Intermittent Starting

[Aleco]

Hello all,
My sprint has recently developed an intermittent starting fault, I will be absolutely fine and spin the engine on the first turn of the key 80% of the time, 10% it will need a few flicks and the remaining 10% I won't get a sausage.
I can hear a click as in a relay pulling in but nothing else. Leaving the car for a while will generally solve it.
It's annoying me as it's stopping me use the car as I've already been stranded once.
It did have a similar issue many years (15+) and took it to an old skool auto electrician who fitted a relay to the starter circuit.
I'm not at all handy when it comes to car electrics which feel a little like a little black magic so any explanations please can they be at the Mr Man level!

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Alex

[Flyfisherman]

Alex

I would check the condition of the elecrical connection on the starter solenoid and the starter motor + the engine earth.

Paul

[Carledo]

What Paul said,^^^^^^

The click you are hearing is the relay throwing, so that immediately eliminates the ignition switch and everything else up to the relay.

So, as Paul said, check all the connections out of the relay and into the starter motor as well as the condition and tightness of the engine earth strap. If all this fails to find a fault, then it's pretty much time to call Alun for a recon starter motor!

Steve

[MIG Wielder]

Hi Alex, Long time no hear. Will you be at TDCIR tomorrow ?
P.M. to follow,
Tony.

[Aleco]

Brilliant thanks chaps. I'll have a look at the connections.
Sadly not at the club meeting.

[alangraham]

For what it's worth:
I had the same problem on a Herald and it was simply that the battery terminals had stopped making a good contact. Cleaning and tightening had the car back to normal. Worth a look perhaps?
Alan, N Yorks.

[Aleco]

Right! So after cleaning pretty much every terminal I can find and fitting a replacement starter motor I'm still back at square one! It seems to get better for a while and thennthe fault returns.

After a long run (seems to only occur after a thrash on the motorway) it still won't start. I have the same symptoms i.e. relay pulling in but the starter not turning.

Any thoughts? The only thing I've not looked at yet is the earth strap. I'll probably just change it to rule it out.

[Aleco]

In fairness. I've just re-read most of your posts and pretty much to a man you mentioned the earth strap!

[Carledo]

You could try another relay, it could be throwing (the click you hear) but not actually making the circuit. Also, where is the relay mounted? Heat seems to be a factor, if the relay is somewhere where it can get very hot, that might be doing it!

Steve

[sprint95m]

Right! So after cleaning pretty much every terminal I can find and fitting a replacement starter motor I'm still back at square one! It seems to get better for a while and thennthe fault returns.

After a long run (seems to only occur after a thrash on the motorway) it still won't start. I have the same symptoms i.e. relay pulling in but the starter not turning.

Any thoughts? The only thing I've not looked at yet is the earth strap. I'll probably just change it to rule it out.

This is a well known problem which affects both Dolomites and Stags.
Stag specialist Tony Hart has a cure for it, which is to fit a remote relay. He sells a kit....

(Incidentally the Rover P6B had a remote relay from new...)



Ian.

[Richard the old one]

A question for sprint95m do you have contact details for Tony Hart as I am interested in obtaining a kit.

[mahony]

A question for sprint95m do you have contact details for Tony Hart as I am interested in obtaining a kit.

Here you go Richard http://www.enginuity.co.uk/page1/page6/index.html

[soe8m]

You can use any relay. It's just skipping all and have the ignition switch switching a relay when cranking. Through the relay a fresh current from the battery to the starter.

It's not a repair or a cure but a dodgy bodge solution.

Jeroen

[roadster]

Provided you can reproduce the fault you really need a voltmeter to diagnose this. Starting at the battery terminals, because it is possible that a battery will internally breakdown when under high load. Then work through measuring voltage drop, for example is there a voltage drop across the main relay terminals? If 9+ volts survives all the way to the starter then the starter itself is the problem.