Starting Issue 2.5 transit 1999

[BelgianCamper]

Hi all!

Video of issue https://youtu.be/aNwkLkor9kw?si=vT3XUTMp6fHnM56v

My name is Bryan I bought a 1999 2.5 non turbo Ford Transit Rimor. I bought it during covid from somebody that was also working on his house and lived in it. It would barley start and didn't have much power. Togheter with my mechanic friend I found out the electric fuel pump was not working that well and a new one was expansive and might give the same issue. I saw a lot of people in poland offering retrofit kits to make it a mechanical connection for cheap and thats what I did. I had a lot more power and was happy. Now I finished working on my house, my girlfriend is pregnant and I want to take a nice trip with her.

about 2 months ago the starter gave out, the little gear stuck out and the electrical part ontop fried itself. on autodoc I bought a new starter for like 150 euro so that was nice. I connected the new starter and moved the earth cable to on of the two big nuts on the starter unit, after it didnt work I moved it to the 2nd leg on the bolt between te starter and chassis. It still didn't want to work.

After that I made an extra earthing cable, and when I turn the key to the regular run position and connect the terminals on the starter it starts and runs fine. if I turn of the key it just goes off.

I checked fuses, the relays I tested and am not sure where to look. any things I should check again or try? Worst case I thought to myself I would just buy a push to start button to make it run.

I also have a video I just made to show the issue. The rpm counter also does not work it stays on 0 sometimes, after I throttle up a little it stays at idle rpm and normally after 2 min of running it works just fine, any idea for that too? Temp, fuelgage etc work fine.


Thank you in advance!

[Altransit]

I'm slightly confused, because the non-turbo engine should have a Bosch VE mechanical pump as standard

[BelgianCamper]

let me look if it has a turbo somehwere lol, but thats aside from the issue I am having now with the starting :p

[MinorMatt]

100% that started life as a TD - it still has the ECU and the wiring for it.

I couldn't quite see - but do you have an immobilised LED, in '99 it should be on the dashboard, but its possible its in the headlining.

I strongly suspect that when the mechanical pump was fitted it had a partial immobiliser bypass. The pump was bypassed but the starter circuit was not.

In the auxillary fuse box by the battery (your hand is next too it when you flash the starter) is a small brown relay. This fails and stops the starter (and power to the electronic pump which is now removed). You can either replace it and keep some immobiliser function, or bypass it.

my order of preference:

1) Replace Brown Relay mentioned above
2) Locate the yellow start inhibit relay (its between the metal support bracket and the bulkhead, reach down the hole in the top of the dash in the passenger side and break it off its mount) and bypass with a 50mm (ish) long piece of wire with 2 spades on the end and tuck it back in place.
3) Run a wire from the ignition switch to the small terminal on the starter.

With regards to the revcounter.... its not unusual for it to need a quick rev for it to start working (it should come to life when battery light goes out), but it should then work straight away. Odd behaviour from the revcounter is normally a sign that the alternator is not far from complete failure and should be replaced.

[BelgianCamper]

Hi thank you for the answers so far I will look at my car when I get back home. Just to add, after we changed the pump the ford started normally but sort of weak. after a few months the starter gave out and I installed the new starter and now I does not want to work. Don't know if that changes anything ? Sorry if I am not clear. thank you for all the help so far!

[BelgianCamper]

Hi I tried option 1 and it did not work, went for option 2 but only found some lose wires from the previous owner and I didn't change anything here. am I overlooking it? option 3, what wire should I runf it from at the contact? best regards

[BelgianCamper]

Fixed it! so it turns out some previous owner had problems with the ignition because when I opened it I saw 3 zip ties and a whole lot of tape, followed the tape and saw it was hitting the chassis at the firewall. repaired the wire and start right up. other issue now is that the rpm counter stays at 500 idle at does nothing else. alternator has a good voltage. any ideas?

[BelgianCamper]

this is what it looked like.

[MinorMatt]

Fixed it! so it turns out some previous owner had problems with the ignition because when I opened it I saw 3 zip ties and a whole lot of tape, followed the tape and saw it was hitting the chassis at the firewall. repaired the wire and start right up. other issue now is that the rpm counter stays at 500 idle at does nothing else. alternator has a good voltage. any ideas?

Good news

As I said - if the revcounter is acting up its a sign that the alternator is failing.

[BelgianCamper]

found the issue, the thermostat housing had a small gap that would open up once the engine is started, it would leak a small amount of coolant which would drop on top off the enige and run to the cooler fan, the cooler fan would hit in on the inside off the belt at the allternator making it slip from time to time. bought myself a new thermostat housing and now it does not slip anymore and the rom gage works good again.