Won't fire up after flat battery. ECU failure?

Hi all,

Sat for a couple of hours listening to the radio today and the battery went flat, fast!
Tried to jumpstart it and it wouldn't fire up, even though it was turning over ok after a few mins booster charge. Tried fatter cables, still nothing.

AA guy fully boosted with a pack and van hook up, didn't work. May have been a little flooded at this point but not even a cough. He ran diagnostics on every possibility and everything showed up as ok, all relevant ignition components operating fine. All fuses are fine and the fuel pump is kicking in and delivering as it should. Checked all connections and cleaned contacts.

The guy was totally puzzled and determined. His only explanation is that the coil burnt out or an ECU spike. Turns over fine... But just won't start.

Battery is now off and on charge but not sure what to do next.

Any advice greatly appreciated!
 

evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
i had this after the car was stood for 9 months
after multiple jump start and booster attempts aa man took both terminals off the battery then used a large screwdriver to join them so the system would fully discharge
on reconnection it started 1st time
he thought it may have been static from all the different batterys connected
 
Ok, the battery has been off for 24hrs now so will give this a try before putting it back on.

Just to clarify, connect the positive terminal to the negative? Ie, bypass the battery?
 
Battery now fully charged but still the same, turning over fine, no fire up.

Called the local mechanic who wants to do a compression test plus others before testing the coil pack.

This is starting to look expensive and, of course, it's just come at the wrong time.

I'm based in Eastbourne and happy to pay if anyone can pay me a visit.

Keeping my fingers crossed!!
 
cheers for the tip but... No joy.

Managed to find another mechanic who worked on a 2.2 coil pack this week so I'm hoping he'll be able to plough through the job pretty quick.
Thing is.... The coil he just replaced was only 3 mths old - A cheap copy off eBay, the route I would have gone down. He's happy to work with a salvaged unit but has strongly advised a new OEM or HAAS branded unit (minimum £200).

He's testing tomorrow so fingers crossed it's just the coil.

Is there a reputable dealer for recon coil packs?
 
Thanks for the response all.

Update from my mechanic is that it's not sparking but the signal is being sent. So: coil pack! Good news I suppose. Could be worse.

Finances dictate I'm gonna have to source a salvaged part. From my research, it's not too much of a difficult part to swap out of it goes again so probably worth risking.

Next question if I may:
Considering my mechanic has recently done the same job on another 2.2 Astra, how many hours labour should he be quoting?
 

KevinH

Senior Member
For info, the torque setting for the DIS (Distributorless Ignition System) module screws is 8 Nm (6 lbf ft). :)
You would need a low setting torque wrench though.
 
Last edited:
And..... shes back!! :)

Second hand coil did the trick! £42 ebay and £40 labor (minimum charge). I'm happy with that.

I think the problem was sitting in the car with the engine off, listening to tunes with the key in the ignition position to stop that bloody annoying beeping sound when you have the door open. Technically, the coil should be grounded to stop it from burning out but that doesn't seem to be the case.

For others, diagnostics will not show up any codes with this issue. You have to check for the spark.

Thanks for all the advice once again Z22SEers. I simply don't think I could afford to drive without you all.
 
it is switched off via an power up relay thats switched off the ecu so until it sees the crankshaft signal it won't switch the coil. Your coil had failed to earth so was pulling power from the battery with the ignition on by the sounds of it
 

corsaZ22se

Senior Member
on the vx220 and vectra b the coil is switch on buy a relay for engine electric's and the fuel system has another relay.
so the coil only gets power for a few seconds if the car is not started/cranked untill system check is done.
once cranking the ecu power up the relay.
this is why i got a fault code/limp mode on my first corsa z22se, connected coil to wrong relay and got a voltage drop during system check :facepalm:
 

evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
the vx and the b were before the invention of the multitimer that thing turns all sorts off after a period of time to save battery power

if theres a relay for the coils on the astra g then its in the main fuse box controlled by the multitimer and not the efi relay
coil feed.JPG
coilf2.JPG
coilf1.JPG
 

corsaZ22se

Senior Member
vx220 and vectra b did away with multi timer and timed it on the ecu.
also all the cooling and ac is done buy ecu on the vectra b.
simples :) even i could wire it to a corsa c :confused::confused:
 

evocarlos

Stupid Bollocks
Staff
vec came before the astra so i guess they used the vec setup on the vx also :)
astra 3 fuses for different items
vec 1 fuse for all lol :)
 
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