Mystery Fault

[schmee]

Help!

My Stepwagon will not start, I have the distributor rebuilt, and the ECU tested, the garage it is with has said he cannot find anything wrong with it and cannot understand why it will not start. He said it is getting the right level of fuel and a spark, it ticks over but will not fire up.

The fault occured when I hit one of those lovely potholes, you know, the ones we pay a Road tax for!!! Anyway, I hit this thing, carried on driving for a few miles and it cut out, never to start again. It has dented my allow and potentially written my car off!

Anyone got any ideas? If not, she will be going to the scrappers as Im not paying for a new engine!!! Shame as I loved this car.

Any help is appreciated

If anyone has a simple solution like there is some sort of engine cut off switch please email me, im desperate and losing patience.

[anto1231]

have you tried a compression tester on all 4 cylinders could have dropped a valve cant see it doing just by going over a pot hole if not it could have slipped a few teeth on timing belt id check it out and go from there if its getting right fuel and good spark then it should crank up

[PARR]

In my limited experience, if a spark is being produced by the coil but the engine is not firing, it just could be damaged spark plugs - you do not say whether the engineer checked the plugs or just checked the spark impulse at the plug connection.

[schmee]

Hi, thanks peeps, there is too much spark, after each spark there is a 'leaked' spark, ie a constant spark.I allegedly had the distributor rebuilt but didnt remedy the problem, i then had to go down the ecu route, confusingand annoying fault!!!

[PARR]

Hi - looks like a new distributor (not just rebuilt) might be the answer - the persistent spark implies tracking somewhere - as you said you'd hit a large pothole, you have to be looking at physical damage even though it seems to be very hard to find.
(Might be worth keeping all your receipts and trying to sue the Council!)