Hi, any help would be appreciated. I have an S Max that won't start.

I had the ECU repaired but car still won't start. OBD2 shows no fault codes. 

R2 relay is clicking and battery drains relatively quickly. 

I changed the crankshaft sensor, still no start. 

The engine cranks over no problem.

I have pulled every plug and checked wiring and pins, found no issues. 

Previous owner said they had the timing belt and water pump changed and the car drove perfectly fine, a week later the car started to play up and intermittently failed to start, finally it gave up altogether. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA. 

On 7/4/2025 at 9:22 PM, Paul Cherrett said:

Hi, any help would be appreciated. I have an S Max that won't start.

I had the ECU repaired but car still won't start. OBD2 shows no fault codes. 

R2 relay is clicking and battery drains relatively quickly. 

I changed the crankshaft sensor, still no start. 

The engine cranks over no problem.

I have pulled every plug and checked wiring and pins, found no issues. 

Previous owner said they had the timing belt and water pump changed and the car drove perfectly fine, a week later the car started to play up and intermittently failed to start, finally it gave up altogether. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA. 

I am no Master in this. But can it be as simple as the camshaft sensor (no not the crankshaft sensor)? Not sure on these cars. But on some, if you have a faulty one. The motor wont start. (if the position is adjustable, and was adjusted to close. Maybe something was touching the front of sensor and wore it down,leading to failure and not being able to start).

Have you read out codes with forscan or some other OBD2 thingy?  Forscan rules 🙂

On 7/4/2025 at 9:22 PM, Paul Cherrett said:

Hi, any help would be appreciated. I have an S Max that won't start.

I had the ECU repaired but car still won't start. OBD2 shows no fault codes. 

R2 relay is clicking and battery drains relatively quickly. 

I changed the crankshaft sensor, still no start. 

The engine cranks over no problem.

I have pulled every plug and checked wiring and pins, found no issues. 

Previous owner said they had the timing belt and water pump changed and the car drove perfectly fine, a week later the car started to play up and intermittently failed to start, finally it gave up altogether. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. TIA. 

Also. Could it be air in the fuel like for some reason? These motors can be a pain in the *** to get to run if so, since they dont have a priming pump . Just did that on my 2006 SMax

I agree that a clean fuel filter and ensuring it is fully primed is crucial (can you see fuel and any bubbles in the transparent bit of the line a the most basic level) I use Mityvac (or similar) to draw fuel through from return line.

BUT there is so many other guesses that have been applied, I suggest the usual, i.e, read any fault codes with Forscan (basic readers don't pick up Ford specific codes)and, depending on that, then look at any relevant live data PIDs for clues.

What and why was ECU repaired, does it have a warranty, what is the history here (looks like a lot, including the belt change) all of which may be relevant?

On my diagram (yours may differ?), R2 is the vaporiser glow plug relay so that needs investigating.