Corsa-B.uk - Vauxhall, Opel and Holden Corsa B Owners Club

Hi guys, been looking through a tonne of threads but cant seem to find the exact same problems mine is having. I'm not that great with cars so big jobs wont be able to be done by me.

Basically, The car turns over very well (new battery put in today) but doesnt fire. It can be bump started and then runs well for the day but if i leave it switched off for more than an hour or two im back to square one and it has to be bumped again.
I checked the spark plugs and they seem fine, just a brown coating which ive been told is normal, no corrosion or anything. I tried disconnecting the MAF sensor and running the car but again it didnt start.

Id like to avoid expensive trips to the garage if at all possible.

oh and its a 1.2 Sxi Petrol 16v Corsa B
Thanks

Josh

When you try and start it on the key do you have a spark
Sounds like the crank sensor


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How would I check if there is a spark?

Pull a HT lead off no1 spark plug
Plug a spark plug on the end then earth the plug
Get a mate to turn it over then watch for a nice strong spark
And remove the fuel pump fuse


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It's a coilpack model so it's not just that simple, but generally when a corsa won't start from cold it's the crankshaft sensor

Thanks for the info coupe, but as Johnny says, coilpack model. I cant pull HT leads off that easily

Ill try the crankshaft sensor then as it seems like one of the cheapest and easiest jobs to do

Thanks guys, will post updates

solman07 wrote:Hi guys, been looking through a tonne of threads but cant seem to find the exact same problems mine is having. I'm not that great with cars so big jobs wont be able to be done by me.

Basically, The car turns over very well (new battery put in today) but doesnt fire. It can be bump started and then runs well for the day but if i leave it switched off for more than an hour or two im back to square one and it has to be bumped again.
I checked the spark plugs and they seem fine, just a brown coating which ive been told is normal, no corrosion or anything. I tried disconnecting the MAF sensor and running the car but again it didnt start.

Id like to avoid expensive trips to the garage if at all possible.

oh and its a 1.2 Sxi Petrol 16v Corsa B
Thanks

Josh

You could always buy a cheap digital multimeter from maplin or similar and check the resistance and voltage output of the crank sensor to determine if this at fault.

As for testing the coil pack, remove it and the plugs, reconnect plugs into coil pack, get a wire and place on a suitable earth and run the wire through each of the spark plug threads to earth each plug, plug coil pack 12V feed back in, get someone to briefly crank the engine and check for a good spark - bright blue.

Another thing I have found with this kind of problem (turning freely but only starts with a bump) is low compression.

And from personal experience with an old B I had, that wouldn't start on the motor but would with a bump and that would run great until I turned it off, whether hot or cold it would intermittently fail to start again and it turned out to be the fuel pump relay on its way out....

Check and clean all the earth straps and where they attach