[Liam Wood]

Hi all,

My knowledge is limited so bear with me. I have a 2003 1.7 DTi Astravan, that has been sitting around for a while with a faulty starter motor. Today I replaced with a shiny new one, reconnected that battery, and started up the car.

At first all seemed good, started up and was running for about 10 seconds, then the battery light came on, the engine abruptly died and now no power at all, no lights on the dash. The negative battery terminal seemed unusually warm and big sparks coming off the terminal on contact.

What is the first thing to try, I have pulled the various fuses and can not see any problems. All advice and ideas welcome. The car has been sitting around for a while and I planned on replacing the starter, getting it MOT'd and selling it, but this problem is new.

Thanks

 

[oberlisc]

Check all the earths are clean, also all the connections to the starter are clean and tight, another thing check the alternator connections.

 

[loffty01]

Could also be damp/moisture due to the time it's been parked up

 

[oberlisc]

Hi all,

The negative battery terminal seemed unusually warm and big sparks coming off the terminal on contact.

This usually means a bad connection or bad earth, for the battery to throw out big sparks when you connect it something is not connected properly possibly even polarity reversed.

 

[steve barnes]

Check to make sure the lug on the battery to starter connector isn't touching the intake manifold, had this on my zafira and it melted my battery terminals and cable sheath when putting cables back on the battery.