Car won't start, wonky issue

[Turbowned]

Hey guys,

I'm having an issue where I go to put the key in the ignition, but when I turn it to the "ON" position, the CEL, battery and other associated lamps don't display and when I turn the ignition, the car starts and immediately dies, repeatedly, as if the security system is intervening. I had it happen twice before at random and was able to fiddle with the car (unlock, lock, cycle key, etc.) and get it back to normal but this time it doesn't seem to want to work. The battery had gone dead from sitting for so long, so I was trying to start it with a jump pack, and then replaced the battery, so I don't know if I might have caused a fault in the system somehow? Just curious if anyone's experienced this before...

[spoolinrs6]

i have had that happen in mine. It sat out for a week and it rained one day and the next day i tried to start it, it started for like 5 seconds and just completely died. i couldnt jump it or even lock the doors so i pushed it in the garage for a week till i figured it out. it was a main fuse under the hood behind the firewall on the drivers side its like a long metal line and then theres the fuse. it was blown and old and rusty so i changed it and the car worked perfectly fine again. good luck!

[Turbowned]

I waited a couple of days, went out to the car and sure enough, it fired right up. I'm glad it's not a permanent problem but I really need to figure out what it is, lest it decide to happen when I'm out somewhere far away and can't get home. I'll check the fuses and relays to start. I notice also some static noise coming from the speaker(s) on the right side of the car when this is happening; dunno how they're related but...

[Dmb408]

Isn't that the reaction the valet key has, the doors only key...I wonder if your key fob recognition is failing.

[spoolinrs6]

yea i think its a common problem with them. im def it should be a fuse or relay once water gets in them they get rusty and corroded. The speakers is probably another issue

[Turbowned]

I think I only hear the feedback in the speaker when this issue occurs; otherwise it doesn't happen. It is exactly the reaction a car has when you try to start a newer car with a non-chipped key; turns over, but immediately realizes it's not getting signal from the chip, shuts down.

[Corbett]

Do you have an APR tune by chance?

[Turbowned]

Nope, bone stock as of right now.

[Corbett]

Ah ok. I had same issue with a b5s4 turned out to be their security feature had to call them and get the code. Sounds like an immobilizer issue to me

[Turbowned]

Doing it again this week, arg! I've observed it also only happens when the car is parked on a slight incline. I had it under a cover for a couple weeks and it won't start. Tried jacking it up to make it level just in case it was related but still nothing. Checked the fuses on the LH panel of the dash and nothing seems out of the ordinary. Same reaction with all three keys. Full power to the car but MIL doesn't come on, no door chime and not running after startup. I've got the battery unplugged and on a trickle charger now just in case re-setting the ECU/memory might do anything.

[nubcake]

Does the dash actually turn on? Does the tach needle move when you start the car?
If there's no "initial" MIL, there might be something wrong with the powertrain CAN bus. Then you'd also have no tach as it comes over CAN as well.

[ttboost]

Have you checked the power supply block, in the cowl, on the passenger side? Maybe your cowl drains are plugged and these are getting wet?

[Bigglezworth]

Hey guys,

I'm having an issue where I go to put the key in the ignition, but when I turn it to the "ON" position, the CEL, battery and other associated lamps don't display and when I turn the ignition, the car starts and immediately dies, repeatedly, as if the security system is intervening. I had it happen twice before at random and was able to fiddle with the car (unlock, lock, cycle key, etc.) and get it back to normal but this time it doesn't seem to want to work. The battery had gone dead from sitting for so long, so I was trying to start it with a jump pack, and then replaced the battery, so I don't know if I might have caused a fault in the system somehow? Just curious if anyone's experienced this before...

Sure sounds like an Immobilier symptom. When I swapped ECU's on the cars here to test something out, I had the exact same symptom because the

ECU and the speedo assembly wern't sync'd. Did you change any of the components? It sounds like you need to have things recoded, which takes someone with specific knowledge. This is just a hunch.

[SAF]

Have you checked the power supply block, in the cowl, on the passenger side? Maybe your cowl drains are plugged and these are getting wet?

where exactly are these drain holes? I had this same thing happen to me recently since the car has been parked outside for a year.

[ttboost]

Pretty sure there are drains in the floor of the cowl. Maybe Tim has a picture...

[GreggPDX]

I was just messing with those yesterday. There is one underneath the coolant reservoir, and one under the brake booster. They are holes about 1" diameter and have a rubber flapper "plug" that should allow water to drain, but catch any larger stuff like leaves. The problem is they will clog pretty easy, and on my car the previous owner had removed the plugs.

With the cowl cover off, it's pretty easy to get to the plug under the coolant reservoir, and if you remove the reservoir, you can get your hand back under the brake booster as well.

[Turbowned]

Nothing was changed, this has been an intermittent issue since I bought the car. It's just now developed into a more than "five-minutes of it not working and then it works" issue into a "now it's really not working" issue. I will try checking those drains and check the power supply block next.

[Turbowned]

Holeeee crap I found the source of the issue!!

Removed the panel under the dash and started checking fuses and relays (all of which were fine), then moved to wiggling around the wiring. When I got to a braided section of wiring that goes up to the cluster, *boom* got CEL/batt/EPC/etc. to come on and was able to start the car. Wiggled it again and the connection broke. Thus, it has to be something with the connection at the cluster. I'm about to bring it to work and start doing further investigation; hoping it's a simple fix!

[GreggPDX]

Congrats! It's a great feeling to find the source of "mystery" issues like this!

[Aronis]

My car failed just after the completion of the engine oil leak repair, the car ran fine but as he was testing it out, it just failed. He too took apart the dash looking for an issue. It turned out that he ECU had failed. The component that controls the injectors needed to be repaired. There is an outfit in Massachusetts that fixes ECU's. They warrantee the work for a year. Just found the information BBA and cost me $530. http://www.bba-reman.com/us/index.aspx


Mike

[Turbowned]

So I got to work, removed the cluster and found that the blue connector on the left side of the cluster has an iffy connection. Wiggle it a little, lights go on, wiggle it again, lights go off. Not sure if the male or female end is at fault here. If it's the female end, I fear I may end up needing to replace the cluster which means getting said cluster reprogrammed. I'm hoping I can just source a used one and have it programmed, because I can only imagine what a new one will cost. At least for now, I know what to do if it happens again!

[Aronis]

Great investigative work!

Mike