Fiesta starting problems - won't turn over
 

Hey guys,

Signed up here as I'm in need of a bit of help for a friends car I am repairing. I'm a BMW guy myself so need a bit of guidance!

It's a 2001 Fiesta 1.25. My friend managed to crash it but the car started up fine after the crash. Since then I repaired the damage to the A-arm etc. Took a couple weeks to get the bits and during that time the battery died so replaced it with a brand new one as it was on it's way out.

Now the car won't start at all. Won't even crank over. There are no clicking sounds at all when the key is turned fully. All the dash lights up just as it should. Checked all the fuses, swapped the starter relay out and checked the cut off switch in the passenger foot well; all good.

I'll be going round tomorrow with a multimeter to check the starter is getting a 12v feed and the solenoid is getting one as well.

Is there anything else I should be checking or is a common problem?

The airbag went off and hasn't been replaced yet, but since it was running fine after the crash I doubt that's the problem. Also there is so flashing light coming from the immobilizer.

Many thanks in advance,

Ross

red light should flash once every few seconds with ignition off, turn ignition on and it should come on solid, then go out after 10 seconds or so. Have you made sure all the wires are back on the battery?

No flashing at all, in fact he seems to remember it never flashing.

Yep, everything is back how it should be

I'd be checking fuses etc, might be possible that it had a spike or something. Did you jump start it by any chance? Not too sure if these have smart charge as if it does you should never jum start them as it can kill various ECU's etc.

Checked literally every fuse (both central and under bonnet fuse boxes) and all the relays, including the ones behind the central fuse box to no avail. Didn't try and jump start it but these don't have smart charge as far as I know

When you say crashed how bad, also did you check all the earths as a feature in the bodywork will weaken any earth point

Not overly bad. In fact I was very surprised that the airbag deployed.

I'll give them all a good check tomorrow, unfortunately light was dying fast last time I was up so didn't get to look at much