406 wont start at all

[clemo35]

406 wont start at all

came outside today , cold frosty night and morning , tried to start the car and all it did was click, click , not even turn over , ive got a brand new battery, brand spanking new starting motor, the lights on the dash come on, even the stereo works, but non starting, ive tried to bump start it, even jump start it with jump leads and when ive got the leads on it it goes slightly more but louder click, but nothing turns or sparks, can anyone give me a idea of what could be wrong

many thanks shaun

[mjb]

brand spanking new starting motor

Not fitted right? I'm presuming it was fitted before this morning?

The inability to bump start could be the giveaway here?

I think the flywheel may have been damaged which I think would cause both the crankshaft position sensor to fail (meaning the ECU won't feed the engine gas/air/sparks when you try to bump start it), and the starter to fail to turn...

I'm very much out of my area here, so take the above with a whole mine of salt!

[Welly]

It may have snapped it's cambelt upon turning it off last night and is now locked against a valve?

Is there a chance there's no antifreeze in the cooling system and it froze solid (it can happen) - locks the water pump/cambelt.

[mjb]

If that were the case I'm guessing he'd have said something like "the wheels locked up when I tried to bump start it" or "I smashed my teeth on the steering wheel when I tried to bump start it"?

[Welly]

I dunno - maybe it slipped the clutch. Anyway I hope this is not what's happened to it anyway

Maybe the head gasket filled one bore with coolant and it's hydraulically locked?

It wouldn't be unusual though for the starter solenoid to stick they're usually crappy on these (presumably) exchange units.

Try tapping the starter motor using a hammer and some wood.

[mjb]

If the solenoid's stuck, it wouldn't click would it? Plus it wouldn't stop a bump starting...

[Welly]

When you turn the key the solenoid shoots across and makes an electrical connection to power up the starter motor - perhaps this circuit interupts the ignition circuit?

[steve_earwig]

brand spanking new starting motor,

Hmm, check the connections to the starter motor.

What do the panel lamps do? Maybe check connections to the battery too. Time to go buy a multimeter, they're dead cheap and take a lot of guesswork out of it.

I've no idea why bump starting it didn't work but maybe you didn't get it going fast enough (the only way I've ever managed to do it on my own is on a hill) or, as the guys say, you have something nasty going on.

[Doggy]

I think Steve's on the right track here. If he's got bad connections / poor engine earth or similar you might get enough power to make the solenoid operate partially, but not enough to switch the main power to the motor. Odd that it won't bump start, but he doesn't say what engine - a diesel could be difficult if cold.

[Welly]

but he doesn't say what engine

But,

but nothing turns or sparks

I took it that it was a sparker, unless he meant there were no 'sparks' in the engine bay

[Doggy]

I thought he meant no big sparks when connecting the jump leads, but you could be right.
Be useful to know if the headlights work OK and if they dim significantly while try to start it.

[stevenlizuk]

Check the battery terminals, if one's loose you'll get starting issues.