Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,
I recently bought a 1987 t25 1.6 td. After the first day I had trouble starting it and found the small blade connector to the starter motor had came loose, it was in horrible condition to I fitted a new connector and happy days it started.

A day later the same issues happened when starting and so I cleaned the earth on battery and from gearbox to body. After this the van tried to start but needed foot to the floor gas to get going then just wouldn't start again. Each time the alternator turned less and less until it stopped completely.

I thought it may be a battery issue after reading a few posts so attempted to jump it with no joy. Now when I try there is a loud clicking from engine bay and a loud buzzing noise from the fuse box. The main fuse wire is still intact, and I'm worried I will cause more damage if I keep trying to start it.

I'm really new to working on cars/vans so if you need any more info or pictures/videos just let me know

Hope that all makes sense and thanks for reading

The buzzing from the fuse box sounds like a relay that is not getting enough voltage.

And the clicking also sounds like a weak power feed to the starter solenoid.

However you have already stated that a jump start has not helped.

The usual comment is to check the battery voltage, and charge it for as long as possible if it seems lower than 12.5 volts.

I assume that you have cleaned all the connectors for the alternator and starter motor.

And checked all the earth braids too.
There is one on the gearbox and one on the battery to metalwork under the driver's seat (UK) side

Thanks for the reply!
I have cleaned the the earth that goes from gear box to frame (and ordered anew one just in case) and on mine the battery is in the engine compartment, so I have tried to sort that too.

The voltage was reading 11.5ish when nothing turned on and I tried to clean the spade connector on starter but couldn't find anything on how to remove the thicker power cable. Although a local garage said they cleaned it when they gave it a once over.

The battery that came with the van has no markings and when we picked it up the guy admitted it needed charging before we could collect it. It also seems to leave a lot of room on the battery tray.. I have bought a new battery based off the replies on a different thread and hopefully this will fix it.

If not I might be back asking more questions. I'm pretty new to all this but finding it interesting learning about older engines where you can't just use a obd port to tell you what's wrong!

Cheers

So just a quick update, it was the battery and van started on second attempt after new battery fitted. The old battery is showing 11.5v not fitted and the new 13.5v fitted.

Seems strange that it wouldn't start after being jumped yesterday but assume it just wasn't getting enough power from the quashqai battery?

I had the same issue with an 83 a while back.  Even trying to jump the van failed, due to a sorry battery.  Changed the battery and all was well.