Been keeping the car under cover over winter and running once or twice a month. Cant get it to crank this time, seems to engage starter and then stops straight away, lots of clicking and alarm/immobiliser keeps kicking in.

Any ideas where I should start looking, battery is fully charged and connections are good, cant say I even know where the solonoid and starter are at the moment but guess im going find out pretty soon.

Is there a way I can disconnect the alarm system to rule this out, any other way I can start car it is an auto so cant jump it off. Any help much appreciated did do a forum search but couldnt find anything useful.

Been keeping the car under cover over winter and running once or twice a month. Cant get it to crank this time, seems to engage starter and then stops straight away, lots of clicking and alarm/immobiliser keeps kicking in.

Any ideas where I should start looking, battery is fully charged and connections are good, cant say I even know where the solonoid and starter are at the moment but guess im going find out pretty soon.

Is there a way I can disconnect the alarm system to rule this out, any other way I can start car it is an auto so cant jump it off. Any help much appreciated did do a forum search but couldnt find anything useful.

 

 

Sounds like your battery isnt fully charged, can u get that checked first before disconnecting anything.

 

Cheers John

Sounds like battery had it, try a known good battery or a booster pack on it, that will get it turning over

Battery is good im sure, just taken it off and it is showing fully charged on my charger. Will check fluid levels in the cells but sure there ok.

sounds like battery or bad connection either earth or live, faulty starter could click but would not set off alarms etc thats the voltage dropping down too far while cranking, get a volt meter on the battery.

As these boys have said, if your battery is ok and all Cables/connections on battery+starter are tight and clean. It might be worth checking you alarm/immobiliser.

I had a problem a few years back when the starter wouldn't work, it would click but not start, it sounded like the solenoid was engaging but not turning (click but no clunk or wissy wissy). but after a long time pissing around it turned out to be the starter pinion smashin into the flywheel ring gear at max torque. The alarm had packed up and somehow the starter circuit had bypassed the torque limiting stage (when the pinion moves out slowly to engage the flywheel) and gone staight to full torque. After ripping out the alarm/immboliser it worked, click, clunk, wissy wissy!!!

 

I would love to find the previous owner of my car, bodged to death!

 

hope this helps, if not f@ck it i had fun

 

dave

Battery is good im sure, just taken it off and it is showing fully charged on my charger. Will check fluid levels in the cells but sure there ok.

 

 

Better to get a discharge tester on it, put a load on it, or even one of those battery tester things that give you codes etc rather than putting a multimeter on it.

 

Cheers John

i knew of an issue where the central locking fuse went, therefore the alarm didnt completly dis-engage and would not allow car to be started. weird one i know

Better to get a discharge tester on it, put a load on it, or even one of those battery tester things that give you codes etc rather than putting a multimeter on it.

 

Cheers John

 

checking the voltage when cranking should be more than enough to point you in the direction of whats wrong, if it has a dead cell or is just plain dead the voltage will be way down on what its suposed to be

Thanx for the advise guys, battery fooked I think, jumped it off fine from my aero. Battery charger obviously isnt able to tell when some off the cells are dead, might explain why z has been missing on one cyclinder now and again.

New battery next week, dont think mine likes the winter weather much, role on summer. Cheers again guys

Yep, i not very lively battery will be killed by cold weather

checking the voltage when cranking should be more than enough to point you in the direction of whats wrong, if it has a dead cell or is just plain dead the voltage will be way down on what its suposed to be

 

 

For me its not about pointing you in the direction its about proper diagnostics with regards using proper tools to eliminate items relating to the fault. What happens if a guy uses a multi meter for example checking a starting fault, he surmises from the voltage drop that the battery is fooked goes and buys a battery, fits it to the car and its still the same. Too many times have I seen people throw parts at cars to fix problems at their expense rather than properly test the battery, its fine or its fooked either way its eliminated then move onto the next step. With regards this reply I aint lookin for a fight or to drill holes in people's posts and everyone has their own opinion but for me I like to check/eliminate components then move onto the next one.

 

Cheers John

For me its not about pointing you in the direction its about proper diagnostics with regards using proper tools to eliminate items relating to the fault. What happens if a guy uses a multi meter for example checking a starting fault, he surmises from the voltage drop that the battery is fooked goes and buys a battery, fits it to the car and its still the same. Too many times have I seen people throw parts at cars to fix problems at their expense rather than properly test the battery, its fine or its fooked either way its eliminated then move onto the next step. With regards this reply I aint lookin for a fight or to drill holes in people's posts and everyone has their own opinion but for me I like to check/eliminate components then move onto the next one.

 

Cheers John

 

Thats ok every one is entitled to there opinion thats what makes the world such a marvelous place, I don't need anything more than a multimeter to decide if a battery is dead or not if you have access to better things thats great, its not usually the tools them self thats the problem just the way people use them and what they make of the information they get from them.

 

Glad you worked out your problem and it should run a bit smoother especially at tick over when the alternator's not doing anything.