Thread: Turns over but doesn’t start.....where do I look first

Hi All,

before I start wading through volumes of manuals I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction to begin to diagnose.

car is a 2004 V8 L322.

The car cranks but doesn’t fire. It’s a healthy crank and the battery is good. There is half a tank of fuel in the car. It did the same yesterday (first time) but did start after about the third attempt. The car then ran fine and I’ve used it twice since.

I checked the cars computers with the GAP tool and no engine faults present.

I was/am good at getting by 1980 Rangie and 1974 Mini going but they have Carbies and Points.

Where do I start ?

Thanks

Darren

Hi All,

update....she’s alive again.

Thought i’d start by looking at fuel ....as I guessed it was either going to be that or ignition.

There are some good video’s online which help the diagnostics and fuel pump replacement.

Mine ended up being a broken fuel pump. The plastic unit that you pull out of the Fuel tank has the fuel level sender and the pump in a long plastic cage. It seems most part places would like to sell you the whole unit and not just the pump ....but there is nothing wrong with the rest of it. EBay and a few other online places will sell you the pump but I wanted one today. Ended up sourcing the pump from Burson’s. It is the OEM brand PIERBURG and it cost $500, I expect I paid to much. They could have ordered me a Bosch one which was slightly cheaper, but again it would take a few days.

It probably takes about 3-4 hrs in total to do, I’d suggest you try and disassemble the unit to get the pump out before you source a new pump as the plastic cage becomes brittle with age and sitting in fuel all the time. You may need the whole assembly after all.

Part of the time was spent vacuuming the large amounts of red dust that seems to accumulate around the 2 access holes in the fuel tank, I reckon I got about 1kg of bulldust. Funny thing is none of the videos I watched on line had any dust.....

Darren