mk7 transit not starting!

[eurokiwitransit]

Right. So I had the van towed to a ford dealership in another town here in Austria.

The ford guys called me the next day to say it’s starting and running perfectly with no fault codes at all.

So, the problem is definitely intermittent. It’s starting to sound more and more like some damaged or dodgy wiring to me, would you agree?

If that’s the case, where’s the best place to start and work back from with the wiring?

Cheers, Tristan.

[Airthies]

Or another reason for intermittent cam sensor fault would be wiring between sensor and PCM. Most likely where harness loops down from engine up & towards engine bay fuesbox.
If sometimes it's starting and others not it doesn't sound like timings out?

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Harness between engine and chassis

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[bambi mk 1]

More than likley the ign switch ,next time it dosent start give it a little bit of easy start and see does it run

[eurokiwitransit]

She's fixed!

So here in the Austrian Alps at the moment all the mechanics are super busy and nobody really seemed interested in figuring it out. I had it towed to a ford dealership after the first two mechanics had it for weeks and barely looked at it.

Murphy's Law - when it was at Ford it started every time perfectly. They said there was nothing wrong with it and it was running perfectly, no fault codes etc.

So I picked the van up and sure enough the next day it struggled to start again. Drove it to the supermarket and saw a massive leak trail. Turned out to be diesel.

Looked underneath, oh it's coming from the tank area. The fuel hose on the top of the tank (roughly 20mm diameter) just behind the chassis had popped off, hose clamp must have come loose.

I dropped the tank to give my hands enough room to fit, hose back on, tightened clamp and she runs good as gold.

Thanks for all your input! Over and out.

[v8dave]

So the winner was ...

air leak in fuel system

[Airthies]

So the winner was ...

air leak in fuel system

I maybe being really nieve here and happy to be corrected, but not sure a leaky tank breather would cause a starting problem?

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[bambi mk 1]

So the winner was ...

air leak in fuel system

I maybe being really nieve here and happy to be corrected, but not sure a leaky tank breather would cause a starting problem?

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Exactly Arnie Ill be back springs to mind

[eurokiwitransit]

I maybe being really nieve here and happy to be corrected, but not sure a leaky tank breather would cause a starting problem?

Funny you mention that, it seems that wasn't the issue. It started and ran fine for a day, and the next day it played up again and wouldn't start.

Here's pics of the hose i'm talking about - is it the breather hose? In the first pic you can see the white nipple where the hose should be on. Second pic is closer up.

[eurokiwitransit]

I've also noticed a bit of gunky sh*t around the injectors area - top of rocker cover, fuel or oil hard to tell. Sprayed everything with brake clean so will see in a few days where that's coming from I hope.

[bambi mk 1]

Have you tried it with easy start yet You could check the crank sensor isnt loose in the bracket .

[eurokiwitransit]

Have you tried it with easy start yet You could check the crank sensor isnt loose in the bracket .

Haven't tried easy start yet - I'm in a very small town somewhat remote in the Austrian Alps so a little tricky getting stuff like that.

Another thought, I'm not sure if it's always done this or if it's only started since the van has come back from the various mechanics, but the red light between the fuel and water temp guages (at the top of cluster) is flashing. Is this the immobiliser light? Van also honks the horn when locked sometimes now I only have one key for the van.

Does that red light always flash when van is locked and unlocked? Today I had a look at wiring and took fuel filter out etc everything seemed ok. A bit of sh*t came out in the diesel from fuel filter but nothing out of the ordinary I don't think.

If I can get it started again (our of pure luck) i'll drive it back to the ford mechanics an hour away tomorrow and they can have it until it's fixed.

[eurokiwitransit]

Thought I should update this. After all of this I asked the mechanic to swap the Cam sensor and Crank sensor despite him telling me there was nothing wrong with it.

This fixed the issue so I suspect crank sensor was at fault.

Thanks again for all your help, you're a bunch of legends.

When I get some time i'll put some photos up of my van, i've done a full camper build and will be living in it for the next 6-12 months. I'll drive to Northern Africa and back. If you're on instagram check it out at @destinationdunno

Cheers