Starter Motor? 1.6 diesel non turbo, manual

[Ceecee85]

My van's let me down on two occasions over the past few weeks. I suspect the starter motor but I'm logging in here to hopefully help with diagnosis as I'm not too good at it.
Scenario when she doesn't work- turn the ignition key, do the little immobiliser thing so that the glow plug light comes on. Wait for glow plug light to go out, turn the key to fire up the starter- nothing. Not even a click from a solenoid. Then, on other occasions- all works fine and the engine starts. I had the RAC come out one time as we were a good few miles away from home. He said the starter battery was knackered and the van started up first time with a boost from his van. With this in mind I got a new battery. All was fine and she started properly on three consecutive occasions later that day and then didn't start on the fourth. I pushed her down a slope and bump started her with no real problem. The dash lights were all bright and the glow plugs (I have to imagine) warmed up enough for her to start- so the battery is fine(?). Now she's parked up on the drive pointing downhill for the next time I need to use her so I can roll her out and get her started if she doesn't start on the starter.
Any advice from anyone as to how I determine the starter as being at fault or what else I should consider? All ideas welcome. Thanks in advance. Steve.

[lefty67]

in emergencies I used to whack my starter motors with a hammer. Not had this problem on a t25 yet but have on a couple of other vehicles.

[marlinowner]

Could be a bad contact in the electrics, either on starter motor or ignition switch, as well as starter itself.

[Ceecee85]

Thanks.

I've got a good size persuader in the tool box so if it happens again I'll give it a thwack.

Looks like I'll have to get the multi-meter out and check some connections.

Cheers

[weldore]

Clip a jump lead from the negative terminal on the battery to the body of the solenoid to see if it's an earth problem. It could also be the braided connection between the solenoid and the starter motor or even the trigger wire to the solenoid

[Ceecee85]

Thanks for that. I had every intention of getting on to having a look at it tomorrow but now the wife wants to go to the zoo instead. I'll have to work on her priorities.

[ELVIS]

Only had this once on one of my vans.

Turned out to be the cable from battery to starter was not very well attached - nut on the stud was loose and had allowed the O terminal crimped on the end of it to become corroded.

To get it to fire had to get into engine bay and wiggle the cable until it made a better contact.

Cleaned up the terminal til bright and shiney and tweaked nut up.

Not saying this is your issue but is free and easy to check.

Job jobbed and was free

[clift_d]

Could it be your immobiliser? The sensor on our immobiliser has such a short range that it doesn't see the fob if I put the bunch of keys in the ignition the wrong way up. The fact the solenoid doesn't click suggests something at that stage is not connecting.

[Ceecee85]

I managed to get a look in the engine bay over the weekend. Van started first time- which was good but didn't help with a diagnosis. Anyway, turned it off and tried again and it didn't start. Gave the starter an encouraging "tap" with a hammer and low and behold she sparked into life. It's good that the starter's so easy to get to without scrabbling around on the floor! So, not sure whether to just keep a hammer to hand or replace it. I guess I'll see how much of a problem it's going to give me over the next few weeks.
The prices I've seen for recon starters are quite expensive. If I'm right in thinking that the 1.6 non turbo diesel is that same as the one fitted in other VW vehicles (Polo and Passat spring to mind), can I source a replacement from them or is there something intrinsically different for the van version?

[weldore]

No..they are specific to the t25..all other types have different bell housings. I think a little more investigation as to why it needs a tap to make it work is needed...they are the simplest job of all to remove. it still might just be electrical connections/earths

take a wire with a connector on it the same as the one on the trigger on the solenoid....unplug the trigger wire from the sol.(its the smallest wire with the spade connector on it ) and connect that and touch it to the pos. on the battery and see if it works every time or fails sometimes

[weldore]

as a last resort ..and I mean make sure its not wires/connections first as you will still have the same problems with a new one....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARTER-MOTOR ... 5721&rt=nc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

..not too expensive

[Ceecee85]

Thanks. I appreciate your help.
Further investigation on the way.
Cheers, Steve.