Engine Problems

[silverdoo]

hi everybody

looking for some advice on my car ( my97) been having some trouble (extremely annoying). It has been in and out of the garage. When i turn the ignition key the engine is just clicking and not starting.

I have replaced the battery, starter (replaced 4 times and even tried the trick of hitting the starter) and also the cable from the egnition to the solenoid.

The only problem is it seems to be intermitten fault. I can get the car pushed and not even two car lengths the car is starting.

Please help as i am losing the will to live.

any questions give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you .

thanks.

[superstar_tradesman]

hi everybody

looking for some advice on my car ( my97) been having some trouble (extremely annoying). It has been in and out of the garage. When i turn the ignition key the engine is just clicking and not starting.

I have replaced the battery, starter (replaced 4 times and even tried the trick of hitting the starter) and also the cable from the egnition to the solenoid.

The only problem is it seems to be intermitten fault. I can get the car pushed and not even two car lengths the car is starting.

Please help as i am losing the will to live.

any questions give me a shout and i'll try and answer them for you .

thanks.

Damaged ring gear?

[silverdoo]

right i'm a bit thick in the engine dept, can you tell me what that is in plain english please.

[craigdmcd]

It sounds more like you have something draining the battery, or a bad earth lead.

[Gus134]

It could be the ignition relay playing up

[silverdoo]

so what do you guys think i should do next.

[silverdoo]

so what do you guys think i should do next.

[colin_ross]

It sounds more like you have something draining the battery, or a bad earth lead.

That was my first thought too.

If the battery is just under the level needed to crank it you can get lots of clicks as it tries and retries to turn over. Are the dash light dim or do you have a volt meter you can use the test the battery and charging system?

I had a similar problem and the problem was traced back to a bad earth on the starter motor and was fixed with a quick clean of the contacts.

[twofourdonkey]

As above really. I can't think of the exact Subaru setup, but the neg from the battery will be attached to the chassis, and there will be a neg from the engine block to the chassis. If this is missing, the starter can't earth through the block. In an extreme situation, you may get arcing between the block and chassis. I've seen braided fuel lines get mega hot when cranking and spark up!

You could always try running a spare bit of earth braid from a inlet manifold bolt, straight to the batt neg.

[silverdoo]

i know the earth was repaired a year or so a go under the screen wash bottle so it might not be that, also if it was the ignition relay surely it would'nt start if it was ok on monday and fecked by wednesday morning this week. this is way its been going in and out of the garage.

they keep telling me its the starter but the last starter was only in for a week before it stopped working , then they replaced the wire from the ignition switch to the solenoid. and once again back to square one.

[craigdmcd]

Seeing your from Renfrew, you could use a local specialist in Seedhill, Paisley

[terzo neil]

can vouch for him as well

[silverdoo]

right it gets a bit strange now, came home from work last night and thought i would try my luck with the car and it started first turn of the the key.

Not beleaving that i heard the car start i turned it off and tried again, and it started again.

going to try my luck this morning to see if it will start and might take it to work to give it a run.

will let you a know how i get on later today.

ps.

can you give me the address of the seedhill place and if needed a contact name.

cheers.

s

[craigdmcd]

right it gets a bit strange now, came home from work last night and thought i would try my luck with the car and it started first turn of the the key.

Not beleaving that i heard the car start i turned it off and tried again, and it started again.

going to try my luck this morning to see if it will start and might take it to work to give it a run.

will let you a know how i get on later today.

ps.

can you give me the address of the seedhill place and if needed a contact name.

cheers.

s

71 Seedhill Road, Paisley - 300 yards from Hawkhead Train Station - You would usually ask for Craig, but ask for Scott or Dougie next week as Craig's on Holiday.

[silverdoo]

cheers will try and get in at the weekend.

[thewelsho]

can vouch for him as well

Me too. Craig, did you get my text re. MOT?

[silverdoo]

just thought i would let you guys know, i've booked the car in to seedhill when criag comes back form his week off.

thanks for all the help.

[jasonb]

I had the exact same problem, intermitent......sometime great then sometimes just a click, if you turned the key back and forward quickly it would click click click then vroooom she started!!!

Got my mate Simon to strip out the starter solenoid etc and all was ok, checked earths etc couldnt find anything wrong!! not saying this was the correct thing to do but i spent £150 on a optima red top battery and never had the problem again!! Jcscoob will vouch for me on that one!!

Not saying thats the problem, just saying i had the EXACT same thing and it was a nightmare!!!!

[diablo]

maybe a earth wire has come loose and swinging about i had this problem after the clutch was changed and the mechanic forgot to secure the earth back on so the wire just swung about sometimes earthing itself i ended up buying a new battery but was the earth wire all along