K11 Mysteriously wont turn over after being left for half an hour

[Matthewway]

K11 Mysteriously wont turn over.... UPDATE: new starter motor and problem persists!:S

I popped into my work on my way home yesterday, I was there for about half an hour and when I came back out and tried to start the car it wouldnt turn over. All the lights and electrics work fine but when I turn the key to start it nothing happens, all you can hear is the click of the relay then silence. I checked the battery and it is fine, and the lights dont dim or anything when I try to start it either, although the clock backlight turns off when I try to start it (time clock that is). I only had a quick look at the time as it was pitch black and ####ing it down. Never had a problem with it before, seems very odd that it happened when being parked up for half an hour.

Im gonna check out a few things tomorrow and get my power probe on it, but I thought itd be worth getting a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. opinion!

Cheers,
Matt

 

[Stani1029]

Do the dash lights dim or go off too??

 

[pollyp]

mine used to just click when either the old battery drops below 12.6v or the -ve lead grounding to the chassis is affected by surface oxidation.

 

[Matthewway]

ok cheers ill have a look at that too, and the dash lights/headlights/tail lights etc. dont dim at all, i put a charge tester on the battery when I tried to start it and the battery only dropped by 0.2v

 

[Matthewway]

its not a constant clicking either its just one single click

 

[frank]

i would try a jumplead from the batt + to the starter + connector matt, and if it spins then touch it on the smaller starter solenoid + connector

 

[Matthewway]

ok cheers mate, i thought the connector to the solenoid was a plastic plug? i only had a quick look so im probably wrong

 

[frank]

ok cheers mate, i thought the connector to the solenoid was a plastic plug? i only had a quick look so im probably wrong

10mm nut iirc matt, and a 12 or 13mm nut for the power lead ?
if that spins the motor it,ll rule out a starter or earth fault eh, and will point to an ignition switch or lead fault maybe

 

[Matthewway]

ok cheers buddy, im just praying its not something crap like an immobiliser problem or something

 

[Noddie]

NATS cuts the injectors matt

 

[Matthewway]

ah right so it would still turn over then? theres as starter fuse in the fuse box under the bonnet also. but ive never seen a fuse like it, its like a little box with a clip that hilds it in, and it was hard to tell if its blown or not :/

 

[Matthewway]

The only 2 nuts I can see look like 13mms. Both are on the end of the solenoid, one has a power lead on it and the other has a small piece of metal joining it to the end of the starter, I'm guessing the latter is the earth, connecting the battery to the positive lead did nothing (no click either). Then I tried connecting the battery + to the other 13mm nut and heard 1 click, which I'm guessing was a fuse blowing. Sounds to me like the motor/solenoid is chuffed, but though I'd get a second opinion before spending the £££!

Cheers,
matt

 

[frank]

no matt there are 2 big nuts (batt lead in and batt lead out) and a 10mm underneath
it you touch your jump lead onto the batt lead out nut the motor should spin (but not engage the flywheel) and if you touch the batt in lead and the little 10mm lead together it should engage the f/w and turn the engine

 

[Matthewway]

Ok I'll try that too, sounds like the motor/solenoid is the problem

 

[Matthewway]

I'm gonna try and bump start it after work to get it home so I'll see how that goes

 

[Matthewway]

managed to bump start it and get it home, and just ordered a starter motor for 46 quid, cheers for the help everyone youve been ace

 

[Matthewway]

right, thought i had got to the bottom of this but the problem is persisting, even with a new starter motor, im gonna check out all the contacts tomorrow and give them a cleaning needed, does anyone have any other thoughts on what it could be? Im running out of ideas now. Everything else works no problems and it bump starts and runs perfectly, just having problems with the electric start. Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated, no matter how obvious they may seem!


cheers!
matt

 

[frank]

thats why i advised to jump-lead the starter terminals matt, it would have ruled out a startermotor fault
the 10mm lead should be live (12v) when you turn the key eh

 

[Matthewway]

i did try it to the battery in terminal, but not to the 10mm nut as i couldnt see it (in other words i was being a numpty). The starter motor was fairly cheap so im not too bothered about that. I just wanna get the damn thing fixed now, all i can think is that theres a bad earth, or something going on between the ignition switch and the starter. Im gonna have a much more thorough look on sunday when its actually daylight. I cant think of anything else it could be!

 

[frank]

you need to check why there,s no supply at that 10mm solenoid lead mate, and trace back to the fault

 

[Matthewway]

cheers for the advice mate, this probably sounds stupid but theres definately no fuse for it is there? bearing in mind the ignition switch is still working for everything else

 

[frank]

i guess there is a fuse, and only the starter is fed on the final turn of the key eh matt

 

[Matthewway]

yeh thats what i thought, cheers for all the help mate sorry for all the questions, hopefully ill get this thing sorted this weekend

 

[GTR micra]

two year old posts here but im having excatly the same problem, did you find out what was wrong with it?