mwade2012

Hi, I've spent all weekend pulling my hair out. I spent 4 hours removing the gearbox and the clutch/flywheel. what a chew on it is getting the box out! i fitted a new sachs DMF and clutch exactly the same as the one that came out. the new flywheel only went on in one position where all the bolts lined up so i know that that's fitted correctly. i also changed the slave as its good practice. after an hour conventionally bleeding the clutch and getting no where i got hold of a pressure bleeder which bled the system in literally seconds and i thought all was well until i tried to start the car. it turns over and spluttered into life a few times but only for a few seconds.

i checked all electrical connections and found i forgot to plug the air flow meter back in, tried starting it again, still no luck. had a word with a proper car mechanic as i'm a mechanical engineer and work on factory machinery so don't really have much experience in fault finding on cars. he said that the crank shaft position sensor is critical to the starting of the engine and on my car it reads its position off the flywheel which sounds right as i replaced the flywheel so the air gap between the sensor and flywheel may have changed some what. I googled the "air gap" and found nothing, tried ringing the stealership and they wouldn't tell me anything. they told me to bring it in to which a replied how can i bring it in it wont start! haha anyway i decided to remove the sensor and found it was scratched and damaged so i a rang the motor factors and got a new one delivered within the hour and fitted that and still no luck.

on the dash the red warning light (!) is on and wont go off. I've got a guy with a fault code reader coming tomorrow, see if i get anywhere with that

I've also checked all the earths and also tried adding an additional earth using a jump lead The car is a 56 plate focus 1.8 tdci, any help would be MASSIVELY appreciated. thanks.

doga-ot

iTrader: (1)

May sound stupid but can you push it a few meters or get a bump start? Where you tried starting it with damaged crank position sensor and afm unplugged you may have over fueled the engine bump starting it will clear the fuel(yes i know its diesel)

pani_k

iTrader: (1)

I would've said crank sensor also but it seems you've already tried that unless something is blocking it from being pushed all the way in so it still isn't picking up a reading. Make sure it is sitting properly and is fully pressed into position.

theheap

I was gonna blame crank sensor. Have you checked for any snagged leads/hoses?

mwade2012

Thanks for replying so fast

i didnt think you could bump start a diesel?? or your not supposed to?

i tried the crank sensor in a few positions and it didn't really seem to make a difference.

i had to tow the car home last night as i was working on it in a classic car workshop over the weekend and they needed the ramp back. i've got a mechanic coming over at 4pm today with a high end fault code reader computer. hopefully i'll get somewhere with that. with any luck the fault code will just need clearing and it will fire straight up =| lol

mwade2012

well the mechanic has been and scanned the car and its throwing up fault code P0089 which is a fuel pressure regulator fault. he had a quick look over the fuel system and found there was no fuel being sent from the tank so the fuel sender unit is at fault. sounds very strange how its suddenly gone after putting in a new clutch and flywheel. i had this problem this time last year and i had to drop the tank due to there being no access pannel under the seat. its also a chew on getting the tank out but now im gonna be another Ł100 out of pocket and days work ahead of me. the scrap yard is starting to sound like a good idea.