Hi,

we’ve a 2015 1.0litre Red Edition that cut out at the top of the street and wouldn’t restart, the starter spins for about 5 seconds but nothing else. First fear is belt failure, but having taken the oil cap off I can see the shaft spinning - my question is would it spin if the belt had snapped? 
 

just want some advice to guide my next steps (if the dog needs putting on eBay to help finance a new engine) 

Cheers, Mark.

 

If the camshaft is turning the belt is OK. If the belt had gone, or the oil pump got blocked with belt degradation material while the engine was running then the result would probably have been more dramatic than it just cutting out - unless it was more dramatic, but just cutting out seems like a relatively benign happening.

As long as the engine seems to be turning freely the first thing to do is check spark and fuel. If the exhaust pipe at the rear smells of unburnt petrol it may be an ignition problem. With spark and fuel and a free turning engine it really should start as long as the cam timing is correct.

Yes it was very undramatic there was no bang/noise/smoke - I was in the passenger seat and was only aware it had cut out when my wife rolled it to a stop near the curb - ‘engine service now’ came up on the dash at the time but isn’t there now. 
 

 

Suspect fuel pump myself. 

The starter won't run endlessly on modern cars to prevent overheating so wouldn't read too much into that.

If you can get it plugged in, that should provide a fault code to help diagnose.