Tried To Start Car To Go For A Blast......... :angry:

[daza4 24]

Well thought it might be a good idea to go for a blast the other night as someone ahd told me about a workshop that had come up for rent so went out to car and tried to start it.

She cranked over --- once the starter motor had clicked into place!!!! and cranked over and nearly fired then dead. completely lost all power. looks like I had removed one of the terminals off the battery. so removed bonnet (on pins) went and checked the battery (got one with the glass window really bright green and nearly new battery) checked all wiring near the battery expecting to find a melted wire or something fallen off. Nothing. tried to turn the key again and still nothing. Not even got the Horn working, so its as if there is no power to the car anywhere. Checked the brown multi plug, all ok (cleaned this up first thing I did when I bought the car) checked the terminals on the battery all ok and tight, then followed the cables to check negative was connected and then checked positive was connected. ALL OK????

 

This is where I got fed up and put the bonnet back on and locked the car up and was about to give up all hope when the flippin central locking locking locked the car????

 

so back in put key in the ignition all lights came up on the dash cranked her over to start........ Dead again. lost all dash lights lost all power.

 

Removed bonnet again and did the same checks as above but with key in ignition switched on so knowing that my fuel pump would become live and pump fuel if I found a loose connection in a wiring loom somewhere.

 

NOTHING..........

 

Locked passenger door locked boot put bonnet back on again locked pins and went in fed up and shouted at the missues (sorry love) sat down and had a guinness or two.

 

Went back out and removed neagative terminal and then left car for the night knowing if there was an electrical gremlin it wouldnt now catch fire.

 

Anyone had this before? anyone got any ideas?

 

I must admit when it comes to the electrical side of things Im lost, give me a mechanical problem anytime.

[Richie-Van-GTi 72 2 Cars]

check the main earth strap from gearbox to body, no clean contact here will cause it to get hot and stop working correctly. Also check the little black shunt box on the slam panel, make sure everythings secure and clean.

[daza4 24]

check the main earth strap from gearbox to body, no clean contact here will cause it to get hot and stop working correctly. Also check the little black shunt box on the slam panel, make sure everythings secure and clean.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

 

Yes I had checked this and stripped it slightly, What is confusing me is the absolute complete lack of power, like a battery lead has been taken off. I dont get any dash lights or the horn doesnt work or the central locking its as if the car had a power cut off switch and you had isolated the power.

[steve@cornwall 100]

Also give the battery terminals and inside of the clamps a good rubbing with coarse sand paper and coat with vaseline before re-fitting. If you have the terminal clamps that screw onto the battery wires, take them off and give a clean up, too.

[brianthemagical 1]

igniton barrel?

[daza4 24]

igniton barrel?

 

Now this is the one thing that had crossed my mind. The only thing that is really bugging me is the fact that I loose all power to the car. No Horn, headlights or anything even the central locking doesnt work. It is really strange.

 

Luckly I have a donor car thats a shell so I can try and rob bits of it to try and see what makes a difference.

 

Just hoping its not the starter motor, got quite a few spares to try!!! and also I do have carbs fitted so should be a bit easier!!!! Will try and have a look tomorrow night. as got to go out tonight for a customer.

[danpug 1]

Have you checked the black box richie is talking about? My old mi16 did the same thing as yours and it turned out one of the wires going to the box had worn through.

[pug309twin40s 1]

have you checked the voltage in the battery?? as sounds like the battery is flat to me.

[daza4 24]

Have you checked the black box richie is talking about? My old mi16 did the same thing as yours and it turned out one of the wires going to the box had worn through.

 

 

 

This is going to be top on the list of things to check this weekend.

 

 

have you checked the voltage in the battery?? as sounds like the battery is flat to me.

 

 

I havent checked it yet but It should be good, It was cranking over fine until I completely lost all power, not a dull light in sight, just no power whatsoever, like you had disconnected the battery. It is very strange.

 

You know when you have a flat battery its just very slow to crank over, this was fine and then just lost everything. Even with a flat battery the central locking or the horn would still work and I have lost them aswell.

 

My brain is fried as to what it might be.............

[danpug 1]

Whatever it is it shouldnt be too difficult or expensive to sort.

[daza4 24]

igniton barrel?

 

I stripped this out and found out how it all works but still not the fault.

 

Have you checked the black box richie is talking about? My old mi16 did the same thing as yours and it turned out one of the wires going to the box had worn through.

 

Checked that and took it to pieces but all ok.

 

have you checked the voltage in the battery?? as sounds like the battery is flat to me.

 

once fixed it fired up first time (once I had replaced a corroded fuse on my Weber Alpha ECU for the fuel pump power!!)

 

Also give the battery terminals and inside of the clamps a good rubbing with coarse sand paper and coat with vaseline before re-fitting. If you have the terminal clamps that screw onto the battery wires, take them off and give a clean up, too.

 

Well I removed the dash and ignition barrel to no avail then lastly I went to remove the negative terminal so I knew when I left it there was no chance of fire but there was no spark when you touch the terminal with the clamp. So I removed the positive terminal and there was a spark!!!!

 

I would never have said it was the clamps but steve your todays winner of guessing the correct fault!!!!

 

Thank you.

Whatever it is it shouldnt be too difficult or expensive to sort.

 

Correct again just 1 hour of time and my patience, which has been hard to come by this week!!!

 

Thanks again all of you. another happy person this end!!

Edited August 25, 2007 by daza4

[steve@cornwall 100]

I've found this quite common, esp. with the pug original neg.terminals - and exactly what you ofen get when using jump-leads that aren't making good contact