307 HDi 2.0 SW 136 - Noisy Starter Motor Since Yesterday Morning

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Fri 28 Dec 2012 08:41
307 HDi 2.0 SW 136 - Noisy Starter Motor Since Yesterday Morning - PugMug

Hi Guys I could use some advice please.

Yesterday morning I started the car and the starter motor sounded like it was engaging and disengaging while spinning. The problem went away during the day but now it's come back this morning and sounds worse - it's not engaging and I have to release the ignition key and retry to start the engine.

The car has always started instantly in the past - I've had it for about 15 months and it's been very reliable.

Could the battery be the culprit or is it the starter motor? I also had a problem with the central locking last week - I unlocked the car with the remote and heard all the lock motors working as normal but none of the doors would open. Used the key to unlock the door and managed to get in but none of the doors could be opened from inside - I ended up putting the kids into the car from the tailgate. I could hear a whirring noise from the front passenger door whilst all this was going on.

Ended up spraying all the latches with copious amounts of WD40 and sprayed some into the door lock too and the problem seems to have gone away but I'm wondering about this being due to a weak battery which is also causing the starter problem?

Is it possible that a weak battery is the reason for the starter motor not engaging fully?

Sorry about the long post but I don't want to buy a new battery and then find out I need to change the starter motor, or vice versa.

Thanks in advance for help/suggestions.

Edited by PugMug on 28/12/2012 at 08:42

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Fri 28 Dec 2012 09:31
307 HDi 2.0 SW 136 - Noisy Starter Motor Since Yesterday Morning - Cris_on_the_gas

Might have been the front passenger door motor draining the battery if it was sticking and trying to lock/unlock door.

Seems like you have resolved this now so in normal use,the alternator should recharge the battery assuming you do not do lots of short journeys.

If you have got a voltmeter then check the battery voltage when cranking the engine. If it drops much below 10V then your looking at a new battery.

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Sat 29 Dec 2012 08:36
307 HDi 2.0 SW 136 - Noisy Starter Motor Since Yesterday Morning - PugMug

Thanks for your reply.

The central locking is ok at the moment but the noisy/not-engaging starter is still showing up intermittently (sometimes it's fine, other times it plays up).

I'm now thinking it's a weak battery - voltage after being parked overnight was 12.2V - according to the Haynes manual it should be 12.7V.

I tried a boost starter to satrt the car and the starter motor was fine - no noises. Also used jump leads and again there was no problem. Alternator seems ok so I'm going to try a new battery.

Thanks again for responding.

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Mon 31 Dec 2012 10:44
307 HDi 2.0 SW 136 - Noisy Starter Motor Since Yesterday Morning - Cris_on_the_gas

To test a betteery properly it needs to be tested under load. An no load reading does not show the capacity of the battery, a dud battery will often show a healthy voltage but as soon as load is put on it the voltage will drop like a stone.

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