Anti pollution fault, now wont start at all! & I'm stranded!

[mekatrig]

It never rains does it....
Since changing the wishbones & struts and fitting a new starting motor the wife's 2004 206cc has been absolutly brilliant. So we've just spun up to London to house sit for a friend for a few days, car ran like a dream on the M3 and no issues running around town, parked up for 6 hours & rested then went out for a bite.
Then it started to go wrong after 10 minutes of slow town driving the anti pollution fault light came on, 5 minutes later the car cut out while queued in traffic, started again, more queuing & cut out again, got back & parked up. Turned it off and tried starting it again it turns ok but there is no ignition at all, sounds like petrol starvation or no sparks. Went out an hour later to check it and same thing.
Cam belt was done this year & car has been fully serviced & checked by my local garage, so timing etc.. is all ok.
We filled up on the island (isle of Wight) from the usual station a couple of days before we left and have had no petrol issues, done less than half a tank coming here, so it seems unlikely to be fuel starvation as there was no pre fault juddering or misfiring and it restarted again in the traffic queue when the engine was still very hot.
Any ideas to get me started, left my tools behind (I know I'm a idiot) so I'll buy a cheap set to get me out of this spot of trouble.
If it was the cat or sensors I think it would fire up, I was thinking of maybe just fitting a coil pack for starters as from what I've read they tend to go anyway and might be a good pre-emptive move.

I know I probably need a diagnostic check to narrow this down, but as it won’t start I can’t get it to a garage without a tow and once they have towed it in they will demand to do the job. I just do not want to get ripped by the local London garages, one look at a country boy stranded in the big city and they start drooling!
So if anyone knows a good mobile service or if there is any member with a diagnostic unit in the North London area (I’m stranded in Islington) who can help I would be exceedingly grateful.

If there is already a thread for this or a fix, sorry for wasting time, if someone could point me to it.....
Thanks

[mekatrig]

I've found a service called clickmechanic dot com who will come out & do a full diagnostic check and try & locate the problem for just under £60 (inc VAT)
Checked them out on the trustpilot review site, they have a 9.3 out of 10 rating out of 362 reviews so I hope this goes well.

I'll give an update when they arrive & do their thing, also a good chance to check out the service.
Unfortunately I wont be able to spend tomorrow taking the wife shopping as I will be waiting for the mechanic.
Every cloud has a silver lining.

[GrandadMonkey]

Hmmm, I've no idea really. Lets hope the people you've found sort it for you. Good luck.

[mekatrig]

Got a bit lucky, I was still messing around when a neighbor spotted me, he's a mechanic and was on his way out, he had his kit on board so stopped and plugged it in. He got 2 error codes, I cannot remember the numbers but one was for the crank sensor, the other was for the low temp fan relay. So I cancelled the mobile mechanic as I had the info I needed.

I didn't know if the two faults were connected but he advised doing the crank sensor first. There is a Europarts 20 min's walk from here so I picked up a new one & fitted it. The car started and the engine runs OK now but the fan will not come on.
I checked the fan relays and sure enough the pins on the lower one are covered in green gunge, swapping them over made no difference so I'm picking up a low speed resistor & new relay tomorrow, I just hope this works.
At least I can drive short distances now so can avoid parking tickets.

[Capncol]

In an emergency, turn the heater on full hot / full fan to help cool the engine. Unfortunately it will be a bit uncomfortable for you though.

[mekatrig]

Thanks Col.
Thankfully no rain today, so we ran around with the heater on full & the roof down. I couldn't get the relays or resistor in any of the local parts shops so had to get them ordered in, they arrived at 4pm. Slipped in the new resistor unit by fiddling it in using 2 screwdrivers like chopsticks through the grill. Changed the relays and all is now OK.
I'm just wondering if the overheating affected the crank sensor or is just an unhappy coincidence?

The tool kit I got was a £15 socket set, 95p long nose pliers & 2 £1 long screwdivers from Wilkinson, cheap & nasty but did the job so they are now staying permanently in the wife's car, just in case or knowing pugs until the next time.....