New lady member needs help.

[Dewey64]

Hi guys and gals
I am at my wits end now so have turned to the web as my van has cost me too much already to go back into the garage AGAIN for 2012. I have an 04 lwb t230 connect, it has done 117k. Where to start.
Jan 2012- van not starting first time, batt and alternator checked advised to change battery, done
Van still not starting first time.

June 2012- van started making loud nocking noises inside engine. Van in garage for about 6 weeks, had engine stripped down and rebuilt, had low compression on cylinder 4 caused by overfueling of injector, all injectors replaced. Had van back mid August. Runs fine but Still not starting properly.

October 2012- van really struggling to start In the mornings the colder the worse it is. Turns over but not firing. Takes back to mechanic after having to jump it off my other halfs pajero one morning. Batt and alternator checked, alternated fxxxxed
Replaced.

November 2013- still not starting properly, then wouldn't start at all, no noise at all comming from Starter moter, all dash lights as normal. Took batt in to electrical place and had it charged overnight, showed batt now fxxxxxed so they replaced it under warranty. New batt put in, still no noise. Starter moter replaced

Today- van STILL won't start first time.
Please help.

[Altransit]

Is it turning over normally, slowly, or not at all
Are the dash lights coming on normally, do they go dim, or go out, when you turn it over

[gt_addict]

Welcome to the forum

Does the van crank over at all or is it just lack of battery power?

If its electrical related have you checked for any sort of drain on the battery?

[BORDER]

So she has trouble starting ... when you do manage to get her started ( either eventually or by jumping ).. does she run ok ??

Also .. once you have her started and run her for a bit , are you able to turn her off then start her up again or does she still refuse to start properly.

Forgive me if i missed something, but you didn't state if she's a petrol or diesel ?? .. that will help in diagnosis

My first instinct is to say .. this is either an electrical fault or a fuel fault ( meaning i doubt it will be something mechanical like the starter )... so we need to try and determine which by a process of elimination.

easiest and best way i find is to start with the cost free simple things first ..

If shes pretrol ..

Make sure your spark plugs are ok and are " gapped " properly.
Make sure your getting a spark to each plug ( take the plug out but leave it connected to the lead & turn her over - you'll see the spark ).
Make sure all your leads are working by using the above process.
Try disconnecting as many of the SENSORS that don't effect startup process ( i.e - water temp sensor )
Get the engine in as MINIMAL as a state as you can , meaning disconnect as much as you can just leaving the bare essentials it needs to start , if she starts fine.. re-connect one by one until the fault arises again.

I appreciate these might seem like silly things , but trust me i have seen some real issues caused by the silliest of things. And I don't mean to be detrimental because your a female .. I don't know your / husbands knowledge of engines

Lets see what we get from this ... if it has any effect at all

But the point being... it wont have cost you a penny

[Dewey64]

All the dash lights come on when I first turn on the ignition then go out as normal once heated etc. then it turns over but it can be from 5 seconds onwards before it actually fires into life, some times I have to start the whole process again and heat it again so I don't flood it, but this doesn't seem to make any difference. The dash or head lights don't seem dim, my radio seems a bit rubbish and makes funny noises sometimes, I replaced my tape player with a connect CD player, I wonder if its a fault in the radio that is draining the battery? A short or something as it sometimes sounds like it trying to eject a cd when there is nothing in there. But would that have a effect over night when the va is not in use. Maybe I should take the radio out and see if it makes a difference? What do you think? Thanks for the replies.

[gt_addict]

You could try it and see what if it does. It certainly wouldn't hurt lol

[Dewey64]

I can't think of anything else it might be. The mechanic that did al the other work said it could be low fuel pressure but that if this was the case it would crank over and over, this sounds like a flat battery. I suppose I should take the van and get it tested but I live in upton now and I am back there now. I'm just glad that whenever it decides not to start its when I'm back at my parents with our local mechanic 10 mins away. I do have a duralit tester with the clicky round dial on the front but I don't have a clue how it works, it didn't come with any instructions, we live on a narrow boat and got It to test the electrics on the boat but never needed to. I'm ok mechanically but like most people you either know electrics or you don't and these new vehicles are just not accessible.

[Dewey64]

It is a diesel, when the engine was rebuilt it had all new glow plugs so its not them, it does start most times meaning since the problems started in jan it has started eventually with the key every time bar 2. I was a gardener until September when I started my degree so van was used everyday starting several times a day at various customers and it just takes a while to fire up, it's ole when you hear someone else's car/van trying to start and you instinctively think "that doesn't sound very good". But like I said, it goes. I will take radio out and see if that makes a difference, there may be a short inside that which is draining the battery as I got it from a scrappy so it could have been dropped or anything. It does make random noises which a bash of frustration usually stops. I may just have not put 2 and 2 together. As I think I could have put it in around the time the problems started.

Once it's started, say first thing, like today I let it run for about a minute then turned it off and tried again to see if that made a difference and it did start but in a bit less time than the first. The only time it started first time in the past yr was last Thursday when I had put the new batt in then the starter put on that morning and then drove from rugby to upton about ht n half drive. Then it went down hill again.

As for my other half, we struggle through mechanics together, he does a lot of Internet research and posts on forums etc, he's ok, struggling with his own motor ATM aswell as he's drained his coolant system and now the heater doesn't get hot but that's another story. I will have a go at taking all electrical things off to see if I find a fault like that.

[gt_addict]

On the subject of tour husbands car. He will have to squeeze the coolant hoses. On te connect it would be the top radiator hose that on the right of the rad as the right hand small hose on the expansion tank. Alternating between those will move the airlock round to the expansion tank. That should be done when the Coolant is warm and te temp gauge on the dials is sitting in the middle.

[Dewey64]

Hi guys. Thanks for all your info. I have had a friend mechanic l
A friend machanic look at the van. He tok it to work and had a guy come out and put a proper ford computer checker thing on it and it seems there was a fault/ glitch on the ecu that wasn't giving the right cold start information. He cleared the computer and reinstalled the correct information. Van seems to be running fine now and starts first time. All the other bits must have just been bad luck and it had reached that point where everything breaks. Wel at least it's all fixed now. Thanks again. Regards. Katie.