No power to starter motor

[simpletron]

Hi. I hope I'm posting in the correct topic. I've tried searching here to no avail. The other week I turned the key and although everything lit up on the dashboard the starter motor did nothing. I managed to start the car after a push to get it home but still nothing happening with the starter motor.

Then the next day I'd forgotten about this problem, got in the car, started it and drove off as if nothing had happened. And it was like that for a couple of days before without warning the same thing happened again. This time I had no-one around to push the car but after 20 minutes I grabbed the roof bars and shook the damn thing like some scene out of Fawlty Towers and surprisingly this did the trick; the car started no problem.

So I have a car that sometimes starts and my instincts suggest there is a loose wire somewhere. My question is whether this is a common problem and there is somewhere I should look first, as it was not obvious where I should start under the bonnet. I guess this could be water-related too but thought it best to check here first of all.

Mine's an S reg 2l petrol estate and as good as it's been these last six years I fear it's on its way to its maker.

Cheers.

[steve_earwig]

And S reg is... actually, it probably doesn't matter much. Could be the ignition switch, could be the connections, could be the solenoid. What you need to do is see if the solenoid is getting anything when you turn the key while this is going on.

[simpletron]

Thanks for the quick response Steve. "Unfortunately" since posting the ignition has worked so unable to perform the test you mentioned. Will wait till it stops again and try again unless the wife forces me to get rid of this otherwise worthy workhorse. Intermittent problems are some of the hardest to get to the bottom of.

Ah - and S reg meant 1998 but yes as you said that's probably not very relevant.

[steve_earwig]

I saw it in your sig after I posted I kind of lost track of them out here - S reg? That's 1978 isn't it?

You might want to locate the solenoid connection for when it does go wrong, there's nothing like grovelling about in the dark...

[markw]

Depends if the 'S' is a prefix or a suffix!

[trufflehunt]

Hi. I hope I'm posting in the correct topic. I've tried searching here to no avail. The other week I turned the key and although everything lit up on the dashboard the starter motor did nothing. I managed to start the car after a push to get it home but still nothing happening with the starter motor.

Then the next day I'd forgotten about this problem, got in the car, started it and drove off as if nothing had happened. And it was like that for a couple of days before without warning the same thing happened again. This time I had no-one around to push the car but after 20 minutes I grabbed the roof bars and shook the damn thing like some scene out of Fawlty Towers and surprisingly this did the trick; the car started no problem.

So I have a car that sometimes starts and my instincts suggest there is a loose wire somewhere. My question is whether this is a common problem and there is somewhere I should look first, as it was not obvious where I should start under the bonnet. I guess this could be water-related too but thought it best to check here first of all.

Mine's an S reg 2l petrol estate and as good as it's been these last six years I fear it's on its way to its maker.

Cheers.

I'd check the tightness/quality of the connection at your battery negative, and from there to earth.
Also the connections at your starter..
Then I'd think about the starter or the attached solenoid at fault.

Putting a car into 2nd gear, and rocking back and forth is the traditional way of releasing a failing/jammed starter.
Maybe that, in effect, is what you did when you did a Basil .... "That's it.., this is the last time.., I'm warning you..."

Plenty of secondhand starters on eBay.

[jasper5]

I saw it in your sig after I posted I kind of lost track of them out here - S reg? That's 1978 isn't it?

You might want to locate the solenoid connection for when it does go wrong, there's nothing like grovelling about in the dark...

S reg is 1998.

[jasper5]

The usual thing to do if the starter appears to have failed is to tap the side of it with a hammer or something....if it works then you need to be thinking of replacing it.

Unfortunately with the 2.0 petrol access is limited.

[simpletron]

Thanks for the replies....

I don't think it's a battery connection issue as everything else electric appeared to work. The problem hasn't arisen in the five or so times I've used the car since my first post but of course it will happen again when I park away from home...probably on a yellow line.

One thought did occur to me: my car keys are falling apart (e.g. cover come off both central locking and immobiliser buttons). Could it be possible that when unlocking via the button on the key I am somehow enabling the immobiliser? Thinking about it more this probably isn't the case as if it was really immobilised I suppose it wouldn't have jump started the first time I encountered this problem.

I'll post again if/when it happens again.

[steve_earwig]

On my D8 the immobiliser stopped it starting, it cranked over fine.

Good point about connections though, if there's a bad connection somewhere it can drop the voltage out when you try to start it but it would appear fine otherwise. Hold on, I did a thingy once...

Turn lights on, try starter:
Lights dim/go out -> check battery connections -> connections ok -> charge battery/replace
Lights stay bright -> check connections -> connections ok -> suspect start motor
Hit starter motor with hammer, put car in gear and rock backwards and forwards and retry -> ok now -> plan to replace starter motor in the not too distant future.
Still no worky -> remove starter motor and check solenoid action and condition of brushes & commutator. You probably can't get spares so it's off down t' breakers.

[simpletron]

Well finally after a faultless November one wet early December morning I got the non-starting problem again. It wasn't a massive deal as I had temporary use of another car, but annoying as local garage said they'd come to have a look and fix it and never turned up. Then just after Xmas I had the "present" of it starting again and it didn't let me down for the few days before my preferred garage opened (though I parked on a hill in the meantime in case this happened again).

Basically it needed a new starter motor, as had been suggested earlier on this thread, so I'm just posting to let people know. And it wasn't too expensive at £123 fitted. On an unrelated note they found that someone had pinched three wheel nuts from the rear right wheel and one from the front right - what a low thing to do (and cost me £25 to replace).

So it looks like the old lady may battle on for a few more weeks or months. Many thanks for all the responses.

[markw]

Those wheel nuts were pinched while the car was in their care?

[simpletron]

Those wheel nuts were pinched while the car was in their care?

I don't think so - the garage rang me as soon as they noticed to let me know. I've been using them for over 20 years and do trust them on this. Possibly they were half-inched while parked away from our house on the hill, though it's still a residential area. That's one thing I'll be checking now and again in the future....

[markw]

Understood.
I wasn't trying to imply that the garage staff had pinched them, only that if the dirty deed did occur while the car was with them, they should cover it.
But as you say, something you're going to feel the need to check from now on.