Chat Slow turnover, new battery

M

martin a2 tdi

New Member
Hello all.
I’ve owned this Tdi 1.4 for many years. Unfortunately I had the usual fuel delivery problems about 4 years ago, failed to fix it and sadly it’s been laid up outside in the garden! 🥹 I’m now revisiting it with the help of this group, which is amazing 👍
Fitted a new correct battery from Halfords yesterday, fully charged it overnight but unfortunately its turning over very slowly which gets progressively slower as if the battery is flat. I’ve been reading various posts but can’t seem to find where the main battery ground /earth is attached to the body or engine? Obviously I need to get it cranking over at a good rate before I can revisit the fuel delivery problems? Maybe I need a new starter motor, anything else I can do first?
🙏😁
 
martin a2 tdi said:
Hello all.
I’ve owned this Tdi 1.4 for many years. Unfortunately I had the usual fuel delivery problems about 4 years ago, failed to fix it and sadly it’s been laid up outside in the garden! 🥹 I’m now revisiting it with the help of this group, which is amazing 👍
Fitted a new correct battery from Halfords yesterday, fully charged it overnight but unfortunately its turning over very slowly which gets progressively slower as if the battery is flat. I’ve been reading various posts but can’t seem to find where the main battery ground /earth is attached to the body or engine? Obviously I need to get it cranking over at a good rate before I can revisit the fuel delivery problems? Maybe I need a new starter motor, anything else I can do first?
🙏😁
Click to expand...
Sounds like your battery isn't actually fully charged. Measure the battery voltage to check.
Mac.
 
Check the front of the gearbox. The engine earth strap is down there somewhere.
They can fatigue and break but the biggest problem is the body end securing bolt that corrodes badly.
Edit jump the engine to the body with a chunky jump lead. Or if you have a long lead the engine to the battery -ve terminal. No difference then as @PlasticMac comment
 
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If the battery is good, then,either full power is not getting to the starter, or something mechanical is making the engine hard to turn over.
If it hasn't moved in a four years, electrically all power connections, both positive and earth, could be poor due to corrosion, and the engine internals could also be oxidised.
If it were petrol, I'd suggest removing the plugs, to allow it to spin easily and get some lubrication around the engine. Not sure what the diesel equivalent is but I'm sure someone will help
Mac.
 
Starter motor earth cable. As stated by @George Hogg above - take out the passenger side headlight. Go below the a/c and ABS pipework, there is a black earthing cable running from the starter motor to a 13mm hex bolt screwed into the chassis leg. This needs to be unscrewed and the contact surfaces cleaned up. If this has no effect on starter motor speed with a full charge, check that the rest of the cable is intact.
 
steveb said:
If everything else checks out it could be the starter itself taking a high current
Click to expand...
That's a good point. If it hasn't moved in four years, the internal solenoid inside the starter could well have poor contacts.
Being honest, after being abandoned so long, outside, could be many things.
Mac.
 
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