Starter Motor

[chapel gate]

First rule of troubleshooting- 'thou shalt not assume'.

Spot on, and one rule I always try and adhere to.

Note 'try" in the sentence...

 

[flint]

They they dropped another battery on the passenger side and hey presto we were off. But nothing we did showed a battery fault.

I had a similar thing on one of my trucks (24v) years ago after fitting new batteries. Ok for a while, then starting problems from cold began. I went through the usual checks, voltmeter, cabling and earth, starter etc. to no avail. In the end, it turned out to be an intermittent fault in one of the batteries, a bad link between a couple of the plates. Battery replaced, all fine.

 

[Roger]

Here's a curve ball for you:

I once had the starter doing the opposite problem, it wouldnt turn off once activated, it was a corroded spring within the starter relay - quite a simple fix (I even had a random spring on the shelf that fitted!) - so, clean up, new spring and all good again.

 

[Firewout]

I would still look at the starter motor contacts.

 

[StarCruiser]

I would still look at the starter motor contacts.

The symptoms certainly point in their direction without a doubt.

 

[guyc]

After one new alternator and two new batteries it works a treat.

I think that the alternator must have developed a fault which ended up cooking the offside battery.

When the AA man turned up he put his jump start pack on the nearside battery and it made no difference.

When the garage did the same operation they put their jump start pack on the offside battery and it started straight away.

They tested the output from the alternator and discovered it wasn't charging.

Thinking back on it I had noticed the dashboard lights flickering when the indicators were on which may have been a sign.

I've bought some contacts for the starter motor which I'll change as a maintenance item.

Thank you for all the advice.

 

[MarkW]

Well there you go, it was a simple thing

 

[Chris]

Ahh the dash lights are a bit of a giveaway. Not always a duff alternator as a whole, it can just be the brushes. Don't throw it out, they can be serviced.

 

[karl webster]

I wish I had a pound every time I've had a customer ring wanting a starter and advising them to check their batteries first......

Don't get me wrong the starter can fail and as people have said its good to check the starter to see if everything's ok.

 

[Chris]

It's the principal reason I changed mine to 12v start.