850SE bereavement sale help needed

[slimlavud]

Dear All

I have been asked to sell a 1995 850SE estate 2435 CC manual petrol engine that was the property of an old friend who passed away recently. His two sons have asked me to help. The car has an MOT until 24 October this year and has quite a good MOT history, we have many old MOTs and it has done very few miles since the last test.

It has air con etc, and half black leather, wear on driver's seat edge. It has 158,000 miles recorded but I think the speedo stopped working a while ago as it's the same mileage on the last few MOTs. I know he hardly used the car as he worked in town, had a ULEZ compliant little Astra and the Volvo is not ULEZ compliant. According to the deceased owner, it drove really well.

I will post a few pictures now, I have lots of pics so ask me for what you want to see. It has STEEL wheels with OK tyres, has had a new driveshaft boot on one side and a new lower suspension arm for previous MOT.

It needs to go soon as it is parked on an estate in front of his garage and the council are getting sniffy about it as it is a bit dirty.

It has a very expensive (£100+ retail) Yuasa 5000 battery that is still under guarantee and we have the receipt for the battery plus receipts for various servicing and works done in the last few years.

The two sons just want to get a bit more than scrap value, which is £400 according to various local scrap dealers. The car is in Enfield and is easily accessible. It has keys and all paperwork, V5 registered at the family address next door to the garage. I fitted a brand new Yuasa 5000 battery exchanged under its guarantee, and it started and drove fine around the block. I switched it off and now it won’t start - no power to the fuel pump relay. There is no fob for the immobiliser (apparently it never had one and always worked fine) and the immobiliser fuse has been taken out. It turns over on the starter fine but won’t go. If I put the immobiliser fuse back in, the hazard lights flash and the starter won’t turn. Am I missing something simple please?

[Luxobarge]

You're confusing me. You say it has no fob for the immobiliser, but the immo on these has got nothing to do with the fob - the fob operates the central locking and sets the alarm. The fuse you're talking about is probably the alarm fuse, probably the alarm kept going off due to a fault, which is quite common on these. If you removed the immobiliser fuse, the car would never run IIRC.

The immobiliser is operated by a chip in the ignition key, which is powered and detected by an antenna ring around the ignition barrel. A common fault on these is poor contacts on the plug on that immobiliser ring. It's quite easy to get to once you've taken off the cowling around the ignition switch. Worth doing this, and cleaning the contacts on the antenna ring.

If it's that, the usual symptoms are that when you go to start the car it fires for a second or so (very briefly) and then dies. Did yours do that?

If you have two keys you can also try using the other one.

[slimlavud]

Originally Posted by Luxobarge

You're confusing me. You say it has no fob for the immobiliser, but the immo on these has got nothing to do with the fob - the fob operates the central locking and sets the alarm. The fuse you're talking about is probably the alarm fuse, probably the alarm kept going off due to a fault, which is quite common on these. If you removed the immobiliser fuse, the car would never run IIRC.

The immobiliser is operated by a chip in the ignition key, which is powered and detected by an antenna ring around the ignition barrel. A common fault on these is poor contacts on the plug on that immobiliser ring. It's quite easy to get to once you've taken off the cowling around the ignition switch. Worth doing this, and cleaning the contacts on the antenna ring.

If it's that, the usual symptoms are that when you go to start the car it fires for a second or so (very briefly) and then dies. Did yours do that?

If you have two keys you can also try using the other one.

Thank you Luxobarge. Sorry for the confusion. So: the removed fuse is in fuse position 2; on the box lid it says: Immobiliser.
Apparently the previous owner (PO) never had a fob and central locking does not work from key locking any of the doors and I couldn’t see a switch on the dash for central locking?

I have noticed that the PO has removed the shroud below the top of the steering column so he may have had trouble with the antenna ring you mention; I’ll try cleaning the contacts on the antenna ring and plug etc. I’d like to get it going again as it would be a big shame to scrap the car, it could serve somebody as transport etc for a while.

[SteveSarre]

Hi Slimlavud,

Did you register these two questions from Luxobarge? They might help with diagnosis.

"If it's that, the usual symptoms are that when you go to start the car it fires for a second or so (very briefly) and then dies. Did yours do that?

If you have two keys you can also try using the other one. "

Steve

[slimlavud]

Originally Posted by SteveSarre

Hi Slimlavud,

Did you register these two questions from Luxobarge? They might help with diagnosis.

"If it's that, the usual symptoms are that when you go to start the car it fires for a second or so (very briefly) and then dies. Did yours do that?

If you have two keys you can also try using the other one. "

Steve

Thanks Steve, I did register the advice. As I said I have only one key, and no fob.

I haven’t had time to go back to the car but I will soon. I’ll post the results…