Hey guys,

about a month ago my car struggled to start one morning on the way to work, i just shrugged it off and since then it has been getting worse. It all came to my concern when last weekend i tried to start it after not starting it for over 12 hours and it would crank fine but just would not turn over. i rang RACV and they came out and said fuel pump is fine so they checked for spark. There was no spark! Then it randomly started the next morning fine!

So i took it to the mechanic and they checked the coil pack and crank angles sensor and all and said it was fine! So i am assuming it is a BEM or BCM or watever it is issue.

I have tried giving the bem a thump when starting it but it just wont start anymore. battery is fine so is all connections and fuses. But the weird thing is it would only do it when havent been run for a period of time.

Is there way i could check out any error codes or something alike?

any comments or suggestions much appreciated!

If the engine is actually cranking over but not firing the issue won't be the BEM. When that plays up it gives symptoms like a dead battery, dash lights come on as normal start but when you turn the key nothing happens. If this is what yours is doing hold the key over while you give the BEM a thump.

The engine surely does crank but just doesnt receive a spark. Should i replace my leads? I am thinking i may change all battery terminals and give that a go. Wats with the smart lock flashing thing though? It doesnt make sense? Could please explain it if u understand? Cheers

sounds to me like its doing this when its cold and that would indicate ignition leads are buggered

if it runs fine once started and has a warm temp then thats most likely the cause

if it runs fine once started like perfect then starts coughing once hot then your spark plugs are also to blame

they are cheap and easy to check your self and if you havent replaced em recently it never hurts to do em

id recommend eagle 9mm eliminators they are 100% worth the extra $ as they look better and provide a lower resistance and higher temp silicon and come with a nice 50,000KM warranty i think it is

if it cranks it not the battery terminals but it never hurts to replace em as once they get old they tend to be covered in crap and look nasty

Sweet ill replace the leads tonight and give that a go. Yeh it sort of doesnt like to idle too well lately when its cold! How do u check the leads anyways? And yh it starts great when its warm!!

Hopefully its just the leads!

So if one lead plays up it wont start at all?

the only real way to check the leads is to replace em really or look for there symptoms but if they have gone hard there stuffed but they can still be buggered while they are soft general rule is to replace em every 2yrs or 50,000k's unless you get good leads like eagle eliminators you can delay it longer without replacing em

dad has eagle eliminator series II 10.5MM on the cobra and they are almost 6yrs old and they still work perfect and feel and look new

if you have just one lead play up the motor will work just not very well it depends how f**k the lead is but generally they all break at the same time

Yeah sweet ill try the new leads.

I also read somewhere that if your interiour light is staying on it could actually be the BEM, and i just rememberd that my light was stuck on so i pulled it out!

Any thoughts?

To my knowledge the actual light has nothing to do with it. The fuse for that light but is interlinked with the bem and if blown will crank but not start but obviously this is not your problem.

Tyler06 , sorry forgot to say that it does crank but just doesnt turn ovrr. So u think it could be the fuse?

Bit of an update guys.

Last night after work i decided to try figure out what the problem may be. after research it looked as though it was going to be the crank angle sensor. i also read somewhere that if your battery is below 10v under load that it will not start up, so i got a friend to start the car as i measured the voltage and it waws under 10. but this may have been from me trying to start the car vigoursly in the morning. so i checked the battery and it had hardly any water in there so i filled it up.

now im no car freak or anything but i couldnt find my owners manual and had no idea what the crank angle sensor looks like and where, but on the throttle body i took off both those leads and cleaned them out with wd40 etc.

now since the batter was low i got amate to attach some jumper leads and after about 4 seconds of cranking i got the car started i left it running for 35 mins or so.

this morning i started it but it was still very hard to start.

any comments or thoughts?