Technical car starting woes....

[littlephil]

right this is doing my bloody head in now.....

starter motor dies last month, so i got 2 good second hand ones. I bench tested the first one and it worked every time. Fitted it to the car and 50% of the time the solenoid just clicks and you had to keep clicking it then eventually it would turn over. I thought it was a faulty starter, so i pulled it out then fitted the other one. This again bench tested no problems but after it gets fitted the clicking problem comes back.

Where is the problem?????????

 

[unomad]

sounds like your ignition switch mate unos are buggers for it cant see why x19 would be any different

 

[ladaspeed]

Mine has had a mod where the wire that usually fires the solenoid (from the ignition) is now actuating a relay positioned in the engine compartment. There is a wire from the +ve terminal of the starter which is always live (and has the full amount of go juice from the battery) through the relay then onto the solenoid.

In essence it means that instead of the solenoid trying to draw current through a 30 year old wire with a bad connection/earth it is now getting an optimal amount of juice to fire it - just like on the bench.....

Hope this helps...

 

[cha40]

Have you checked the earth strap on the gearbox?

 

[jimbro1000]

The main battery feed to the starter motor (not from the ignition switch) is past its sell-by-date. The best option is to bypass it or better still replace it - it is just the big fat wire the goes between the front and back of the car if that helps.

Check your engine earth straps are intact as well, the last thing you want is to find the engine is earthing through the throttle cable!

 

[Ics19]

The main battery feed to the starter motor (not from the ignition switch) is past its sell-by-date. The best option is to bypass it or better still replace it

Littlephil, might be worth while doing a simple check on the big fat wire theory as it could save you some time if that's not the root problem: as Ladaspeed says, the best way to eliminate solenioid/ignirion feed issues is to have a local relay between starter feed and solenoid connection - you can simulate this with just a piece of cable with a crimped spade on one end:

1/ take car out of gear!
2/ pull off the existing solenoid connector wire
3/ push on test cable spade
4/ touch the other end of cable to the battery feed post on the starter.

If the engine turns ok then:
a/ battery feed cable probably ok for now.
b/ gearbox earth ok.
c/ starter is ok.
d/ likely problem with ignition wiring to solenoid (switch/fusebox/BWM).

If there's still a problem with starter engaging, then either or all:
i/ iffy battery feed cable.
ii/ iffy gearbox earth.
iii/ iffy starter.
iv/ iffy battery.

A 10 minute test for peace of mind sounds good to me

 

[ppalma]

Had a similar problem with my X1/9. The solenoid wouldn't click at all or would click but not engage. Problem seemed to get worse when the car was warm.
My solution was just cleaning contacts and earth connections: battery earth connection; red wire connection to and from fuse box(!big effect!); alternator to starter connection, solenoid and starter connections and finally the transmission earth strap. This last one is a b*tch to find! It's next to the left drive shaft, under the expansion tank. The best access is probably from under the car or by removing the access panel from the boot, but I did it from above. The body connection is with a large screw (WS13), the transmission side is a screw and nut (WS14 & 13). I held the screw by wedging a 14 spanner between the exhaust bracket and tightened the nut after cleaning everything with WD-40. Noticeable improvement!

 

[Lawson]

I had this problem with my X. I'd have to turn the key maybe 5 or 6 times before the starter would turn the engine over. The solenoid would engage the starter but the starter itself would not turn the engine over. I took out the starter and stripped the solenoid (a bit tricky as you have to desolder the solenoid connections to get it all apart) and found that the main contacts within the solenoid were badly worn and corroded with 22 years of use. I cleaned the internal solenoid contacts and turned over the small moving copper piece which the solenoid pulls in to provide current to the started.

Hasn't missed a beat since.

Lawson.

 

[dcioccarelli]

right this is doing my bloody head in now.....

starter motor dies last month, so i got 2 good second hand ones. I bench tested the first one and it worked every time. Fitted it to the car and 50% of the time the solenoid just clicks and you had to keep clicking it then eventually it would turn over. I thought it was a faulty starter, so i pulled it out then fitted the other one. This again bench tested no problems but after it gets fitted the clicking problem comes back.

Where is the problem?????????

Sounds like you need the famous "brown wire mod":

http://x19.xwebforums.org/wiki/index.php?title=BrownWire

Cheers,
Dom.