Car Won’t Start This Morning.

[Atari Boy 11]

I thought I would use the car today to drive into work as it is only used about once a weekand I thought it would benefit from a decent run.

 

I tried a seach as I know it has been covered but the seach did not work.

 

Normal it starts okay and even idles fairly consistently.

 

So I try and start it this morning and no luck. All I get is a clicking from the area of the ECU, it tries turn from time to time but the clicking is the most predominant.

 

It is cold today (-1) but the car lives in a garage. The battery is showing 11.91 volts and is probably a year old.

I have had a problem with the alternator in the past but believe that it is charging the battery okay now, well at was I thought.

 

Are we thinking crappy starter motor solenoid or flat battery? WHat is the best way to check?

 

One stop forward, one step back....

[M@tt 77]

if you're only getting a clicking i think your battery is too low. My turbo engine wouldn't turn over when the battery was 11v and it just did a clicking.

Edited January 14, 2009 by M@tt

[large 33]

When it turns over is it normal speed or slow? if its slow i would say its the bat as 11.9 volts is a bit low (sould start on that though)

[Atari Boy 11]

When it turns over is it normal speed or slow? if its slow i would say its the bat as 11.9 volts is a bit low (sould start on that though)

 

Thanks chaps for the replies, I was actually looking forward to using the car today even though it is -1 and the radio gets a crap reception

 

It turned over okay I think but it could have been a bit slow.

[M@tt 77]

you could try giving the starter a bit of a smack with a jack handle a couple of times in case its sticking slightly, but usually it just does nothing when the starter's kaput and clicks when the battery is low from my experience

[Atari Boy 11]

So I need a new starter and battery, bummer.

[M@tt 77]

no i think you proably just need to charge your battery up.

 

if the battery is too low the starter clicks and doesn't spin over

 

where as if the starter's kanckered you just get nothing at all when you try and turn it over

[Atari Boy 11]

Excellent, thanks M@tt, I will charge up the battery over night and see what happens.

I drove the car for about 20 minutes on Sunday, is that not long enough to keep the battery happy?

 

Thanks again.

 

Jonny

[jimistdt 1]

I'm no expert, but I'd think that a 20 minute run would only put back in what you took out to start/run heaters/lights and so on.

[Anthony 1,003]

11.9v is definately low - should be seeing around 12.5v from a charged battery really.

[Atari Boy 11]

Okay please forgive my thickness, that’s the one area I am good at.

 

For clarification, is the condenses that the battery and starter might be okay but the battery is currently not charged enough to start the car because the car has not been driven properly for a while?

 

Or is the battery flat and most likely knackered and the world is about to end because of it?

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

Edited January 14, 2009 by Atari Boy

[Anthony 1,003]

For clarification, is the condenses that the battery and starter might be okay but the battery is currently not charged enough to start the car because the car has not been driven properly for a while?

Yup - give the battery a charge and go from there

 

The battery might be at the end of its life - normally a prolonged cold snap will put the nail in the coffin - but you've nothing to lose by putting it on charge and seeing how you get on. Worse case is that the battery loses charge again or doesn't charge properly.

[Atari Boy 11]

I just tried it again and it started first time!

What should I read from this?

 

I have put the battery on charge over night, the battery was showing 12.1 volts.

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

[Tesstuff 222]

Okay please forgive my thickness, that’s the one area I am good at.

 

For clarification, is the condenses that the battery and starter might be okay but the battery is currently not charged enough to start the car because the car has not been driven properly for a while?

 

Or is the battery flat and most likely knackered and the world is about to end because of it?

 

Thanks

 

Jonny

 

 

Mate, did you mean consensus ?

[Atari Boy 11]

Mate, did you mean consensus ?

 

Ahh, yes.

[M@tt 77]

get down halfords /local motorfactors and get them to put it on their machine for free it will tell you whether the battery's knackered or not.

[Arahan 4]

I have something similar, the starter turns but very slowly until the car starts, but then after a short journey the starter will turn over fine at normal speed? But then after a longer journey of say 20/30mins, it turns over slowly again?

 

I think my alternator was nakard and not charging it properly but didnt get around to changing it for a while until last week, could this of caused my battery to drain so much that it wont properly charge back up again?

 

As another point, when i took the battery out and put it on charge, it lit up 100% straight away? Could that be because it is at 100% now because it wont charge any higher? But not actually 100% of what it should be? If that makes any sense!

 

Thanks!

[GLPoomobile 958]

As another point, when i took the battery out and put it on charge, it lit up 100% straight away? Could that be because it is at 100% now because it wont charge any higher? But not actually 100% of what it should be? If that makes any sense!

 

What charger are you using?

 

I've got a basic Clarke one with 3 status LEDs and it always lights up full when first connected, and lights up the full and half full LEDs as it progresses. I reckon they wired the LEDs the wrong way around when they stuck it together!

[Arahan 4]

Just had a nosey and it seem its an "Eclipse" charger, no doubt some crappy one! Is fairly new though, my mate bought it not that long ago! The lights start on the left with "MAX 100%" and read to the right going down in 25%'s till it reaches "MIN 0%".

[Kennyb 0]

Had a similar strange symptoms/starting Problem only had a new cheapy battery for 4 months........thought it was alternator, then my charger, then my electric meter....was giving loads of weird symtoms that were different all the time.....................changed for med price battery after loads of messing and bang!!!!! all symptoms gone and been fine since.....;-)