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Starting the car after rain (or not...)


Guest burnside
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Guest burnside

Evenin'

The past two times its rained heavily, my Lupo 1.4S (3 years old) has decided to annoy me in a fairly big way! Basically, stick the key in the ignition, turn to start it, the starter motor kicks in for about a second then *everything* dies. All electrical power is cut from the car (i.e. the mileometer & clock disappears from the lcd, and nothing electrical works), then about 10minutes later it makes another noise and everything comes back (the clock having been reset) and I can start the engine and carry on as normal.

Does anybody have any theories on the above please?

Cheers guys,

Matt.

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Could it be part of the immobiliser?? I had a similar fault - put the key in, turned it and the engine turned over and didn't start (but not caused by the rain). The AA man said it was a fault in the engine immobiliser control system. When I took it to my dealer they said that it was probably the "dash insert" - part of the ECU?? that's located near the fusebox, but called me later to say that in my case it was the fuel cut off solenoid that was causing the car to turn over but not start. Apparently if the car had turned over and then all the power had died then it would have been the engine immobiliser kicking in (which sounds like what you've got??), but in my case because the power was not being cut it wasn't the immobiliser.

Sounds possibly like your Loop has the fault that they thought mine had? The dash insert is £180 parts and not too hard for them to fit, but for my fuel cut off solenoid it was £40 parts and £210 labour!! Bloody VW dealers.

Brian

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Guest burnside

Hi guys - cheers for the replies!

twisty `b-road` - Yes it is the original battery, but it only does this when its been raining, and it only does it once. When its dry its perfect and doesn't cause any problems!

b.calvert - Ouch, that sounds expensive! I didn't realise the immobiliser would cut all power, I thought it would just stop the car from starting. Perhaps a trip to my local VW garage could be in order then, i'm thinking of selling it anyway so this may just be the deciding factor!

Thanks again,

Matt.

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Guest burnside

After having sat in a car park for about an hour tonight in the pouring rain waiting for my car to start mad.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":angry:" border="0" alt="mad.gif" /> i've discovered a few things. Opening the bonnet (so presumably it triggers the bonnet alarm micro switch) seems to speed up the reset process - most times as soon as the bonnet is opened the dashboard comes into life (but still won't start and just repeats the whole process). When I was finally getting ready to call up some friends for a lift and a push, i've also discovered that opening the black plastic box that covers the (positive?) connector on the battery seems to kick it all into life (the engine made a strange hissing noise - possibly the fuel pump kicking in)! Will try this again in the morning before work (its bound not to start again if this summer weather continues!) and see if it happens everytime.

Before I bite the bullet and hand over some obscene cash to VW just for them to have a look at it - does anyone else have any advice?

Cheers guys,

Matt.

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Get your local ATS or similar to do a battery current check to discount that. A new battery will be `50-60` notes. They last about 3 years anyway, and excess moisture will drain a nearly dead battery. Worth a try, though Brians fault does seem scarily similar!

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Guest burnside

Cheers Si, i'll pop along somewhere this weekend to get that checked out. My theory about the black plastic cover seems to be correct! After work today, the usual thing happened, so opened the bonnet straight away, opened the plastic cover over the battery terminal and straight away it kicked into life!

It may be the positive connector is loose and me pushing down on the box to open it is making a better connection????

Will let you know what the battery chaps say.

Cheers,

Matt.

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Guest burnside

Ahhh haaaah I seem to have solved the problem! Having narrowed it down that plastic covering over the terminal I wiggled the wire attached to the battery and the thing practically fell off in my hand! `Re-attached` and firmly bolted on its been good all day. So theres the moral of my story - always check the basics first! I guess the moisture in the air simply got in the terminal connector because it was so loose and caused a short!

Cheers for everyones suggestions,

Matt.

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1st off i would have said battery

then i was thinkin immobiliser, do u have another key u could try - u might dropped the other one, and damage the black yokie on the key that links up wit the immobilser.. im so techy with my terms like yokie i know biggrin.gif style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

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I had a problem with my Loop not starting...

I parked it up to go into some shops, when I came out to start it...nothing.

The lights on the dash were on but nothing happened when I turned the key.

A quick look under the bonnet didn't help ??? (being a panel beater I try to distant myself from engines!)

I tried the battery terminals, still nothing. As I was getting worried about parking tickets I decided to ring my local garage to come and collect my naughty Loop.

Within an 20 mins they arrived!! (Can you believe that?) I took a bus home and within 1 hour of them collecting it they rang to say it was finished! YAY

When I arrived they told me that it was a problem with a connector on the starter motor, basically it was a poor connection (all they had to do was undo a bolt sand the connector with sand paper and replace bolt)

Then the gimp in the service dept handed over my bill... :0 £40 for collection £56 labour :0

After I came round I went off on one,

Why didn't they ring to ask me if I wanted the work doing?

Why are they charging a full hours labour for a 5 min job?

After asking to see the Service dept manager, and putting these two questions to him he dropped the recovery charge and ONLY charged me for 1/2 hour labour (£28).

I was still pissed of at having to hand over that much for a job even I could have done, still better than nearly £100...

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