Hey guys,

got an odd one here,

so i parked my car up last thursday and didn't use it until monday morning, got in the car fine, key in the ignition, radio lights all came on but would not crank,instead it would make a buzzing/clicking noise, i thought that it must be the battery, mine still has same battery from factory , so i got a new battery tried it, same problem, i lifted the hood and got a friend to keep trying the ignition, i traced the source of the buzzing noise to the abs pump, i unplugged the pump cleaned the plug and contacts and replugged it in, the car fired up straight away???!!!? and has been fine the last two days.

has any one else come accross this scenario and is this a pre warning of a failed abs pump?

Thanks,
Jimmy.

BJL, Like The Mechanic Charles Bronson RIP.

This is a strange issue. I suspect the original battery going bad took the car into a survival mode. The SAMS and Central Locking system might have been locking down the car at the same time you were trying to start with a bad battery.
Scenario seems to be one system stayed in survival mode while the new battery did not help to reset the system.
The ABS pump relay might have welded contacts momentarily with the bad battery. ABS is used for anti towing and post check startup.
My theory anyway.
A star diagnostics might reveal what occurred. There are log files stored throughout the cars troubled life.
Glad it was a easy find.
Cheers, Gator

Thanks for your input the cars been fine ever since.

Hi Guys,

So the car did it again, and unplugging the abs seems to be the fix, it happens if i don't use the car for a few days?, im going to get the car on star in the next week to see what the underlying problem is.

UPDATE:

The car would not start at all the next day, i tried the ABS trick to no avail,

I can however get the car started by holding on the breaks while i try to crank,
this seems to be the work around

Please update on this if you resolve it. My c43 is having the same problem.

Hi mate,
It appears to be the P gear inhibitor, so i need to start the car in N
thats not fully confirmed as of yet, i have tried new battery, spare key, swapping new batteries in the keys, so i thinks its the selector inhibitor.

i will kepp the thread updated once its confirmed.

So my car has been fully cured, it was the gear selector, if you go to crank and your gear indicator is indicating R in P it is most definitely the gear selector, i was also advised to not ignore the issue as the car will go back to normal and select gears correctly and fire up as normal, however i was told that this is temporary and the selector will give out at some stage and leave the car in an unmovable state.

Thanks, however I dont have the gear indicator on the dash(im assuming you are talking about that?)

Hi, Yes! on the 208 and 210 the gear indicator is on the right next to the time display, my car has been fine ever since i swapped out the gear switch, also as a side note the gear leaver now goes into gear with a very satisfying thud, same with the tip tronic control, its very stiff and feels a lot more solid..

is your 43 still suffering from this issue? does it start in N?

Im gonna try. It looks like its slowly getting worse.

Sometimes it takes two or three times to start.