lagonda 42 Posted January 14, 2007 Unbelievably my CTi is actually back on the road! Going quite well too! That is until I got caught in traffic on the M23 because of an accident on the OTHER side. Bloody rubberneckers, there should be a law against them. Anyway the car quickly overheated, mainly because slight corrosion on fan switch terminals stopped it operating. Pulled over as STOP warning light came on. Quickly got fan going, waited for it to stop, indicating temperature OK, but car wouldn't start, nothing from starter whatsoever. Fortunately we were facing downhill so bump started pretty easily. Car / starter have been fine before & since. Battery is old but holds charge OK, starts no trouble from cold & charging system is fine. So ... is there an inhibitor that precludes starting for a period after the STOP warning light has come on? If not, any ideas why it didn't start? Incidentally it stalled a little later & started immediately on the starter, as you'd expect. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars Posted January 14, 2007 Check the terminals for corrosion, chances are as youve jiggled the fan wires you knocked the starter wire and its not got itself back into place. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lagonda 42 Posted January 14, 2007 Check the terminals for corrosion, chances are as youve jiggled the fan wires you knocked the starter wire and its not got itself back into place. No, it's not that. All starter terminals are OK, checked them whilst inlet manifold was off, also car has started fine since, furthermore I don't think solenoid wire would be affected by jiggling fan switch wires (on radiator). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest cknotty Posted January 14, 2007 It may very well be simply the starter motor getting too hot. My friends DTurbo was doing the same thing on an autotest last year. Leaving the bonnet open and letting it cool off during the breaks cured it. Chris Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grim.Badger 15 Posted January 15, 2007 Mine did this the same day as the last North meet, it was probably the hardest I'd driven the car since getting it and the starter refused to do anything until everything had cooled down. It would do the same when it was hot for a while, then it started doing it cold and I eventually had to change the starter Got a tiny 306 16v XSi starter now which is much easier to fit and only cost £20 from the scrappy It could also be an earth connection expanding in the heat and breaking contact, or so I've been told. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rob_the_Sparky 9 Posted January 15, 2007 Common starter problem, they just don't seem to work as well when hot. I've had this issue even with a brand new starter, couple of minutes later with bonnet open and it started fine... Rob Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lagonda 42 Posted January 16, 2007 Thanks guys. It's stalled a couple of times since & has refused to acknowledge me again, so it's not a heat issue, just the usual 205 starter malaise! At least I know it'll start, that's the main thing! Odd that it starts happily every time from cold, especially this time of year, so perhaps there is a heat related issue with the earth or some other connection, as Grim Badger suggests. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
