Car Failing To Start

[Furiousd 0]

After a nice run to Scarborough this weeked I parked my car up early aft on Sat. Spent the day having a lovely drink. After the hangover cleared I went to start the car on sunday and there was nothing when I turned the key. So I tried with some jump leads and it started 1st time!

 

I've ran the car every day this week and its been spot on since?

 

Prior to this I've changed the starter motor, replaced a faulty battery connection and a new plug connector to the starter as I've had one or two other starting issues with the car. Any ideas what else could have caused it not to start?

 

As the battery ran flat due to the bad connecter I imagine it could need replacing but I gave it a good days charge since the new connection went on and it seems to be recharging well enough now. Plus I can't imagine it could have gone flat after a good hour and half drive to the coast!

 

Any clues ideas will be appreciated as my cars a daily driver I need it to be reliable : )

[DaveK 0]

my first 205 1.1 did this. Died once on the way to buy another car when i pulled into a services. Wouldnt start. 2 hours later it started and never did it ever again, in about 4 months of having it after that...just a random thing

 

maybe u just left the lights on or something tho mate?

[Furiousd 0]

Didn't leave the lights on . just parked it overnight, wouldn't start then after a jump start and a short journey for a pub lunch started 1st time again and no problems since.

 

Not overly worried as I don't expect the car to be as reliable as a brand new VW or anything. Just wouldn't mind the benefit of anyones experience if you know what may have caused it.

 

Thanks anyway

[Grim.Badger 15]

When you say turning the key did nothing, what exactly happened? Did the dash lights dim, fuel pump prime, starter click etc or no response at all?

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

Battery would have to be mighty flat for literally nothing to happen when the key is turned so suspect Mr Badger is correct in his question...

[Furiousd 0]

I didn't notice any dash lights dim as it was day time when it occured. Although there was no clicking from the starter. When I had battery issues before sometimes the starter would click other times it wouldn't?

 

The clock did not reset either which happened on each of my previous starting 'issues'.

 

There was a bit of a 'hum' as if something was working. Is this likely to be the fuel pump?

[Dream Weaver 2]

Same as my starting issues and after renewing all components it still does this 50% of the time, so I'm installing a separate relay and starter button this weekend.

 

As a quick fix, I wired a second wire onto the starter solenoid so when it fails to start you can just hold this to the battery + terminal to fire it up - ignition on and in neutral obvisouly.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

I didn't notice any dash lights dim as it was day time when it occured. Although there was no clicking from the starter. When I had battery issues before sometimes the starter would click other times it wouldn't?

 

The clock did not reset either which happened on each of my previous starting 'issues'.

 

There was a bit of a 'hum' as if something was working. Is this likely to be the fuel pump?

 

Standard starter motor issue. It is worse with a hot engine and with a low battery.

 

The starter does not fire up until the solenoid engages. The fault is that the solenoid is not engaging so starter does not fire (hence no dimming of lights). Buzzing is normal for this...

 

Do a search as there are a large number of threads on the subject, generally a starter motor problem or/and a wiring problem.

 

Rob

[Furiousd 0]

Thanks for all the advise!

 

I suspected the battery could need replacing due to the bad connector.

 

The same thing occurred today as I left work. After the 3rd or 4th turn of the key it fired up. And again the same thing on a trip to the co-op but it was fine on the way back.

 

Would you suggest a replacement battery would sort (or help) the issue or is it more likely to be a bad connection somewhere? I had the starter motor connecter plug replaced thinking this was the cause of the problem when it began a couple of weeks ago.

 

Cheers

Chris

[Richie-Van-GTi 71 2 Cars]

Ive had these issues before, only true fix IMO is replace the full wire and connector from starter to ignition, bypassing the brown miultiplugs so resistance is minimal. Never had a single issue since doing this.

Its also worth taking earth strap off the gearbox, cleaning the contact points throughly and refitting securely.

[Grim.Badger 15]

Ive had these issues before, only true fix IMO is replace the full wire and connector from starter to ignition, bypassing the brown miultiplugs so resistance is minimal. Never had a single issue since doing this.

Its also worth taking earth strap off the gearbox, cleaning the contact points throughly and refitting securely.

 

It may also be the starter motor or it's solenoid dying like mine did, although when mine stopped working it would fail to respond at all rather than start after a few turns of the key.

I would be very doubtful if the battery has anything to do with this, a low power battery would make the starter rather lazy rather than fail to turn altogether.

[Dream Weaver 2]

I agree with Hugh, mine still does it even though I have a new battery.

 

Try a new starter motor first, and/or wiring.

[Rob_the_Sparky 9]

There is no sigle problem I'm afraid. Tis a combination of things. I've had one car respond to bypassed wiring and one to a new starter.

 

I've also checked the wiring on the one that responded to this and turned out to be a voltage drop without the starter connected! E.g. there was something else in circuit drawing quite a bit of power; it was not a brown multiplug problem.

 

Not sure there is a way of finding out which is the issue without chaning things.

 

Rob

 

P.S. Bad earth can also be an issue but don't know the symptoms of this.

[Grim.Badger 15]

There is no sigle problem I'm afraid. Tis a combination of things.

 

As with most problems on the 205

 

Mine responded well to a bypass wire at first but then stopped working completely, luckily a nice guy in a Passat help me push start otherwise I would have been stranded in Bradford (again )

I wouldn't recommend getting a reconditioned 205 starter as they seem to be a naff design, my new one is a 16v starter motor and apart from being sluggish for a while after fitting a new engine (for no apparent reason) it has been fine.

[Furiousd 0]

As with most problems on the 205

 

As I was advised when I had a 309 gti a few years ago its often best to let problems develope a bit as its difficult to track down the culprit when things only don't work so sporadically.

 

Thanks for all posts and advise.