starting trouble

[briggie]

ok , my truck has never ever failed to start ...... except it has this morning , its had a new starter motor so its not that .

symptoms are ...

fairly bright lights on dash ..... alarm / immobiliser bleeps to signify system is off , turn the key and the truck engine starts to turn over , then get a loud buzz ,and a click ,engine will not start .

i have over a quarter of a tank of diesel in ( i dont use veggie )

any suggestions ? , ive called the rac out , but because im not considered a priority ( im at home ) , they estimate 4 hours at least before a patrol can attend .... i have no problem with that .

 

[briggie]

glow plug light comes on and goes off after about 5 secs ( normal )

 

[rustic]

Hi Pete,

if you have lights on whilst cranking the engine, are they still fairly bright, or do they go dimmer than normal?

Richard

 

[briggie]

Hi Pete,

if you have lights on whilst cranking the engine, are they still fairly bright, or do they go dimmer than normal?

Richard

havent tried that , i normally start the truck with lights off , then turn them on when engine started ........ hang on will check now after ive tunneled through the snow to get to my truck ...... watch this space

 

[briggie]

ok , i tried , couldnt see the headlights from inside the truck :doh , so i shouted a neighbour to look ..... he says lights go dim when i try to start the truck , but not much ..... if that makes sense ...... its bluddie lethal out there for me ..... not going out again

 

[rustic]

ok , i tried , couldnt see the headlights from inside the truck :doh , so i shouted a neighbour to look ..... he says lights go dim when i try to start the truck , but not much ..... if that makes sense ...... its bluddie lethal out there for me ..... not going out again

If the lights are still fairly bright, then it won't be the battery connections, or even the battery.


However...

It could well be the starter motor, or the starter solenoid not passing all the current required.

If you are lucky... it might only be the connection on the starter motor, or starter motor to solenoid, or starter cable to the battery, but not the general wiring to the rest of the car.

Check where the large cable attaches to the battery, as I guess the rest of the car is on a separate connection.

Also it could be a poor earth.

hope this helps, but in 3 hours you should find out.

Put your feet up Pete, too rough to be playing in the snow...

 

[briggie]

rac patrol just been !!!! , starter ok , alt ok , problem is it has the wrong battery fitted , it has a 500 cca battery in at the mo , and it should be 880cca + , so in cold weather when oil is thicker , car will need lots more juicy amps to turn it over ..... and battery quite simply cant provide enough at the mo .

 

[rustic]

rac patrol just been !!!! , starter ok , alt ok , problem is it has the wrong battery fitted , it has a 500 cca battery in at the mo , and it should be 880cca + , so in cold weather when oil is thicker , car will need lots more juicy amps to turn it over ..... and battery quite simply cant provide enough at the mo .

Looks like you are sorted then, :thumbs:thumbs

 

[briggie]

takes quite a bit of juice to turn over a 3100 cc engine in cold weather

 

[briggie]

had to laff though , the patrolman put one of those portapack battery thingies on it ..... and it killed it :lol

 

[rustic]

takes quite a bit of juice to turn over a 3100 cc engine in cold weather

On a manual version, I always dip the clutch, to save trying to turn the gears over.

I guess you don't have any choice in an auto:doh

 

[Tomas]

My manual says to always press Clutch down when starting!

 

[rustic]

My manual says to always press Clutch down when starting!

That's good.

But not on Automatics.

Automatics SHOULD have much bigger batteries than manual, maybe this is the reason why.

Briggie... they probably fitted a battery suitable for a petrol version, or a manual one.