starter motor clicking repeatedly

l1ttle_d3vil · Post by **l1ttle_d3vil** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:13 pm

the car has been sitting for a few days, now I tried to start it and got a single "click". fuel pump sounded a bit slow while priming.
tried a couple more times and same thing.

rocked the car back and forth in gear and tried again, this time the fuel pump primed like normal but the starter clicks repeatedly like a machine gun, rather than just the once.

battery is in the boot and is showing 11.4v at the starter terminal. never had problems with the battery before. alternator was working as normal last week.

before I pull the starter off, is there anything else I should check?? seems strange as its not the usual "click" you get from a dead battery.

plasticdash · Post by **plasticdash** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:19 pm

chuck a jump pack/ jumpstart at it before u go to the effort of removing the starter. just to rule out the battery

evil_si · Post by **evil_si** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:22 pm

sounds like a flat a flat battery to me

pc · Post by pc » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:38 pm

Always assume flat/dying/dead battery first, it's the most likely problem.

A dead battery will render a jump pack useless, so if jumping doesn't work, test with a known good battery only.
Have you tried using a battery charger on it?

l1ttle_d3vil · Post by **l1ttle_d3vil** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:56 pm

does the batt need to be disconnected before connecting a charger?
jumper leads are broken so might put a charger on overnight first.

the battery has been flat a couple of times (not dead though, just enough to not crank over) but that would've been 6 months ago and never had issues since.

rwd_mayhem · Post by **rwd_mayhem** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:57 pm

definatly battery! should show around 13v on a good charged up one.

rollaholic · Post by **rollaholic** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 9:36 pm

you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running

and a dead batt wont render a jump pack useless :roll:

OMG so shiny! · Post by **Dell'Orto** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:08 pm

12.7v is a fully charged battery.

Bling · Post by **Bling** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:17 pm

l1ttle_d3vil wrote:the battery has been flat a couple of times (not dead though, just enough to not crank over) but that would've been 6 months ago and never had issues since.

I'd say its been slowing dying in that case. New battery ftw.

matt dunn · Post by **matt dunn** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:17 am

Measuring the voltage at the battery while the car has been sitting is a bad way of measuring charge, as 12.5 can be fully charged,
and 12.3 can be flat as.

But the fault definatly sounds like a batt problem.

l1ttle_d3vil · Post by **l1ttle_d3vil** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:14 am

rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running

yeah the alternator is putting out 14.4v when running i think, and 13.4 at the battery. will give it a charge up and see how I go. must be a sign I need to drive it more :twisted:

Bling · Post by **Bling** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 10:35 am

l1ttle_d3vil wrote:
rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running

yeah the alternator is putting out 14.4v when running i think, and 13.4 at the battery. will give it a charge up and see how I go. must be a sign I need to drive it more

So are you losing 1V between alt and battery?

l1ttle_d3vil · Post by **l1ttle_d3vil** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:19 pm

BZG|Bling wrote:
l1ttle_d3vil wrote:
rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running

yeah the alternator is putting out 14.4v when running i think, and 13.4 at the battery. will give it a charge up and see how I go. must be a sign I need to drive it more

So are you losing 1V between alt and battery?

yeah, battery is in the boot though so I would've expected some voltage drop to be normally. is 1v a bit extreme?

jakesae101 · Post by **jakesae101** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:41 pm

1 v is a bit hight what gauge cable are you running?

evil_si · Post by **evil_si** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:27 pm

check the resistance of the alternator terminal and the battery positive, sounds like there might be high resistance,

are the terminals clean and tight?
what size battery cable are you using?

AE82 FXGT · Post by **AE82 FXGT** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 4:55 pm

If the battery has been flat several times it is probably fu#ked.

You'd probably need to test the battery with a load tester or something, as said above some batteries can show average voltage but can be screwed, this can also apply to charged batteries, if they have a dead cell or something.

Open up all your cells (make sure there's electrolyte) and turn the head lights on or put a load tester on it, see if any of the cells bubble, if they do that cell is dead.

I say chuck a jump pack on it or a known good battery

edit: and yes disconnect the battery before charging

pc · Post by pc » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:02 pm

rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running
and a dead batt wont render a jump pack useless

Yes it can. A really dead/bad battery can end up sucking all the juice and there isn't enough to start the car.
Had it happen a few times.

d1 mule · Post by **d1 mule** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:20 pm

^ if a jump pack cant start a car with a flat bettery, is it not infact useless??? seeing as thats the point of a jump pack.

sounds likt bat to me man

plasticdash · Post by **plasticdash** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:22 pm

pc wrote:
rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running
and a dead batt wont render a jump pack useless

Yes it can. A really dead/bad battery can end up sucking all the juice and there isn't enough to start the car.
Had it happen a few times.

a decent commercial type jump pack (ie 1900 Amp plus) will not be worried by a fully dead 13 plate battery, although smaller cheap packs will fall over, and some of those massive Beemer/merc batteries can put a load on

good (although possibly dodgy) trick is to disconnect the battery earth, chuck the jump pack positive on battery pos teminal and jump pack neg to a good earth (which takes the battery draw out of the circuit) and start. then chuck the earth lead back on the batt and then remove j/pack

johndoe1025 · Post by **johndoe1025** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:17 pm

plasticdash wrote:
pc wrote:
rollaholic wrote:you'll only get 13- 14v with the car running
and a dead batt wont render a jump pack useless

Yes it can. A really dead/bad battery can end up sucking all the juice and there isn't enough to start the car.
Had it happen a few times.

a decent commercial type jump pack (ie 1900 Amp plus) will not be worried by a fully dead 13 plate battery, although smaller cheap packs will fall over, and some of those massive Beemer/merc batteries can put a load on

good (although possibly dodgy) trick is to disconnect the battery earth, chuck the jump pack positive on battery pos teminal and jump pack neg to a good earth (which takes the battery draw out of the circuit) and start. then chuck the earth lead back on the batt and then remove j/pack

we start dead flat merecedes' with a small 17 amp i think lead acid battery. a very small battery will start something pretty big. if you want to get the battery charging, thake of the negative lead to the battery, and clamp the positive on the jumper to the battery, the negative to the lead. start car, while its running slip the lead back on to your super flat shity battery, while the jumpers still connected, bam, it starts charging.