My car struggles to start and smells hot - is it overheating? | Ask Honest John

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My car struggles to start and smells hot - is it overheating?

I was driving my car today. I went into town and on returning to my car it wouldn't start, but I have full power to the dash, central locking and lights, so I bump-started it and it started first time. After turning the engine off it had the same problem again. Also the engine smells hot and the cooling fans in front of the engine appear not to be turning.

Asked on 18 August 2010 by mcvg68

Answered by Honest John

Might be a starter pinion problem. If the engine smells hot and the fans aren't turning then either the fans have failed or the engine temp sensor/sender switch to the fans has failed.

Tags: cooling system overheating cooling fan starting problem

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