[rogerthechorister]

Well today she was booked in with Safi to slap her on his emissions tester (the one he uses for the MoT but not doing a full MoT). The theory was that if the actual lambda and emissions were OK it would give us a clue - ie the lambda sensor was toast - and if they weren't we would know what we were looking for - ish. Drove her the 100 yards to the garage, amd turned her off. Safi said to drive her round to the MoT bay. She refused to start! Pumping the accelerator and winding furiously produced some firing but not enough to keep running once the starter was no longer operating. Some dark-ish smoke out of the exhaust.

To me that sounds like running VERY weak, cold start enrichment will maybe start her when STONE cold. Pumping accelerator also richens mixture but only for short times. Possible causes of weakness the AMM or fuel pump. She does however have turboplus and that is largely a mystery to me.

I have got a flash reader (see above) so could look for stored codes. BEFORE pulling number 1 fuse!

Obvious things to try anyway

(1) compression test
(2) spark test (if poor dizzy cap, rotor arm, HT leads, maybe coil)
(3) test lambda sensor (but the garage says it does not know how!!!)
(4) try some of my spare AMMs.
(5) smoke test for air/vacuum leaks - but garage has not got smoke tester either.
(6) fuel pressure regulator.

Open to other suggestions.