two_OH_five wrote:
Apologies in advance OP, this rant has been building for a while...
FFS why don't people provide relevant information when looking for help
You get a car won't start thread, 3 pages of people trying to be helpful before it's revealed that the engine has been replaced with a prototype space/time drive derived from the LHC and the battery has been relocated to the fifth moon of Neptune
Now that got a laugh
You often gain a lot more from a conversation or seeing the car.
two_OH_five wrote:
Anyway
I still think something is amiss in the main fusebox
Assuming all the fuses are indeed intact the failure seems to span multiple circuits. Lights don't appear to use the manifold earth strap (although the inner workings of the retract control relay are a mystery to me and it may somehow be reliant on ecu signals) as they're earthed through the main earth to the wing
As far as I can see the fuel pump doesn't need input from the ecu. The ecu can switch it but from what I see as long as the starter is engaged the circuit open relay is energised and the fuel pump is powered. This uses an earth allegedly in the centre console
So it looks like most things are getting some form of earth via the chassis
But lights and ecu appear unpowered. In light of the fact that wibbling the fusebox has brought it back to life a couple of times I still think the problem is lurking in there. My guess is still a connector that's only partly connected
The blown fuse is the joker in the pack but arcing contacts can do weird things
Agree, gut feeling (a very big one
) it's a fusebox related problem. Arcing, especially into inductive or capacititive loads, causes surges that can blow fuses. They can also blow ECU's.
I don't think replacement is the answer as the problem is usually in the connections.
I'm happy to have a first look on Sunday evening on the way back from the meet, I'm quite likely to spot something the untrained eye wouldn't.
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