[CharlesJones]

Hi there,

I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. Today I tested the voltage to the coil using my multimeter correctly this time, and tested between pin 15 (red wire) and earth, and then pin 1 (black wire) and earth. I found that I got 12 volts on both sides whilst cranking, so my previous test was clearly completely flawed!

I checked the resistance across the pins on the connectors of the flywheel speed and reference sensors, and found I had just over 1000 ohms across pins 2 and 3 for both sensors, so they look good. I then went back into the car and reached under the seat to put my hand on the DME relay to see if I could feel it click - I read somewhere that you should be able to feel it click twice when you switch on the ignition. However, I had already tried swapping out this relay with a spare, but that didn't make any difference, so I had swapped it back again. Anyway, I held the relay with my hand under the seat and twisted the ignition key and "boom", the car started right up! It scared the living daylights out of me. When you're concentrating on feeling for a tiny relay click and not expecting the engine to fire it gives you quite a shock when it does!

So now I am hoping that I don't have an intermittant problem, or worse still that the car doesn't die somewhere when I am far from home and not start again! I am thinking that maybe I just had a bad connection due to moisture or something - the car has been stood outside for a little while. Maybe my disconnecting and reconnecting the speed sensors helped, or even my holding the DME relay under the seat maybe bodged a connection to make it work. Like I say though, I did swap out the DME relay only the other day, so my money is on the flywheel sensor connectors.

What I'll do is use the car and see if the problem occurs again. If it does I will wiggle those sensor connectors and see if that helps, and if not I will wiggle the DME relay and try that. If that doesn't work I will call a tow truck!

I will update this thread again when my problem resurfaces (it seems inevitable that it will). Thanks again for all your help and support - you really have all been a terrific help.

Best regards