So last night, took the van out and head for the fireworks display and started fine, parked up, then after the display, went to start the van, the the same way, wait for some dash lights to go off and turn the key and wouldn't turn over, turned the key to off and then tried again and it started, so drove home about 6 miles, parked up for about 10 mins then headed out again, done the same turned the key and nothing, so turned off and tried again and started, headed about 1 mile, parked up again for another 5-10 mins, then jumped in to start it again and nothing, but this time, it wouldn't start no matter how many times I turned the key off and on, so after about 20 mins of trying and checking under the bonnet with no obvious signs, decided to to bump start it and headed home, when i parked up, left it for 30 mins and tried to start it and nothing. Gets out this morning and it starts first time of asking.

any ideas, I'm thinking starter motor but with leaving it over night and starting fine, not sure, no idea where its located on the 2.3 multijet 120 and what to look for, when it wasn't starting, there was a very low single click and could only hear it when my head was close to the engine.

anybody had this problem? Thanks.

Check starter connections, the cables to starter could be corroded, take Apart clean up. Also check you're earth strap, a braided cable between gearbox to chassis area, even though it looks ok ish, again contacts corroded or loose. Worth getting a new one as they are common.
Guessing no warning lights staying on, on the dash?

seems to be starting fine now, but very wary of turning it off on a flat, no warning lights staying on, no dulling of coil lights, Is the starter located at the back of the engine near the fuel regulator and oil filter? If so I will need to look out the good old halfrauds ramps and have a look.

Can't remember the 2.3 location, but 3.0 is at back of engine so yes jack or ramps reqd, the earth strap can be seen if you look down back of the air filter housing, there are a few threads on here, some will show a photo, I changed mine for a heavy duty one a local auto electric place made up for me,
Worth changing, if you do, make sure that you clean up the bolts and where terminals meet the metalwork, as corrosion will cause bad contact,

Hi
the startermotor is not the first thing i would look after.
Begin at the battery, + and - main conn. follow both heavy kables to the end
where they are conncted. Chek for loose bolts and corrossion.

The problem can be that when a not fully tight conn. become warm, the resistance will insrease, and create more heat.

Allow me to suggest you to make a direct minus kabel from the battery to i.e.
the gearbox.
The design that Fiat has done is not really good (bad).
I have just had problem with this mass conn. But OBD tester told bad conn. somewhere. But where ?

Found it by means of hot conn. Bolt "nearly" loose
If you have problem with my english, please ask me to explain once more
best regards

ok I shall have alook over the weekend and report back, cheers.

Hi Brox. This sounds very much like a battery terminal issue to me, I met someone only a few weeks ago with this issue. The quick release mechanism may not be applying enough pressure and/or the connections are dirty. Vibration can make the connection come and go. I suggest removing both terminals and cleaning up all mating surfaces till they are shiny, followed by a very THIN smear of vaseline. With hundreds of amps flowing the resistance must be kept extremely low. Battery is under a steel cover under the passengers feet on RHD models. If the problem persists then progressively check connections from battery positive to starter, then back from the engine block to the body (braid on gearbox top can corrode under crimps) and finally from the body to the battery negative. Only with all that checked out would I begin to look at the starter motor itself.

ok thanks Anthony, i'll give that a check over too, so many things to check for one problem :bang: hopefully its a simple fix.

brox said:

ok thanks Anthony, i'll give that a check over too, so many things to check for one problem :bang: hopefully its a simple fix.

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hi is it not starting only when hot as mine had the same prob it turned out to be the earth strap look for thread on hot starting plus clean the connections with wire brush

IMO, I'd avoid the braided type of earth strap if there's a better alternative readily available (and cheaper). Halfrauds do a range of well priced black/earth battery cables in a variety of lengths. Here's an example http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bu...rgers/halfords-negative-battery-cable-60cm-24


We changed the OEM braided type for one of the above and also added an extra one just in case.

syldale said:

hi is it not starting only when hot as mine had the same prob it turned out to be the earth strap look for thread on hot starting plus clean the connections with wire brush

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It happens from cold as well, I drove about a mile from cold and stopped for about 20 mins and it took 3 attempts at key turning to turn over and start, so it seems intermittent, also had to turn it off at the garage to fuel up and it was hot as it had been on for a while and started no bother, not tried it today as its hammering it down, so can't get under to check.

Deefordog said:

IMO, I'd avoid the braided type of earth strap if there's a better alternative readily available (and cheaper). Halfrauds do a range of well priced black/earth battery cables in a variety of lengths. Here's an example http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bu...rgers/halfords-negative-battery-cable-60cm-24


We changed the OEM braided type for one of the above and also added an extra one just in case.

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good to know will have a look once i can get under to check, thanks.

If the starrer isn't even attempting to turn over with a faint click then I would be checking the solenoid by supplying 12v directly with a fused wire its very easy to see if its sticking that way.

As I mentioned above RE the earth strap, the bolt/nut each end can also come loose and corrosion gets in, also being loose and the movement when running can cause bad connection, as also mentioned a lot of amps are carried, hence thickness of earth strap,

I fitted a halfords one at first due to urgent need, found the terminals quite soft, and could easily snap, hence having a heavy duty one made up locally, they also advised using those "star type" washers if you get my description, ones with cut flared edges, as they dig into the metal giving better grip.

The battery terminals it could be, I've not come across that as of yet (quite a few fellow couriers have all variants of these vans nowadays)

Earth strap,
Starter connections corroded,
Starter worn out,

Starters do wear out and just give up the ghost or as above the solenoid can go temperamental
Especially if the vans been used as say a multi drop van, plenty of stop starts,
My 120hp 57 plate went at 2yrs old after doing just that heavy duty stop starts.
My current 3.0 starter was changed due to mainly hot but also cold, harsh starting where engine felt like it was going to twist itself out of the mountings, the terminals were badly corroded too, which could have contributed to the issue. This vans used for distance work so less stress on starter, 297000 miles in just under 3yrs

Battery terminals are the easiest to check so start there,

For a few quid, pop a new earth strap on, before it gets another few months of road salt to corrode it more,

If still an issue, look at starter.

Was going to suggest immobiliser but if it jump starts then guess that's working fine,

Ignition barrel could be on its way out, wouldn't know if that's a possibility or how to check that though

This was my busted strap, you can see also where the bolt was loose, and rust formed between terminal and bolt face,

Make sure these faces are cleaned up, and metalwork, refit and plaster it with copper slip or Vaseline to protect

rolopolo said:

This was my busted strap, you can see also where the bolt was loose, and rust formed between terminal and bolt face,

Make sure these faces are cleaned up, and metalwork, refit and plaster it with copper slip or Vaseline to protect

View attachment 161286

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hi yes found some black earth wire from installing my inverter like this one copied from techno 100 as a spare

That's very similar to my made up locally strap, big amp cable

Finally managed to get a look underneath just for 5 mins, all terminals secured, there is a nut looking a bit rusty on solenoid but secure, all other connections secure and not rusty, but just with the symptoms, I am thinking starter, will get a look hopefully later today if the rain holds off.

Remove starter connections clean up and reinstall, worth a try as if corrosion is causing resistance, it's underneath what you can see,
Worth a proper clean and check,