Laguna Starting problems

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Tue 1 Mar 2005 14:52
Laguna Starting problems - johnny
Brief history 98 Laguna 1.6
April 2004 - starter motor failure, replace unit.
Sep 2004 - Starter motor not working, investigation revealed wire burnt through from overheating.
Dec 2004 - failed starter motor, bench tested and found to be drawing a lot of current, had unit replaced under warranty.
Jan 2005 - failing to start, apparently loose wire on unit.
Feb 05 , appears slow to turn over engine, put this down to cold weather / old battery.
Feb 05 - sometimes struggling to turn engine over , sometimes OK
Mar 05 - as above, but then getting terrible screech as motor failes to engage. My fears are that it's taken the teeth off the ring gearor something.

I'm no expert but it is possible that something's making it harder to turn to engine over which is causing this (ie increased compression )? Car runs fine otherwise, but instinct tells me to get rid of the car asap.

Possibly a bad move, but I supplied the starter myself (Hella from GSF) for the garage to fit, which makes warranty replacemant a bit of a palaver.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 1 Mar 2005 23:27
Laguna Starting problems - David G.I.Davies
It is quite common to have high voltage drop between battery negative terminal and engine block on this model.Suggest you fit a new earth cable directly betwwen batt. neg.and engine.I'm sure you will notice an improvement in starter operation.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link