Wiring Arghghghghghg + Photos

[shalmaneser 26]

Hi,

 

Been suffering a bit with the ol' clicky starter syndrome. This has been ongoing since I bought the car really, but now the car won't even click...

 

I've replaced the battery, alternator, starter and soldered up the engine bay brown multiplug over the last couple of years, and all was well until recently (couple of weeks ago) when the click came back with a vengeance. She's been a bit unhappy starting recently but always would go eventually, but now I'm getting nothing. Not even a click

 

As far as culprits go I've got an alarm wired into the car which I know can cause issues due to poor installation, however when it comes to wiring I'm at a bit of a loss, so I was wondering if anyone can give me any step by step diagnostic advice.

 

One key thing is the relay attached to the top of the CPU doesn't seem to be doing anything any more no matter how much I poke or prod it, whereas before it audibly clicked. Could this have anything to do with my problems?! The wiring under the dash looks a mess too, hopefully I can get it all sorted out and looking a bit prettier too. The relays on the passenger side of the dash however still click when I try to fire her up.

 

Photos to follow!!!!

 

Cheers

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Wire straight from the ignition barrel to the starter. Someone recently had similar issues on here, and the wire seemed to sort it amongst other things.

 

Relay sounds like a tachy, can't remember how it operates but you need it for the fuel pump.

 

EDIT.....Starter Issues When I did mine, I only took the new wire from the brown multiplug under the dash.

Edited November 19, 2010 by Alan_M

[shalmaneser 26]

Aaaaaand the pics...

 

Don't know how much help this will be, but what the hey...

 

A big mess, or so it looks to me.

 

 

Is this right?!

 

 

Nothing coming out the other side...

 

 

WHY WONT YOU CLICK

 

 

Carnage

 

[shalmaneser 26]

Wire straight from the ignition barrel to the starter. Someone recently had similar issues on here, and the wire seemed to sort it amongst other things.

 

Relay sounds like a tachy, can't remember how it operates but you need it for the fuel pump.

 

EDIT.....Starter Issues When I did mine, I only took the new wire from the brown multiplug under the dash.

 

Which wire did you use from the brown multiplug?

[shalmaneser 26]

More news, and the constant clicking has been traced back to what appears to be a horribly bodged in alarm/immobiliser, despite a certificate saying it's been professionally fitted.

 

The orange wire above that has been cut should have been the one running from the ignition barrel to the white multiplug as seen above and then onto the engine bay brown multiplug and onto the starter solenoid. It's been cut near the ignition barrel and wired into the thinnest, most pathetic bit of wire i've seen in the engine bay, can't be more than 5amps rated. So I'm going to piggyback some brand new 27 amp cable from the orange wire all the way directly to the starter solenoid tomorrow hopefully, when the weather picks up and I can see what I'm doing.

 

The only worry is how this is going to affect the immobiliser, obviously a gti without and immobiliser is very easy to steal and I'm keen to retain the safety of the alarm...will have to see what happens, if worse comes to worse I may just run it as an alarm and not an immobiliser.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

Seen that all too often, You can get round that immobiliser in 5 seconds flat so it's not worth having at all, I would like to see the training these people get as a nice 5mm 'ish' cable does not go into a 2mm cable without causing a high resistance, like anything it will give problems and the current rating is wrong too.

 

I know years ago I had to have a Immobiliser fitted and ended up cutting it out and giving the company it back it was like yours, Tried Trading standards then but they didn;t take any intrest

[BERTMAN 40 1 Cars]

my car had an immobiliser like that also, i removed it...

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

Which wire did you use from the brown multiplug?

 

Which ever wire feeds the starter solenoid, 46 I think?

 

Quite sure this also feeds the tachy relay & maybe a signal to the ECU? Sorry, been a long time since I looked at Jetronic.

[happygoron 2]

Which ever wire feeds the starter solenoid, 46 I think?

 

Quite sure this also feeds the tachy relay & maybe a signal to the ECU? Sorry, been a long time since I looked at Jetronic.

 

I just bypassed the whole thing, straight from starter to the orange cable you see cut in yours. Starts fine now but got idle issues I never had before, unsure if they are related as I couldn't see where this wire fed anything else.

[Anthony 1,003]

The only worry is how this is going to affect the immobiliser, obviously a gti without and immobiliser is very easy to steal and I'm keen to retain the safety of the alarm...will have to see what happens, if worse comes to worse I may just run it as an alarm and not an immobiliser.

The immobilser should still operate, as they usually disable two circuits, not just one - typically it's starter and fuel pump, so in your case it would still immobilise the fuel pump feed.

 

Bypassing the starter circuit would effectively void the CAT1 status (assuming it is a CAT1 rated system anyway), but given that you've got the certificate already that's not too much of an issue in relaity - and besides, most "professsionally" installed alarms that I see fail on one, if not multiple, criteria used for certification anyway thanks to their lazyness and general ineptness.

[shalmaneser 26]

The immobilser should still operate, as they usually disable two circuits, not just one - typically it's starter and fuel pump, so in your case it would still immobilise the fuel pump feed.

 

Bypassing the starter circuit would effectively void the CAT1 status (assuming it is a CAT1 rated system anyway), but given that you've got the certificate already that's not too much of an issue in relaity - and besides, most "professsionally" installed alarms that I see fail on one, if not multiple, criteria used for certification anyway thanks to their lazyness and general ineptness.

 

That's good to know - it does definitely disable the fuel pump, you can normally hear it humming before the engine start but definitely don't if it's immobilised.

 

Failed to get anything done today though, too hungover.

[shalmaneser 26]

Ran the replacement wire right from the ignition barrel straight to the starter solenoid. Starts like a champ now, and the immobilisor still kind of works - the engine spins but doesn't start, result. Hopefully I've got to the end of this bloody saga, I'm getting pissed off with it now!

 

Still have to find a solution to my mysterious thrumming noise, I've taken some videos and will post them up. Symptoms are as follows if anyone's still reading....

 

noise from 30-50 mph only

noise only when car is warm

intermittent, can be made to make the noise by turning left

doesn't change with engine speed (ie. same noise no matter what gear)

 

I'm thinking wheel bearing ATM, although it's just had bloody new ones!!!!

[Alan_M 66 1 Cars]

The heater blower on my 205 makes strange noises like those you've mentioned. You have cancelled that out?

[TaffyTim 6]

I'm at a mid point to sorting out my clicky starter motoer and was wondering what type of wire I need. Is 27amps the correct one and roughly how much length should I get??

 

Sorry to hijack but it seemed silly to start a new thread for that question or two.

[shalmaneser 26]

I'm at a mid point to sorting out my clicky starter motoer and was wondering what type of wire I need. Is 27amps the correct one and roughly how much length should I get??

 

Sorry to hijack but it seemed silly to start a new thread for that question or two.

 

Yep used 27 amp wire, got it from halfords - used slightly less than a whole roll, think it was about 3.5m. So 3m should cover it!

[kyepan 291]

I think i may have posted up a fairly long winded post some while ago, I ran mine from just after the fuse board, but only because i didn't want to bypass the alarm.

 

I matched the gauge of the wire on the board, thicker than the usual 2mm.

[shalmaneser 26]

I think i may have posted up a fairly long winded post some while ago, I ran mine from just after the fuse board, but only because i didn't want to bypass the alarm.

 

I matched the gauge of the wire on the board, thicker than the usual 2mm.

 

Yeah i would have done that but i'm 99% sure that it was the ultra thin wire from the alarm causing the problem in the first place...I'll take some pics at some point it really is ridiculous, as well as dangerous - I'm sure it would be a fire hazard.