Non start! Earth issue

Leopard680

Leopard680

A2OC Donor
Had battery replaced end if last year, and was fine until a couple of days ago when I had slow cranking one cold morning. I do a 70 mile per day commute and was fine after that. A fair bit of driving yesterday and no problems... But today; clicking and no start! What could the problem be? Many thanks in advance!
 
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Alternator could be on its way out (or the pulley on the alternator)

It could also be something draining the battery while not in use, perhaps the CCCU. Ideally a quick scan may assist in diagnosis.
 
Thankyou very much Paul. When serviced at a specialist, she was fault free so at 150, 000 miles the alternator could be goosed! Doh! Fortunately it's a long weekend for me so have time to fix!
 
It could just be the starter motor. Vonnies is at the same mileage and when we picked it up from A2 cars a couple of months ago after a service- it just refused to start,just click. Tony checked earthing points battery charge level but nothing. So he swapped the starter for a second hand one and bingo. He then fitted a new one and off we went. He stripped the old one down and reported it was very worn and burned. 150k is a lot of stop starting I guess.
Prior to this the car had never shown any signs of poor starting performance. Cheers Mike
 
Well said Mike, best bet is to check battery voltage etc first and discount the "simpler things". The other half's a2 has got lazy starting in the morning, just like our teenage daughter! Shame she will not be quite as easy to "fix"!!
 
Well today my mate and I had a little look; hooked up to a van for a jump start; nothing; still clicking... So I really think that the starter motor is goosed! Will have to use trains for a few days pending repair!
 
Leopard680 said:
Well today my mate and I had a little look; hooked up to a van for a jump start; nothing; still clicking... So I really think that the starter motor is goosed! Will have to use trains for a few days pending repair!
Click to expand...

Have you checked the earth contact and the battery positive lead (there is a thinner cable that attaches to the positive lead on the battery, that sometimes comes loose.

Steve B
 
Thankyou very much! Had a look through those threads yesterday and checked again with a fresh pair of eyes and found the earth points and battery terminals to be in good order. It doesn't look like a massively difficult job to replace the starter; has anyone done this here?
 
Yes just done it today (again!)

No pictures but from memory:

1. Disconnect battery
2. Remove under tray
3. Remove bracing bar that runs onto gear box from top bolt (13mm bolts)
4. Remove zip tie that holds plastic cover over terminals
5. Remove spring type connector
6. Remove terminals (13mm bolt)
7. Remove top bolt (18mm)
8. Remove earth underneath (13mm nut)
9. Remove lower bolt (18mm)
10. Man handle it out!

Then above in reverse I took the opportunity to clean all contacts with a dremel prior to re-assembly!
 
Update! Alison lives! Her starter motor earth bolt was corroded! So pleased to have my little kitten back on the road!
 
And a lesson learned for me too; although the bolt looked ok in situ; when it was removed the true extent of the corrosion was revealed!
 
Leopard680 said:
And a lesson learned for me too; although the bolt looked ok in situ; when it was removed the true extent of the corrosion was revealed!
Click to expand...

This was the reason my car wouldn't start the day of the social. Similarly it looked okay but when removed the connection was very furred up and the washer was burnt away pretty badly from the current shorting out. I've had a lazy first crank of the starter for years and thought it was a glow plug fault. That did come up on vcds. But it was the earth strap behind the nearside headlight that was the culprit.

Bonus is my squealing starter is also fixed. My gratitude to Robin and sumo for sorting this for me. With our cars of a certain age now I'd suggest this is checked out. New washer, a clean up and some copper grease and the car starts better than it ever has!! I've taken the liberty of amending the title of leapords thread to aid future searches.

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20150315_140939.jpg
 
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