Starter motor??? Car will not start.

[khurrado 0]

can anyone help me, i was listening to the radio earlier, and killed the battery off, recharged and the car wont start...ive had this prob before with the starter motor intermittently, but it usually kick s back in.

 

ive tried everything, and to no avail.

[khurrado 0]

also , i do not know whether this is related to the problem, but just above the air filter a brown wire is disconnected???

 

no idea what it is, but if i touch it against a metal bracket just below the strut mount, the radiator fans starts goin off???

[gradeAfailure 0]

Don't think the brown wire's connected to the car not starting...

 

My first check would be to get a length of decent gauge wire with a female spade terminal on one end and twisted wire the other, turn the ignition on, remove the red wire from the starter solenoid, plug your length of wire onto the solenoid terminal and touch the bare wires onto the positive terminal of the battery. If the starter turns, then the problem could be the ignition switch; if it doesn't, then yr looking at starter or possibly the solenoid's seized - give it a "tap" with a block of wood and a mallet!

[khurrado 0]

ok, yeh designa dubs told me a year ago, i had an ignition switch problem. Should a changed it then!!!

 

Ill give it a go now, the brown wire i was talking about has a spade on it as well..y would the fan turn on when i touch it on the metal bracket on the leg???? And also where in the engine bay is the starter motor>?????? is it at the back of the bay sliughtly to the right side? sorry for sounding stupid, im not too mechanically minded...yet

[gradeAfailure 0]

What engine is it? I can post you a ready-made "hot-wire" lead if you like - trick is not to electrocute yrself whilst checking... ;)

 

Starter is usually at the front right-hand side of the engine as you look at it - just in front of the gearbox IIRC, with the solenoid on top of it...

 

Ignition switches are a PITA, mine was changed just before I bought the car (Jan) and it's already dead... Gonna get me a genuine VW one this time...

[khurrado 0]

heh heh na itll work eventually, the mrs is jus gna have to wait. i jsut dont get the whole brown wire thing~??? wats that all about??? its a wire running dfown the left side of the car, to underneath the air filter at the front, and its disconnected....but y does the fan start when i touch it unless the lead has something to do with the pwer failure in my car????

[gradeAfailure 0]

Well, VW use brown to designate a wire going to earth AFAIK, so that looks like where it should be connected to... If the fan runs when you do this, then maybe there's something up with the fan temp switch?

[khurrado 0]

well it goes on when the cars off? and yeh the spade clip on it, makes it look like an earth cable. so if its touching metal on the body of the car, y would the fan go odff....eps if the cars cold, and been stadning still for a day.

 

baffling. I guess if i can find a pic of a 16 valve engine bay, i shoould be able to see where the wire is connecetd. Worth a try.

[Baz2004 0]

Your brown wire connects to a rad overrun switch which is connected to the left side your rocker cover.

[Henny 0]

if you look at the wire carefully, you'll find it has a VERY thin white tracer on it... ;)

[khurrado 0]

yes ive noticed but what is that? And where abouts on the rocker cover does it go? Also, car is still not starting, it must be the ignition switch, as ive had problems with it in th epast, what can i do aout it??? Is it worth taking it out and reconnecting etc????

[Baz2004 0]

You should have a switch that looks something like this

 

 

And it bolts on or near to the left hand side on the rocker cover. (pics posted by carpy25 )

 

 

 

I doubt this is causing your starting problems though as it sounds more like ignition/starter problems. How old is the battery?

[khurrado 0]

new battery. But ive always had these probs, need a new fuse box and ignition switch.pic below, theres the little bugger on the elft of the pic, with no where to go!

 

I cant find the switch baz!

[Baz2004 0]

Ill get you the model number on the switch/sender if you'd like, I remember writing it down somewhere. As far as I know its not that critical hasn't been on my car for months and I don't have any starting problems.

 

To Quote rob AKA carpy25 who helped me find the location of this a while back.

 

"The fan switch bolts on the top left hand head to inlet manifold bolt looking from the front of the car it under the plastic air pipe from the inlet pipe to the isv valve the tip of the switch should just touch the head wire should be hanging about there some where to check if it's the right wire with the keys out if you earth it the fan will come on "

[khurrado 0]

no luck, and car still aint starting. It was fine b4 the battery conked out the other day, and this fd up thew whole system.

I cant find the switch, ive looked jsut to the right of the cambelt, under the inlet pipe to the isv, and theres is just a bolt with no switch on it.

[Henny 0]

the switch is NOT important for the starting of the car... it only controls the fan-run-on when the car is HOT... The white tracer on the wire is for identification. It lets you know that this is NOT a standard earth, but is the fan-run-on switch wire... ;)

 

What does the car do when you turn the key? If the ignition lights come on as normal and then nothing happens when you turn it to start the engine then I'd go with a dead switch...

[khurrado 0]

yeh thats it, the systems starts, fuel pump etc, but it wont turn over. but the thing is this has happened b4, 6 months ago, when i let the car battery drain, all these problems emerged.

The car has been fine for the alst 6 months, and again, i let the battery drain the other day, and its all started again.

The car did start at one point on saturday, and i took it for a spin, and it started 3 further timesthat day, until i got home and its dead again.

Ive got it on charge now, but its not making any difference, and when i unlock the car, the alarm beeps 5/6 times instead of the std 1/2. ???

[Henny 0]

yup, could also be an alarm/immobiliser fault... what alarm have you got on there?

[khurrado 0]

std cobra alarm, i just spoke to nick at designadubs and went through all the possibilities, he says its probably my battery not giving enough chrge for the crank.

Last time it happened months ago, this was the cause, even when fully charged. Replaced it and its been fine

im gna try and knock the starter motor again, and leave the car on charge for the rest of the day. If it doesnt work, just buy another one, and a bosch this time :2gunfire: Halfords

[khurrado 0]

diditn make a difference. Car does turn over, after 30 th time i try the ignition. Can i replace the ignition switch/coil myself??? is it dangerous to bypass it in the meantime? Can i fix it myself or bodge it in the meantime???????????? Anything!!!!

 

Quote from kevheyawire

The crank sensor bolts to front block face, just before the gearbox bell housing.

Take it out (5mm allen key) and clean any swarf off the magnet, pop it back in, disconnect the battery for 15 mins to reset the ECU and then give it a whirl.

 

could this solve the problem???????

[khurrado 0]

IT WAS THE IGNITION SWITCH. MOd pls put stickys off any other technical bits we can diy. that was too easy. and saved me a nifty.

 

Please lock this one up. cheers