hey guys, just wondering if anyone has had an issue with ignition on an ef/el xr8, it seems to be hit and miss, starts fine when cold but once hot sometimes it won't start. I did have a dirty connection to the solenoid which seem to fix problem, but the other day i was in town and went shopping, came back out and it would not start, so I did as I done before, wiggled the solenoid wire and got nothing but kept trying and it finally fired but then got to next stop and it did it again but this time wiggling was not fixing the issue but I kept trying and eventually it started. when this happens there's no crank, nothing just light it dash showing up which i believe is ignition failure. I have noticed when starting car when it's hot it tends do this RRRRrrrr rRRRfire, So i've cleaned all connection to starter motor and its fine at the moment but I haven't got the car to hot yet to see, any help would be great.
I was wondering if it could be the solenoid or the armature not engaging, if it's the armature does this mean I need to replace starter motor?

Couls be smartlock playing up.

What does your smartlock light do when it plays up?

smartlock seems to be fine, haven't had it play up. I've just come back from a 30 min drive to get it nice and hot, in the hopes of recreating the same issue when car is hot, but no luck, it starts fine and turn over is strong, so hopefully i've fix the issue with cleaning connections but I will wait and see. still if anyone has any ideas of what issue could be please let me know

Its an EF? - try hitting the panel just to the lower left of the steering wheel when it wont start.

The Starter Relay disable Relay (the Relay that stops the car from starting) gets dry joints and then you cant start it - worse in hot weather usually. There were ideas that it might be because the PCB on the EF Smartlock units were so large and they warped in the heat.

You can try and fix it, bypass the starter part if thats all thats wrong with it, or get a replacement and retrain it for your car.

ok, thanks mate, i'll give it a try next time it happens

it's an ef, but i reckon there's no relay's there, i'll check it it out tomorrow, i have a bank of 4 relay's right next to fuses on right hand side of steering wheel

What he is talking about is in the BCM.

It is part of the smartlock system.