A couple of problems

[mulletboy2]

Hiya guys,

Ok, here's the problem. Sunday, I drove up to Nottingham - accidentally took a 40m detour (thanks to my mate's Sat Nav, and me having my head up my backside), so it was well over 100 miles there - all fine. Started her up to go home about 5 hours later, and the headlamp warning indicator came on - sure enough, the headlight was dead.. no worries though, it was still going to be light by the time I got home, so off I went.

Got home and left it as was, hoping to get a look soon, but no urgency as I don't need to drive at night for the foreseeable future.

This morning I got in her to go to the shop, and she won't start. Ticks over, but won't fire up.

Any chance of these 2 problems being related? Short somewhere? Or is it more likely 2 completely different issues? I can't get down to VT for them to take a look, and I need to be in Bedford at 10am tomorrow, so I'm hoping for the words of the wise to magically diagnose the problem(s) and help me get her back up and running.

Oh, the battery is about 3 months old, having had the first one die on me shortly after buying her ...

Cheers

Mark

[Justin]

This morning I got in her to go to the shop, and she won't start. Ticks over, but won't fire up.

Mark, that doesnt make sense, how can it tick over if it wont start ?

[mulletboy2]

Mark, that doesnt make sense, how can it tick over if it wont start ?

Sorry mate - bad choice of words. The starter motor is making lots of noise, but the engine doesn't start

[Martinr]

Is the noise it is making a series of loud ticks?

Have you tried a jump start?

[mulletboy2]

Is the noise it is making a series of loud ticks?

Yep

Have you tried a jump start?

No mate. I don't have leads here, but I can get 'em tonight. I was going to test the battery voltage first anyway, to make sure that it's atleast getting charged while in use, and holding that voltage.

[Martinr]

Sounds to me like it will go on a jump. Next door neighbour had the same problem over the winter with her Ka (there I've said it). Replaced battery and problem went away. If battery is only 3 months old I would suspect your charging circuit may have a problem or you are drawing more than it can put back with your stereo mods!

[siamblue]

Sounds like the solenoid on the starter motor has failed,If you have access hit the top of it with a hammer,see if that will free it for now,

[mulletboy2]

Thanks guys

I have suspected that the charging isn't quite up to scratch since it died a few days after buying her, with no warning.. it has nothing to do with stereo mods though, as I've yet to start on them

I'll see if I can find the starter motor before bashing anything

Cheers

Mark

[swordy21]

I have had both types of problems

i) Knackered battery - just changed mine, and is fine.
ii) Charging circuit/alternator - if is on way out won't charge battery hence pulls too much current and will flatten quickly - you can get a remanufactured one fairly inexpensively.
iii) Tried the hammer thing as well on my old 3.0L senator, worked a couple of times - but also rocking the thing back and forwards in D/gear also seemed to work.

Finally turned out to be a combination of i) & ii) - if you have ii) then i) will happen fairly quickly even with a new battery.

Hope it works out for you.

[mulletboy2]

Thanks swordy

I've been out and checked just now - the battery is 12.25V, which I assume is well within acceptible limits ... which indicates to me that it's not a battery or alternator fault...

Any other thoughts anyone?

Cheers

Mark

[siamblue]

Check the starter/solenoid If it is shorting out inside because it is cooked then it will draw horrendous amount of amps.

[enrm6]

Thanks swordy

I've been out and checked just now - the battery is 12.25V, which I assume is well within acceptible limits ... which indicates to me that it's not a battery or alternator fault...

Any other thoughts anyone?

Cheers

Mark

Is this with the engine running? If so then 12.25 is actually pretty low. It should be more like 13.5-14V

[mulletboy2]

siamblue - I will check that thanks mate... was just looking for other alternatives too

enrm6 - the voltage was of the battery with then engine/ignition off. Starting the engine would mean that you're measuring the alternator's voltage, not the battery's, providing that the alternator can successfully supply the required current.

Cheers

Mark

[JUDGENINJA]

output from an alternater back to the battery should be 14.9V if it helps

[Tomcat]

Although the battery is showing 12 volts when the car is just sat there, try measuring it while you try and start it. Under load it'll probably not have enough power to start the car, I had a similar experiance with a house alarm. The battery backup showed 12 volts when checked but if the mains power failed it didn't have enough power(amps) left to run the system. Fist thing I would do is try a jump start,most modern cars will make a 'clicking' noise when you try and start them with a fairly flat battery. If its starts off a jump then get the alternator checked out next.

[mulletboy2]

Cheers guys

Right, made a bit of progress just now. Had the missus in the car trying to start her in short bursts, and noticed a white tube which was disconnected. Traced it to under the plastic cover which sits ontop of the throttle body. There are 3 little connectors for pipes under there - bottom one was blanked off, middle one wasn't blanked off, but had nothing connected, top one was connected up fine. I connected the white pipe to the middle connector and hey presto - a few tries later, we were back up and running.

I traced the white tube around the engine bay and it goes into the cabin just behind the instrument cluster. I'm guessing that this pipe feeds the OE boost guage, and this would explain why the boost guage wasn't working on Sunday? Regardless, it seems to be working now.

It took a little while to convince her to start up after connecting this pipe, but I couldn't see anything else blatantly amiss, and she eventually fired up. Could that leak be enough to stop the car starting, or is it just a matter of coincidence that she started up shortly afterwards?

I'm going back out in an hour or two, to see if she starts again. Fingers crossed!

Cheers

Mark