51 reg clk 430 ignition problem

[pencam]

I have 'done something' to confuse my car! I was sitting with ignition in position 2 - to have fan on - for about 10 mins. When I went to start car I neglected to turn key back to zero, went straight to starting. Nothing happened. Sounded a bit as if battery had run down. Long story short, an hour and a half later she started as normal. Thought it was just a glitch, but today this happened again, even though I had done nothing stupid. Wouldn't restart, but did after waiting 1 hour+. Any ideas? Don't have money for lenghthy diagnostic!

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
It sounds as you have a possible EIS switch fault or a dodgy key, have you tried your spare key? is it the same? Leaving the key in pos 2 to leave the fan on i believe is just coincedance, i take it you mean by fan the heater fan, if you have climate control press the rest button and this leaves the heater on for 10 minutes
To get definitive answers you will have to get it plugged into STAR

 

[television]

As Andy,,not good to leave the key turned for long periods, they are expensive things when you are dealing with the EIS

So what happens now ? you put the key in and turn to start, does the stater spin

 

[pencam]

As Andy,,not good to leave the key turned for long periods, they are expensive things when you are dealing with the EIS

So what happens now ? you put the key in and turn to start, does the stater spin

This hasn't happened again - I have been very carefull to put the car in park, turn the key off and remove it immediately. But no, the starter didn't spin, it would make a single attempt at turning over and then nothing - a bit like a flat battery which is what I originally thought had happened. The other odd thing is that when it decides to start again the computer has reset the trip history, and it is now saying my A service is due in 10000 miles, not the 800 it should be!

The problem is I can't really afford to run this car properly; I inherited it when my husband died and decided to keep it partly for sentimental reasons and partly because I'd get nothing for it on the open market and my reasoning was that as a quality car it would last a long time even if it isn't that economical to run - but I hadn't really considered possible maintenance nightmares.