badsamaritan 10 Posted April 26, 2015 Hi guys, i have a problem with my car. When the engine is warm the car wont start sometimes. When cranking it would feel like the battery is totally discharged and therefore wont even crank a full turn.First i thought the battery was flat but the AA man and Euro car parts have tested the battery and confirmed its okay. When jump starting it, it will start first time and thats why i first suspected the battery. Anyway, i have changed the ignition coil and and put new 10mm ht leads, changed the battery cables and made sure all the ground points are sound. I have also changed the ignition amplifier ( the 6 pin thing that sits on the scuttle panel)and the problem went away for a few weeks but its back again. I am currently using an msd high vibration coil which i recently fitted brand new and i think it could be the coil again. If it is the coil then this car is killing the ignition coils in less than 100 miles ( is this possible) I am at a loss, what could be the problem?? the car has a starter button if this helps. I suspected the connections from the ignition switch to the start button were suspect and checked and secured the positive wire which wasnt that well connected to be honest but i didnt disturb the ground wire. But im also thinking that if the connection was poor there why would this only manifest when the engine is warm?? Sorry for long post Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hairyarse 10 Posted April 27, 2015 Just to be really safe it may be worth trying another battery off a mate to be 100% certain yours is ok and it's not dropped a cell or something. Otherwise, have you also checked/cleaned the connections to the starter motor? This to include the little earth strap that comes out of the body. Failing that, it could be the starter itself. I had similar on my old 2.0 16v. I cleaned all the connections and it was ok for a while but ended up having to buy a new starter motor. If you do need to go down that route, FYI I found at the time GSF to be the cheapest, once you had given them your old one back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidwort 0 Posted April 27, 2015 classic symptoms of a tired solenoid on the starter, heat soak from the engine makes the electro-magnet weaker when the engine is warm, by jump starting you ensure maximum current is available so that will help the weak solenoid, new starter or at least a new solenoid needed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
badsamaritan 10 Posted April 28, 2015 Thanks very much guys, much appreciated. I think you got it bang on because today the car wouldnt even crank. It was like there is no battery, save for the dash lights coming up with key on. I will need to take it out and see what type it is. bit frustrated there are so many starters on ebay but cant tell definitively which one is the right one before taking out mine. Looks like there are so many versions! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidwort 0 Posted April 28, 2015 quite a few versions will fit and work, a VR6 one doesn't have the right casing to mate to the gearbox but most of the other 4cylinder ones will fit including diesel ones, they just have slightly different sizes depending on the size and compression of the engine they need to start, watch out for the 2 pin connector there's two variations of plug fitting but you can probably work around that. I have a 2L 8v starter on my 16v and have used 1.8 and 2.016v ones too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
