We have just had the “mystery no start” issue while filling the car up at a gas station yesterday. After the “Green Flag” call-out mechanic had given up, it needed a flat bed truck to take the car back to a garage close to home (having sat by a fuel pump for 3 hours surrounded by breakdown cones). This morning I went to check on the car and it started after I twiddled with a few wires and a small unit to the side of the RCM, so I drove it home and, after reading this thread, took out and checked the RCM itself. It looks fine (photo attached). Does this mean we have a different problem, or could non-visible solder problems still be the cause.
Just to sum up what happened and the exact sequence of problems we had: I pulled up to re-fuel the car and selected park (auto box). The car in front of me moved away, so I tried to select drive, but the stick would not shift. I turned the ignition off and then tried to re-start. The dash lights came on, the spoiler went up, but no starter motor or mechanical noise. However windows, aircon, radio, central locking etc all worked. (The battery and alternator have been checked and both are fine.)
Any ideas are gratefully accepted. We were planning to drive the car into mainland Europe for the first time next Tuesday and had just picked the car up having spent £704 on a new compressor and other items for the aircon which stopped working earlier this year. Obviously those plans (and the extra insurance and breakdown cover that we have already paid for) are now in doubt.