[Reecec968]

Hi all, I’ve just had my starter motor replaced. I drove it home with no problems whatsoever and five minutes after arriving at home I have gone to start the engine again and it died completely. All the electrics are dead and everything! Surely this must just be the battery but very worried as it’s happened as soon as I’ve drove car home from the garage. Battery was also tested 2 weeks ago when it was first diagnosed as starter motor had gone bad.

 

[Pompeyfaith]

Check for water in the UEC Fusebox just take cover off then use torx screwdriver/socket to remove the three torx bolts and a 100mm socket to remove the two nuts at each end hen lift off top part to inspect for cleanliness off pins and water in bottom part

only a small amount of water is needed to cause all manner of electrical faults and having read your other thread this is worth a check being as it only takes a short while to do

 

[g4vvq1983]

Also check the battery terminals are clean and tight, they may have taken one off, and try cranking it with the headlights on see if they go off....Fred in Essex.

 

[Reecec968]

Check for water in the UEC Fusebox just take cover off then use torx screwdriver/socket to remove the three torx bolts and a 100mm socket to remove the two nuts at each end hen lift off top part to inspect for cleanliness off pins and water in bottom part

only a small amount of water is needed to cause all manner of electrical faults and having read your other thread this is worth a check being as it only takes a short while to do

Hiya there mate, everything is all sorted now, went to try and jump start the car but realised that the battery was loose and terminals were also loose, I fitted the battery correctly and tightened the terminals and everything is all good now thanks for the response

 

[Reecec968]

Also check the battery terminals are clean and tight, they may have taken one off, and try cranking it with the headlights on see if they go off....Fred in Essex.

Hi thankyou for the response, everything has been sorted now, I went to jump start and realised everything was loose so I tightened them. Mechanic who changed my starter motor mustn’t of realised

 

[Alan G H]

Good news that you sorted it, but I think you need to call in and put a flea in someones ear about that. It could have cost you a new battery if it had burned the terminal posts away.

 

[Reecec968]

Hi all I know this post is a couple months old now but would appreciate some advice, my car is currently abandoned 50 miles away fro my home due to it failing to start. For the first couple of hours my car would just click while turning my ignition on so I tapped my (brand new) starter motor and got it working again, however, after this the car would start to crank but then cuts out and all the electrics flash. I then tried a jump start and the same thing happened. I also tested my battery, checked fuses, checked earth etc and everything was perfectly fine, I’m really baffled and distraught on why it’s not working due to the fact of having no money and a car wants sat 50 miles away from me and no way of now travelling to work. For the past week my car has been very unpredictable starting but has always started on the 2nd or 3rd attempt or after a push start, however last night I tried everything to get it running but it just couldn’t start. No fault codes are showof no either having done a pedal test. Please may someone be kind enough to help if possible? I can add more info if needed

 

[Pompeyfaith]

Hi all I know this post is a couple months old now but would appreciate some advice, my car is currently abandoned 50 miles away fro my home due to it failing to start. For the first couple of hours my car would just click while turning my ignition on so I tapped my (brand new) starter motor and got it working again, however, after this the car would start to crank but then cuts out and all the electrics flash. I then tried a jump start and the same thing happened. I also tested my battery, checked fuses, checked earth etc and everything was perfectly fine, I’m really baffled and distraught on why it’s not working due to the fact of having no money and a car wants sat 50 miles away from me and no way of now travelling to work. For the past week my car has been very unpredictable starting but has always started on the 2nd or 3rd attempt or after a push start, however last night I tried everything to get it running but it just couldn’t start. No fault codes are showof no either having done a pedal test. Please may someone be kind enough to help if possible? I can add more info if needed

All the hallmarks of water ingress in the UEC Fuse box under the bonnet the water will have seeped through and got the pins damp so you will need to split the top from the bottom to clean it up with electrical contact cleaner

3 torx bolts and a couple of 10mm nuts hold it together

 

[g4vvq1983]

Hi there, well you wont be able to tell anything without putting some meters on it.....but it sounds like a bad connection to me,,,,i assume its a petrol car, it sounds like it might have a faulty starter that you have fitted, or bad connections to it....when it wont crank put the head lights on and then crank it, if the lights stay bright the starter motor isn't taking any current, if the lights go off either the battery has a problem or you have some bad connections somewhere.....make sure you have a good earth connection between the body and the engine block.....if you have anyone there who knows about doing some basic voltage checks have a word with him, if it spins over and doesn't start tou would have to check for a spark at the plug and fuel delivery, if its a fuel problem you could try a drop of easy start in the air intake and see if it reacts to that.....there no easy and fast remedy it needs to be checked over....Fred in Essex.

 

[Reecec968]

All the hallmarks of water ingress in the UEC Fuse box under the bonnet the water will have seeped through and got the pins damp so you will need to split the top from the bottom to clean it up with electrical contact cleaner

3 torx bolts and a couple of 10mm nuts hold it together

Hi, I checked the fuse box quite thoroughly and it was dry and all the pins were clean and dry, could this still be an issue? And how would I go about cleaning them? Sorry If I sound silly I’ve only been driving around 9 months and haven’t much experience with dealing with cars, thankyou for the response mate

 

[Valer]

Was this a cheepo starter you fitted?

 

[Reecec968]

Hi there, well you wont be able to tell anything without putting some meters on it.....but it sounds like a bad connection to me,,,,i assume its a petrol car, it sounds like it might have a faulty starter that you have fitted, or bad connections to it....when it wont crank put the head lights on and then crank it, if the lights stay bright the starter motor isn't taking any current, if the lights go off either the battery has a problem or you have some bad connections somewhere.....make sure you have a good earth connection between the body and the engine block.....if you have anyone there who knows about doing some basic voltage checks have a word with him, if it spins over and doesn't start tou would have to check for a spark at the plug and fuel delivery, if its a fuel problem you could try a drop of easy start in the air intake and see if it reacts to that.....there no easy and fast remedy it needs to be checked over....Fred in Essex.

Thankyou for the response, I have checked the earth connection and everything is okay and I’ve started to have suspicions that it may well be a loose wire under the starter motor, I believe it’s the small red wire which ignited the solenoid? However it may well be due to the fuel delivery as for the past few weeks I’ve had to run my car quite low due to not having much cash but still needing to travel to work, my car has had near enough a full tank for the past few days though and I take it on a lot of long journeys, I will hopefully get someone out to look at it tomorow and test everything thoroughly, yes it’s a 1.6 petrol twinsport. Just hoping it’s nothing major and confident the starter motor works however I believe I made the problem worse last night by tapping the starter motor too often and close to the cable I now believe to be loose

 

[Reecec968]

Was this a cheepo starter you fitted?

It was a Bosch starter motor with 12 months warranty, brand new out of the box, what confuses me is that the engine will crank a few times but then everything shuts off

 

[g4vvq1983]

Yes its hard to say, it could be that the battery has a dud cell, when they get like that it will turn over a couple of times then start clicking and the battery will start to smell like rotten eggs.....the easiest way i suppose it put jump leads on it an d try it like that. i know you have done that thou....Fred.

 

[Pompeyfaith]

Hi, I checked the fuse box quite thoroughly and it was dry and all the pins were clean and dry, could this still be an issue? And how would I go about cleaning them? Sorry If I sound silly I’ve only been driving around 9 months and haven’t much experience with dealing with cars, thankyou for the response mate

Here is my thread with pictures that got to the heart of the problem you can see the two sections of the fuse box split ready for cleaning

http://www.vauxhallownersnetwork.co...ting-and-ecu-issues-damp.732193/#post-3565297

 

[Reecec968]

Hi all, my car has been fixed by a garage today’, the problem was that the mechanic who last fitted my starter motor left all the wires loose and stripped down which has caused the starter motor and other electrics to short out, damaging my coil pack and plugs, this in turn caused my car to run on 3 cylinders while it did work and messed one of my injectors up causing my engine to flood a little and my oil and fuel filter needing replacement, new coil pack, plugs and filters were fitted and all loose wires sorted out, (explains why my car had 3 different starting issues before she finally went) car starts and drives perfectly since picking her up today, however in the last hour the engine management light has appeared ( yellow car with spanner running through) I understand this is most likely because the electrics have been played with and that fault codes probs haven’t been resettled but just looking to know if this is common, thanks in advance and appreciate all the previous responses.

 

[Koicarpkeeper]

If the light has come on it means your car has a fault and it needs checking to establish what the fault is.
Nice theory but unlikely to be due to "settling down".