The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Anyone have any ideas on this....
It's happened 3 or 4 times now , when I turn the key to start my sprint there is a click from the starter and then all the electrics disappear, nothing , I check the fuses all two of them , not blown try again , nothing, I then disconnect the battery positive lead and reconnect and bingo she's fine again???

Take it you've given the battery terminals a good clean and made sure they make propper contact with the leads.

Do you get the same effect of disconnecing the battery by taking out one or both fuses and putting back?

Graham.

Also check the integrity of the large red cable from the battery to the starter motor + the cleaniness of the terminals Inc. the large black snap lock connector, this is approx, 12" from the + battery terminal.

Paul

No taking out the fuses and putting them back makes no difference so I suppose it's something before them right.
Will clean up terminals and check the tightness of suggested connections and see how it goes .
Don't give her the amount of attention she deserves lately .

Thanks for the help

Rich

if you can take the starter motor out and clean the mating face of the motor and the engine adaptor or back plate - could be a poor earth.

Paul

Flyfisherman wrote:Rich

if you can take the starter motor out and clean the mating face of the motor and the engine adaptor or back plate - could be a poor earth.

Paul

Before you do that check it with a multimeter. Red lead on the battery positive & black lead on the body of the starter. You should have battery voltage on the multimeter.

Waste of time checking the fuses as they have nothing to do with starter circuit.

You look at the fuse box if you loose indicators, wipers, instruments and overdrive.

You have a dirty earth connection at the battery or a dodgy starter switch. Also worth a look is the connection at the starter
itself and the multiplug dangling somewhere between the gearbox flange and oil filter.

It tends to go like this....if you get a click and everything dies its the battery +ve. Wiggle/clean/tighten it and it should all come back.

If you get a click and everything dies, but then comes back with dim cluster lights it tends to be the battery -ve or earth point on the body. Again clean and retighten.

Intermittent clicking and slow turning but bright cluster lights means flat battery or decrepit starter.

Clicking and starting if you wiggle the key means dodgy starter switch.

Jonners

I must say I’m not convinced it’s easy to tell the difference between a bad contact in the positive and negative paths, but I would start with the paths between the battery and the starter, starting from the battery end.

I’d start with these paths because it sounds like the load from the starter is causing the problem. A fault to the ignition switch/fuses would affect starting, via the relays, etc., but it’s got to be much more likely it happens on an electrical path that carries high amperage current to the starter or back. And if it is caused by the starter load, it must be on the path from the battery to the starter itself. I would start at the battery end of these paths, because it seems to affect the whole system, which means it must be near the battery end. So the last place I’d look is the positive connection to the solenoid and the earth between the starter and the engine, and the first place I’d look is the battery terminals.

Graham

rich wrote:when I turn the key to start my sprint there is a click from the starter and then all the electrics disappear, nothing

I had this, or something very similar sounding, happen on a Sprint.

Fortunately, it was parked facing downhill which meant I could bumpstart the car.

After trial and error over time, where I tried cleaning the contacts, fitting a new heavy cale to the starter, etc
I concluded that it must be the starter's solenoid. Fitting a new one solved the problem.





Ian.

Plenty to check then , process of elimination easy fix's first, problem is it only happens very rarely so could take awhile to sort , will do all the electrical connections as a matter of course anyhow.

If the problem had persisted after reconnecting the positive lead I don't think I would have tried to bump start the car as there was no electrical feed to anything so didn't think I would even get a spark .

Cheers
Rich

Rich

If you hear the a click when the key is turned - that the starter solenoid kicking in - thats good - no click dead car.

Whats the + battery terminal like, is it clean - not cover in green crusty deposits and the battery terminal post not loose. Clean up the terminals (both) and cover them in vasaline.

Mine had a silimlar problem - got the click then nothing. There nothing worse than being at a car show - car on the club stand, decide to leave early to beat the rush and just before you start the car you pray to the starter motor god hoping the car will start first time as you know everybody watching you leave or about too.

I'm going for a poor earth between the start motor + engine.

Paul.