weekend with loads of juice and still wouldnt start. Tried fuel pump relay on ste's car last night and found thats knackered, need to check for switched 12v live to ecu and go from there

[gsinovaboi]

tigten all blots on positiove and negative im a mechanic it always happens npzzz