27 replies to this topic

[MathieuGT]

Thread revival, sorry in advance but I'm having a very similar issue..

 

Car will rarely start due to turning over very slowly most mornings. The problem has only reared it's ugly head in the last few weeks and first thought was the battery. Replaced the battery as the one that was on there was very old. This worked and the car flew into life for a few days but went back to slow cranking and the battery eye has turned black, the guy in Halfords said they ignore this as they aren't reliable but I'm a bit dubious of that.

 

We've cleaned up and moved the earth off the engine and tried a different starter motor that gave exactly the same problem. The car starts fairly easily with a jump start but often is too slow to start from cranking it over however sometimes doesn't start even if it is cranking over well. Have also got the timing and mixture properly set up as they were a fair bit out but the problem stays. Is it worth replacing the battery lead through the car as have heard this could be the problem or is the alternator draining the battery as the car sits there as often the car will start fine one night then the next morning the problem arises and won't start. Just to add, the car runs like a dream when it actually does burst into life.

 

If anyone could help it would be much appreciated as it's driving me to my wits end! Thanks.

[hellom8]

Connections were pretty good, but I removed earth straps and cleaned them up with emery paper/scotch pad and IPA.
Made no difference at all, zapped the battery power striaght away and wont turn over quick enough even with a jump starter pack on.
So I connected the jump starter to the starter motor and the car body and it turned over instantly.
Now it fine and turns from the battery with no problems, weird.

[dklawson]

MathieuGT, what is the red charge warning light on the dash doing?  Is it...

OFF with the key out of the ignition,

ON with the key in the run position, engine off,

and OFF with the engine running?

 

HelloM8, what do you mean "... zapped the battery power straight away" ?  Are you saying that you charged the battery, cleaned all the connections, and just hooking the battery up something drained all the charge away?

[hellom8]

MathieuGT, what is the red charge warning light on the dash doing?  Is it...

OFF with the key out of the ignition,

ON with the key in the run position, engine off,

and OFF with the engine running?

 

HelloM8, what do you mean "... zapped the battery power straight away" ?  Are you saying that you charged the battery, cleaned all the connections, and just hooking the battery up something drained all the charge away?

Yep starting the car on a fully charged battery, I would get a couple of rotations then it would bearly turn over.

This would take about half the charge out of the battery and I would have to charge it up again to get it to turn over.

However now it starting easily from a half charged battery, just needs 12v now, not 14.7v like before.

[hellom8]

the issue came back the next time I tried to start the car.
Once I got it started I checked the timing, it was about 30btdc, so I tuned it to 11btdc and it now seems to be starting ok.
Fingers crossed

[KernowCooper]

Did you check the timing with the vac pipe off and blocked ? if so and it was 30degs I'm surprised it didn't pink like mad ?

[hellom8]

No I forgot about the vac pipe.
I'll check it again.
Thanks

[KernowCooper]

So its running seriously retarded now then, best get it sorted asap before using it on the road.

[brownspeed]

Thanks.  I will remove the earth straps and clean with IPA to see if that does the trick.

IPA; India pale ale??

[dklawson]

IPA; India pale ale??

 

 

Close... Isopropyl Alcohol

[brownspeed]

that explains my hangover after a pint of it then !

[MathieuGT]

MathieuGT, what is the red charge warning light on the dash doing?  Is it...

OFF with the key out of the ignition,

ON with the key in the run position, engine off,

and OFF with the engine running?

 

HelloM8, what do you mean "... zapped the battery power straight away" ?  Are you saying that you charged the battery, cleaned all the connections, and just hooking the battery up something drained all the charge away?

Yes, the charging lights was following this pattern. Sorry didn't reply, only just saw this.

 

Managed to get it sorted in the end so hopefully this will help anyone else out there with a similar problem. After changing the battery earth lead and the terminal to the positive which seemed to solve the problem for a few days the problem returned. Next we added another earth strap to the engine.

The problem was still occurring but we noticed that there was a spark when the battery terminals were connected, this therefore meant that something was draining the battery overnight leading the car to not start in the mornings.

We unplugged the alternator after fully charging the battery and waited until the morning, came out and it flew into life.

This pretty much narrowed it down to the alternator causing the issues starting however the output was fine (13.8V) so it left us puzzled as to what was wrong with it. Turned out the alternator was discharging the battery through the diode pack causing the battery to give lacklustre starting ability when left for a period of time of more than 6+ hours.

this was sorted with a trip to Minispares and buying a new alternator which came up at a shade over £40 and the car is now behaving well and starting on the button.

So happy to be able to actually rely on it to some degree again as it's my daily along with a motorbike, which gets silly in this weather.

[dklawson]

I'm glad you got this sorted.  Thanks for the update and posting your conclusions!