@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 you know they mean it when they say measure twice...

@Zaid - oh, everything was measured and cut correctly, lol. It's was just close enough to square I grabbed the wrong side. Just one of those things.

I'll post a pic when I get it mounted on the wall of the garage.

It's all welded up and ready to go now, so ... just needs some paint.

good news everyone!

I think that rattling is coming from my diff

@Ceshion - That's good news?

it's still there after replacing the axle, and there's still some rotational play, albeit less

Assuming I've never done any DIY car work before, is it feasible for me to try and clean the Crank Shaft Position Sensor in my car? I found a YouTube video and it seems straight forward.

I've having some issues with my car where it will turn and I can hear it try to start, but it never actually manages to start.

My Google skills are telling me it's a common issue with the car I have and a simple fix is to clean the Crank Shaft Position Sensor.

@WilliamMariager - Depending on the car, it should be pretty easy. Can you better describe what's going on?

My car has an intermittent ignition problem. I insert the key, no problems or lamps show up. I turn it and I can hear the starter(?) turn the engine, but it never actually starts. If I then leave the car for a little while, it will usually start the next time.

@WilliamMariager What is the year/make/model/engine of the car?

I recently had the battery changed as it was dead. It was supposed to be 720A but when measured it could only supply around 500.

It's a Renault Clio 3 1.5 Dci 65 from 2008.

You can probably easily clean the crankshaft position sensor, but I usually find them to be all or nothing: either they work or they don't. Maybe it's different with the Clio, I don't know. They are usually a Hall effect sensor, which is very simple in design.

The Dci is the diesel?

Aye

The new battery is only 680A, but I was told that should be plenty for a diesel.

And from the sound, it's not the battery, the starter is running full speed, no signs of slugging.

I apologize if I use some wrong terms, I'm Danish, so I don't know all the English terms.

I can assume it has a wait period when you first start the car for glow plugs?

@WilliamMariager - I'm understanding you just fine ... so no worries.

Yeah, there's a small coil in the board and I wait for it to go out before turning.

Doesn't matter if you speak native English, I've dealt with a lot of people on here who don't know the automotive terms for things and have to help them around it also.

@WilliamMariager - Lots of times with diesel engines, slow to start or no start has to do with the glow plugs and/or relay associated with them.

I don't exactly know how to test the plugs on your Clio.

How many miles (or km) on the Clio?

Hmm, about 170k km/100k miles.

It appears in the UK, a new set of glow plugs would run about £20 + shipping. I don't know what it'd cost you in Euros.

We don't know for sure that's what it is, though, so don't plan on changing them out yet ;-)

Here's the relay for it.

This is the light?

Yeah

Are there any codes which have appeared?

When looking for prices just assume the Danish prices are about 2-3 times as much. Lots and lots of taxes on automotive parts and cars here.

@WilliamMariager = Wow, that really bites.

Mechanic said there were some codes when I was there last, but he said they were most likely caused by the dead battery, so he cleared them and said we should take a look again next time.

There is a 180% import tax on cars and then 25% sales tax as well. So 205% before the business needs to make a cut.

@WilliamMariager - If the battery was dead, the ECU won't store the codes, so not quite sure how that works out. If there's no check engine light, I guess there probably isn't any codes to speak of.

The battery still worked, just couldn't drive the starter. Radio/lights/etc was fine and the change was done with a backup to avoid the radio locking.

gotcha

But yeah, no check engine light, it was minor warning codes as far as I understood.

kk

Do you think the crankshaft stuff is a waste of time?

I'm not sure.

It should be easy to do, and if done carefully would eliminate it as a suspect.

That was my thinking as well. As far as I can tell, it shouldn't make things worse.

As long as I don't make a mistake. :P

Your biggest thing when working with it is to not over tighten the bolt(s) which hold it in place when reinstalling.

They are usually made out of plastic (or similar) and can only take so much stress from tightening the retaining bolt.

If the engine is warm, does it usually start without issue?

Nope, it happens both in cold start or if it's been driven less than 5 minutes ago.

okay, that would lead me away from the glow plugs themselves, but doesn't rule out the relay for it.

What issues does the relay cause? Stop turning them on?

Relays are usually just on/off switches for larger amounts of amperage, like what's needed to run the glow plugs. The ECU can turn on a relay (because it's a low amperage device), but couldn't do the same for the glow plugs.

@WilliamMariager - If the relay isn't working, the ECU may think the glow plugs are getting energized, but they aren't. Could be intermittent.

That makes sense. If the ECU isn't detecting any issues, it likely means the solenoid is working fine, but contact isn't being made properly on the other end.

You know, looking at it, working with your car isn't as scary as I first thought. :P

It shouldn't be scary.

I've always just left it to the professionals.

Not a bad choice, if your wallet can stand it, that is.

I have trust issues with other mechanics, lol.

At least if I've done the work and I've screwed it up, I know it's on me.

I've always felt odd about getting work done on my car. It's like, I just have to blindly trust that they did what they said they did.

Yup. I know that feeling as well.

My current mechanic seems great though. It's a smaller shop and he's very upfront about the things he's done and what I should expect.

When you find a good/trustworthy mechanic, stick with them.

Like, when we found a puncture in our aircondition. He said he'd gladly fix it, but we should be ready that there might be other problems as well.

yup

Relay sounds like it should be a simple fix

And I guess I could even test it before switching it with a simple voltage meter and a battery.

Seems straight forward, but I don't know how much it'd cost. On the Clio, I also don't know how to test it. Seems a little bit more complicated than a "regular" relay.

You saw the picture I posted above?

Aye

It appears to have a built in diagnostic lead ... I don't know what it's diagnosing, though.

A typical relay is just that ... power/ground to turn it on, then the connection to power what you are powering. Pretty simple.

Yeah, that's why I assumed it would be pretty simple to both replace and even confirm an issue before replacing.

The one for the Clio has a few more connections to it, so would be a little more difficult to test, though it would be easy to replace.

Yeah.

Thanks, at least I have a bit to go on now. My initial guess were something like it, especially since everything seems to be running smoothly, it's just not igniting the fuel. So sparkplugs or similar was my first thought.

if diesel had "sparkplugs" :o)

Gives you a direction, as you stated. If you clear the relay and glow plugs, and clean the CPS and it's still doing it, then you have a pretty good idea what it "isn't"

Post back up if you need more info or if you figure it out. I'd be interested to hear.

@Ceshion How many degrees?

@WilliamMariager I would try to clean the sensor. It costs you nothing (except something breaks) and there is a realistic chance of success

Yeah, definitely going to try both things. Sensor first and then relay.

Should the sensor be contaminated with some metal shavings you can be almost sure to have the culprit

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Goes to show just how much I know about this :P

Just pay attention on the "serrations" in the connector. They are sometimes tricky

While you're at it you can also clean the connector of the coolant temperature sensor. Do not remove the sensor, just disconnect-clean-reconnect the connector

@Myself - If there are metal shavings, there's bigger issues than a bad CPS.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 My wifes Clio had a similar issue once: The shaft of the starter was missing lubrication so the gear moved hard and produced noises and surely some metal shavings by missing the tooths on the flywheel. I presume that being the cause for the metal shaving I found on the crankshaft position sensor. I also can imagine that over time some wear on the flywheel tooths is normal?

@Myself - Is the CPS locate outside of the engine? I'm not sure I've seen one which is, but can imagine it could be ... especially if it was using the flywheel/flexplate as the indexing agent.