Won't start!

[amarshall]

Went to start the Excel today - and it won't.

Symptoms - lots of clicking and flashing lights and the starter sort of turns over but won't engage.

I'd blame it on a relay, but I've swapped the starter relay over and the fault continues.


Any thoughts ? Faulty solenoid perhaps ?

[fitz]

is the earth strap from the block to the chassis in good condition? i've had issues before with it trying to start and immediately cutting out with a 'thunk' as the lights flicker and the wiper does a sweep

- hasn't done it since I replaced it.

[don.hasi]

fuel comes to the carbs?

Otherwise: all parts of the ignitionsystem already checked ? (plugs, leads, ign.coil, distributor cap, finger, ... )

[amarshall]

Not getting to the point where fuel would be an issue. Definitely electrical as it starts flickering on the first turn of the key.

Volts at the starter are good and it doesn't cut out at all - just flickers and clickety-click-click-clicks.

[don.hasi]

hmm... did you something changed at the fusebox? I have had the problem that the earth wires were not connected properly, so I have all the flashes but no more.

on another car I have had the problem, that the Volts were ok, but the Amperes not, so there was not enough power for a good start AND the ignition... but the Voltmeter hasn´t showed it.

[amarshall]

There have been no changes at all to the car since I last used it (except that it's sulking and refusing to start).

I've pulled the battery and starter to get them tested tomorrow (and the starter was an absolute bahar of a job to do - 16th of a turn on the ratchet over and over and over again with fingers of the other hand wedged against the bulkhead to stop the retaining nut turning)

[chrisw2811]

I had similar symptoms a couple of years ago - clicking, half-hearted starter motor and sometimes starting, sometimes not. I replaced the battery and that fixed it - I think one cell was on the way out. Same thing happened on my FJ1100 - sometimes it started, sometimes the starter clicked and whirred. I swapped the solenoid and the starter (which was a pain, buried way down in the engine) and again it was the battery. On both occasions I had checked the voltages and initially discounted the battery.

[amarshall]

Well - Halfords' battery with a 4 year warranty only 3.5 years old, so I popped it into them for testing. It was low, very low - so low that they're not sure their tester can give a true reading. They're attempting to charge it for me and will retest later.

According to the tester, though, it may have failed through under or over charging!

[excel tel]

A battery can have a cell or 2 gone and still read good voltage but under cranking load wont have amps to crank starter motor.
Cells in batteries can go at any time but more often if the battery left to drain and not recharged or car not used very often.

[mkelite]

leads to starter solenoid? or contacts in starter solenoid itself? had that prob b4 myself. regards. DC.

[amarshall]

leads to starter solenoid? or contacts in starter solenoid itself? had that prob b4 myself. regards. DC.

The leads were the first things I checked & cleaned. No improvement - and it's barely 2 years old.

[mkelite]

sorry never saw u said that. nevertheless i had similar sounding prob and that was with a newish starter too and it WAS the contacts in the solenoid. time for Mr RAC mans visit then? Regards. DC.

[amarshall]

sorry never saw u said that. nevertheless i had similar sounding prob and that was with a newish starter too and it WAS the contacts in the solenoid. time for Mr RAC mans visit then? Regards. DC.

NEVER! Have spanners, will bodge!

[MikeC]

I've had similar symptoms, clicking, flashing, volts seem OK, but the real problem turned out to be the start contacts in the ignition switch had worn out. That was at exactly 250,000km ( the odometer was showing 155,342 miles and I'd pulled off the Autobahn in south Germany to take a photo... ).


Mike

[amarshall]

I've had similar symptoms, clicking, flashing, volts seem OK, but the real problem turned out to be the start contacts in the ignition switch had worn out. That was at exactly 250,000km ( the odometer was showing 155,342 miles and I'd pulled off the Autobahn in south Germany to take a photo... ).


Mike

Ouch! I hope it isn't that - but the milages are similar. What's involved in replacing/repairing it ?