Problem starting after running out of fuel. Please help

Hi,

Earlier I ran out of fuel (stupid I know), managed to get it started again long enough to get it out of the road before it cut out again.

After work, put some fuel in it, but still wouldnt start - the starter noise is normal (or as normal as it was before) and definately has compression.

Figuring it was probably a clogged fuel filter, I took the top hose off the fuel filter and very little fuel came out even with the ignition on. Only while the starter motor engaged did it chuck out fuel (and a decent amount, so clogged filter doesnt seem to be the problem)

So I took the king lead out, placed it near an earthing point of the car and tried starting - no sparks jumping.

From my limited knowledge, I'm guessing either the Coil Pack or the Crank sensor...

Could anyone please enlighten me what's most likely to have suddely packed in while I was driving and what would be the best way of testing it. I have a written off starlet I'm stripping for bits so parts shouldn't be a problem.

Please help! Thanks!

swap the coil and ignitor first. if that doesnt work then swap the dizi as that is where the spark signal will come from.

I remember Ant run out once and had problems, turned out to be an immobilizer problem...

You might have burned out the fuel pump, one thing to check as they can often go after running out of gas and just sycking air in.

same happened me before dude 100% its only the efi fuse in the fuse under the bonnet thats after blowing check the fuse and let me no

davehart said:

You might have burned out the fuel pump, one thing to check as they can often go after running out of gas and just sycking air in.

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Yes this does happen. The fuel should shoot out with a lot of force when pipe is being disconnected when ignition was turned on to prime the system.

Would this be likely to produce a fault code? Haven't checked yet but might be worth a go?

Mark-ep91 said:

same happened me before dude 100% its only the efi fuse in the fuse under the bonnet thats after blowing check the fuse and let me no

Click to expand...

Checked all the fuses, but not relays (not sure how to check relays)

davehart said:

You might have burned out the fuel pump, one thing to check as they can often go after running out of gas and just sycking air in.

Click to expand...

It's getting plenty of fuel. Seems to not be sparking though...

Paul_JJ said:

I remember Ant run out once and had problems, turned out to be an immobilizer problem...

Click to expand...

No aftermarket alarm / immobiliser at the moment.... didn't think the starlet had a factory one?

dac69er said:

swap the coil and ignitor first. if that doesnt work then swap the dizi as that is where the spark signal will come from.

Click to expand...

Will try that tonight thanks

I just remembered that as it was dying, the rev guage was flickering between 0 and the actual revs - I believe the RPM signal is calculated from the crank sensor reading? I'm thinking the crank sensor is either failing or has a dodgy connection?

Check the other end of the king lead has not burnt off, the end in the coilpack.

sdutton007 said:

I just remembered that as it was dying, the rev guage was flickering between 0 and the actual revs - I believe the RPM signal is calculated from the crank sensor reading? I'm thinking the crank sensor is either failing or has a dodgy connection?

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If doesn't have a crank trigger signal, the ecu gets it's sign from the dizzy.

Of course it has the alarm, the factory one. At least you would have an immobilizer only, you might not realise it, but it's there -)

Paul_JJ said:

Of course it has the alarm, the factory one. At least you would have an immobilizer only, you might not realise it, but it's there -)

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very few GTs came with an alarm from the factory. if it hasnt got one, it hasnt got one. i dont think they ever did a factory immobiliser on a GT or glanza, but if they did, they are rare.

dac69er said:

very few GTs came with an alarm from the factory. if it hasnt got one, it hasnt got one. i dont think they ever did a factory immobiliser on a GT or glanza, but if they did, they are rare.

Click to expand...

Don't know for starlets, but pretty much every glanza I've seen has a factory alarm. Most of the people don't know about it as they have no fob and it was turned on, but that doesn't mean that the immobiliser is inactive. Even my old non turbo starlet had an immobilizer only.

The only reason I'm saying that because Ant had the same problem and he never even used his alarm system, he run out of fuel and couldn't start the car afterwards.

Pretty sure it doesn't have an immobiliser.

Anyway, last night after work, decided to check sensor connections before doing anything else. Knock sensor was on tight but needed pushing a fraction of a millimetre to click in. Then started fine.

Ran diagnostics. Error codes 12 & 13 (both to do with RPM / TDC signal) and 42 (speed sensor - it is not working currently). No sign of either error code for the knock sensor though strangely....

Still having a bit of difficulty starting, although this is probably down to the starter motor being a bit dodgy. Will upload video later.

Check wiring around the dizzy area for rpm signal.