300tdi wont start

hi my 300tdi wont start there is plenty of juice in the battery and i can hear the starter solenoid cilck in but the engine wont turn over any suggestions please

Starter motor. Just because the solonoid clicks doesnt mean the motor is fubared

DefenderOffender said:

Starter motor. Just because the solonoid clicks doesnt mean the motor is fubared

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As above, it could be a bad earth

checked the earth and that is fine but the car was stood for about a year before i bought it and i've had it stood for about 6 weeks while i do some bits and bobs to it i've started it a couple of times though

I had the same problem and it was the starter, take it off and test it off the car.

Easy to check with a volt meter.
Connect either way as it doesn't matter for this method.
Connect pos lead of volt meter to pos battery terminal and connect neg lead to the battery terminal of the solenoid, get someone to crank while you watch the meter, if while cranking you get a reading above 0.5v you have a poor connection between the battery and the starter if not now connect the neg lead of the meter to the other large terminal on the solenoid that goes out to the motor itself and crank and check again, if above 0.5v the solenoids finbared.
Finally if that reading is below 0.5v then connect the pos lead of the meter to the neg of the battery and the neg meter lead to a good clean metal part of the starter body and check again and if when cranking you get a reading above 0.5v you have a bad earth and this can be checked with a single jump lead, connect one end to the neg battery terminal and the other to a good clean metal point on the engine and if it starts that comfirms a poor earth.
If all the readings are below 0.5v and your confident your battery is in good shape then your starter motor is finbared!
It's imperative that each time you take a reading the circuit must be under load(i.e holding the key in the cranking position)
Hope this helps
Chris.

cheers chris i'll check that. i'm positive its not the battery as i've just put a new one on. i got the garage 2 check it before i bought it cos the first one i bought was duff

Give the starter a good whack with a lump hammer.

Try jumping the starter direct from the battery, I had this problem a while back & jumped the +terminal on the starter, cured ! ran a new heavy duty wire from the ignition to the starter , never failed since.