My VL Calais won't start. Before it decided it was no longer going to start it was running like ****, the idle would drop and die when you were at lights, it would blow heaps of black smoke and it was really patchy during acceleration. It would also take forever to turn over. Since then, it's decided it won't start. So far I've replaced the dizzy cap, rotor, spark plugs (which were blackened), leads, ignition coil (corroded badly), changed the CAS, removed and cleaned the contact of the AFM with electrical contact cleaner, removed and cleaned the IAC valve and removed and changed the fuel pressure regulator. I can also hear the fuel pump prime when I turn onto the red. After replacing the ignition gear it sounds like it fires but only once. These all seem to be common problems I've seen on all of the forums and at this point I'm completely stumped as to why it won't start now. Any help would be awesome. Cheers.

Swap your afm with a known working one Pull fuel rail hose off when ignition on to see if plenty of fuel Pull a plug when cranking to see if spark! Start with the simple things in which lead you in a direction

what he said ^ haha also pull your kick panel off and put it in diagnostic mode, that will tell you if there are any other problems with the car.

Quote: Originally Posted by deanoVLCT [View Post] Swap your afm with a known working one Pull fuel rail hose off when ignition on to see if plenty of fuel Pull a plug when cranking to see if spark! Start with the simple things in which lead you in a direction With the whole AFM swapping deal, I thought that they could run without it, albeit it would be super rough. Could they potentially start without one as well?

Just get a known working one off a mates cars to rule out that possibility trust me!

Quote: Originally Posted by deanoVLCT [View Post] Just get a known working one off a mates cars to rule out that possibility trust me! Will do! Only problem is I've got no mates... With any kind of RB engine! I'll just have to post an ad on gumtree or something and see if anyone comes through.

http://www.calaisturbo.com.au/showthread.php?t=71798

Awesome, the whole rough idle situation is EXACTLY what happened. I'll look into a replacement AFM.

listen to deano ... hes telling you because we have all had the afm problem before, probably THE MOST common problem with the vls ....

Send me a return paid postage satchel and I'll send you one of mine to try pal!

Alright so I replaced the AFM with a working one. On the odd occasion it will start, cough and splutter then die.

, check your plugs, make sure you got the rights CAS, and check your coil, if nothings working, do what i said, take your left lower kick panel off, turn your car off, turn the ignition on (dont start the car) and check your codes, match this codes up with the ones found on google or the back off your ecu. elliminate, CHECK YOUR EARTHS!! and wiring, make sure all the CAS plugs are ok....

Is the series 2 CAS different from a series 1? I pulled it out of a dizzy I had lying around that was off a series 2 engine. I'll check the codes and get back.

I'll repeat Swap your afm with a known working one Pull fuel rail hose off when ignition on to see if plenty of fuel Pull a plug when cranking to see if spark! Start with the simple things in which

have you got rust in your front window? could be water getting into your ecu.... also do you have an immobiliser... ?