starting issues

ok folk , i thought this was the battery curling its toes or a alternator charging issue , the past few mornings i have had to use a jump pack to start the car , but from that point on its been fine , symptoms are that its slow to turn over some times and wont fire (mornings) had the battery on charge to see if that changed owt but no still didn't want to know this morning , normally that would be it but came out of work and it did the same again, i had the multimeter on the battery when i got home and got a reading of 13.8V standing , which dropped to 13.6 after 4hrs , when running its showing me around 14.5V , whats the verdict , bad earth maybe or is there anything common to check for , any help appreciated

I would check for any bad earths mate, maybe the one behind the battery near the expansion tank...

You may have 13+ volts and 14+ when charging proving the the alternator is charging but have you checked the current output ie specific gravity of each cell. if a cell/s have gone down then you will loose some cranking power (amps).
Or get the battery 'drop' tested.
To check the earth use a jump lead between the battery neg terminal and the block then try starting the engine.

ok folks , have waited till this morning to check , battery having stood overnight gives 12.80V , still reading ok on charging , tried the jumplead to earth , still turning reluctantly so thinking (hoping) its the battery as it was still reluctant to turn over at speed when the jumppack was attatched then suddenly just caught , strange thing is once it fired up it restarted no problem, if poss will get it droprested this weekend , its bad timing this as am on 6am starts from mon for the next two weeks:doh:

12.8v is a fully charged battery it sounds like a lazy starter motor not giving enough and draining the battery on cranking.

Try cleaning the leads and make a good earth if all ok replace starter motor.

it sounds like your starter is on its way out! all you are doing by using a jump pack is increasing the amps enabling a weak starter to work.The only other thing it could be is if you have the wrong battery fitted which cannot provide enough cranking amps from cold.

Cheers guys , i had a nasty suspicion that it may be a starter fault , did i read on here somewhere that the 200tdi & the 300tdi share the same starter ? is there a easy way to change it or do i need to split the exhaust manifold to access it.

Drop test your battery before condeming your starter (it could be your starter) but a battery doesan't make your wallet lose so much weight

Pretty sure now that the battery is not at fault , disconnected the earth on the battery last night and tried it this morning , fired straight up no problem so i can only assume
the solonoid or something else is draining the battery when stood , that sound right to anyone else out there?

it could be the alternator that is faulty causing it to feed back and drain the battery even if it still charges when running.you could try disconnecting the alt at night instead of the battery to see if it is the alt at fault.

well guys , thought i'd update , bit the bullet 3 days ago and thought i'd risk a new battery , that seems to have sorted it , the disco has started with no problems every time since fitting it .
always like to see a happy ending:clap2:

muckypat said:

well guys , thought i'd update , bit the bullet 3 days ago and thought i'd risk a new battery , that seems to have sorted it , the disco has started with no problems every time since fitting it .
always like to see a happy ending:clap2:

Click to expand...

I have had the same problem for over a year, no one can seem to find the problem, I was told there was no drain from the battery by two seperate mechanics, in the end i put a new battery on, it lasted about a month and then still wouldnt sart in the morning, I am now having to recharge the battery once a week otherwise it wont turn the engine in the morning....could it be the starter??? somebody please help!!!

have yu had the alternator checked?

it can only be one of three things.

duff battery
duff charging circuit
drain on battery between runs.

check all the earthing points as well

had a new alt 6 months ago, just checked voltage 14.7 while running, have checked earths to chassis and engine....could i just have a lazy starter??

get the alternator checked - Volts arent a fail safe method of checking.

I've had the same problem with mine,bought a new battery which cured it for about a week but is now sounding slow again first thing in the morning.
I have read somewhere that it can be the ABS relay causing battery drain overnight but cannot find the post that says this again,Arrrrgh!! Anybody else heard of this problem??

You need to do a volt drop test (only need a volt meter, but the circuit must be active i.e. starter cranking).
Test between battery + and starter solenoid, then battery - and good engine earth i.e. cyl head.
If you have a reading in excess of 0.5v there is a poor connection on that circuit.
You can do the same with the alternator but engine must be running.
As mentioned before, there are only three reasons for flat/low charge battery:-
1, Fooked battery.
2, Not being re-charged, alternator fault or very short journeys.
3, Drain on battery, this can be easily checked with amp meter, though would recommend amp clamp as is capable of managing higher readings than an in-line amp meter.

You may find it starts well now that you've r&r'd the battery cable.

If the terminal was corrode (even slightly, when you put the apck on it, you were making a clean connection to the cable.

B/4 throwing money at it, I'd clean both connections @ the battery.

12volts + at battery after sitting/engine of is OK - 14 - 14.6v running with headlights on is OK


CRAP - NEVER MIND i DIDN'T SEE 2ND PAGE

luck,greg