My dads car won't start. It has been running fine then all of the sudden this morning there is no life in it. It just clicking noise and the engine clearly isn't turning over.
I have checked the battery which is reading 12.5v, the connections all look good and the connections to the starter motor look ok.
The car has always started first time everytime before.
My dad said the central locking was being silly before this happened so I wonder if it could be an imboliser problem or is this car not that clever?
Is there anything else I could try?
|
Jump leads?
Have you tried bump starting it (pushing it)?
|
|
|
Try giving the starter motor a quick clout (be careful not to damage the radiator). If it can be started on a push start (2nd gear, 1/3 throttle, quick clutch engagement) then the immobiliser should be OK.
The battery and oil light are OK aren't they? Not dimming to nothing when you turn the key?
|
Battery seems perfect and as I said has full voltage but I guess that does not mean it has enough ampage to start the thing. This has become a bit of a joke now as when my dad bought this car the car I had at the time suddenly refused to start.
And when you turn the key nothing seems to dim only very slightly. I gave the motor a good tap before and checked the connections to it but I may have been too soft with it.
Not tried to push start it yet worried about damaging the cat.
|
Leave your meter connected across the battery and try to start the car.
If the voltage remains at or about 12.5v, then, you need to look at the starter motor, or possibly the ignition switch.
If the voltage drops to below 10v, then, you need to look at the battery.
|
|
Try connecting a length of wire between the battery+ and the small terminal on the starter, if you get a small spark but the starter doesn't turn, you have a faulty starter motor, if it does turn, possibly a faulty ignition switch.
|
before yo do anything.
whats the red flashing immobiliser light doing?
|
OK I have done somthing a little silly, I was out drinking last night and was quite hungover when I was tapping the starter. I soon realised that it was on the wrong side of the engine and it had a belt - it was the alternator! Feel quite dumb and stupid.
I've found the starter motor but its under the injection system and just impossible to get to without a proper ramp, I have a jack but no axle stands so I am not going to risk crawling underneath it.
The imboliser light goes out straight away so its not that.
The head lights dim as the starter clicks so the starter motor is getting current
The battery voltage hardly drop at all as the car is clicking
This seems to have the symtpons of a stuck solinoid not a lot I can do really do now. The car is booked in on Tuesday for work on the brakes anyway so I will hopefully get him to come round here instead.
There is no many pot holes round here it might have been that.
|
Could the starter have jammed in engagement with the flywheel ring gear? Cure for this used to be to push the car backwards, in gear, and this could disengage the starter. There is now something called "pre-engaged" so this may not work.
|
Already tried all the pushing backwards and forward routine this morning :(.
It has nearly 80k on the clock probably gets started at least 5 or 6 times a day so the starter motor is probably well over due for replacement anyway.
|
put headlights on main beam
get dad to turn starter motor onto click/click.click
watch headlights go out
remedy buy a new battery-
ask for radio code and i will calculate it at work tommorrow for you
or
put car in secong gear handbrake of and rock the car
then try turning starter motor over(handbrake on )
solution big bill as teeth on flywheel ring gear worn (typical mk4 fiesta )
|
More good news from Bell Boy :(.
I have just tried putting on main beam and started it, the lights just dimmed a little bit as it ticked but did not go out.
Tried rocking the car quite vilently but nothing just ticks.
The car has been running really well for an Endura and it always starts instantly. If it was the starter motor or the flywheel surely we would have got some warning?
My guess is still on a stuck solenoid but its just a guess.
|
|
It sounds as though the solonoid is operating but the starter isn't. The solonoid draws enough current to dim the lights a little, a jammed starter will almost put them out. Quite likely the motor brushes.
|
Quite likely the motor brushes.
Yup. Hence the advice to give the starter a sharp tap with something. That can work even for some time, but it stops working in the end.
A reconditioned starter shouldn't cost much and shouldn't be difficult or expensive to fit. There are specialist firms that do it on the premises certainly in London and I imagine in other major cities.
|
Yeah I am hoping it will be less than £100 all in. There must be millions of second hand starter motors for this engines and new ones only seem to be around £70. My dad needs reliability so there is no point on any short term fixes.
The annoying this is with the work I have been doing on it the car has been running far better than ever.
Is there a possibility of it being the crank shaft sensor? Or would it still start if that failed?
Edited by Rattle on 30/03/2009 at 00:39
|
Is there a possibility of it being the crank shaft sensor? Or would it still start if that failed?
No, it would still turn over if it was that.
I wouldn't worry about bump starting it too much. It won't be the first time, nor the last, that the cat will see unburnt fuel.
|
|
Tow,bump or jump starting cannot damage a catalyst,as long as it starts straightaway.
|
Turned out it was just the battery all along, it had full voltage but had lost its ampage in the over night frost. A new battery has solved it and it no turns over in a second.
|
|
