Changed Cambelt & Water Pump Now Car Won't Start!!

[Telephonewire]

I have just this weekend spent an enormous amount of time changing the cam belt and water pump on my 2011 SEAT Ibiza 2.0 TDI FR. It had a leaking water pump at 58k miles so it needed doing.

After putting it all back together I hesitantly put the key in the ignition to start the car and upon turning the key the fuel pump did not come on to prime the fuel. Not realising the significance of needing to prime the fuel I turned the key to the start position but the engine did not even crank over at all, nothing at all, it was completely dead!

Now I am hoping the fact that the engine did not crank over is a 'safety' feature that prevents any damage to the fuel pump when the fuel needs priming? Can anyone confirm this please?

Could there be some other reason why the fuel pump is not priming and the engine not cranking?

After doing some reading I can see that VCDS can prime the fuel. Are there any alternatives other than manually hot wiring the wires to the fuel pumps?

 

[ric04vrs]

Battery flat ?

 

[Telephonewire]

Problem solved!!

It was the earthing wire to the engine which I had removed when performing the cam belt and water pump change.

I tucked it so well out of the way that I didn't spot it when putting the car back together again!!

Once connected, the car cranked over and within a few seconds the car started again..

Phew..

 

[RUM4MO]

Whoops! 10/10 for getting back and saying what the problem was.

 

[Crossthreaded]

Echo RUM4MO. Thanks for telling us all what happened. In my view this is what forums are all about! On reflection If this is a "safety" which cuts power to the starter, to stop the pump being damaged by lack of fuel, I think you are probably very lucky. Hitting the start without a main earth return connected can lead to spectacular (hot and sparky) expensive failures as the starter tries to find an earth for it's humongous current somewhere else. In the old days choke cables used to be a favorite often lighting up like a cigarette lighter filament. Now a days it's quite likely to be less spectacular but far more expensive as it instantly burns out an electronic control unit!

 

[RUM4MO]

Hum, my memory of a 1965ish Diesel Land Rover Series 11a that seemed to have lost an earth was, and this Land Rover had solid steel throttle links, was a very sore hand with white lines across the fingers as I accidentally discovered that it had been using the steel throttle linkage for an earth return, and it had been dropping quite a lot of volts along it so it had been quite toasty!

 

[martin j.]

I burnt out a clutch cable that had doubled up as the engine earth after the original snapped, not something you would check in servicing or maintainance