lost confidence in van - extremely fed-up...

[Ian Hulley]

Starter and gearbox leads (Battery - terminal off first though)

[T'Onion]

put the volt meter on the main battry and then turn the engine over , the voltage will drop but by how much ?

[toomanytoys]

Halfords.... Mmm... dont assume they are right and you need a new battery...
Disconect the earth first.. that way if you happen to touch the spanner on the chassis when undoing the Pos, it wont spark.... you wont get a shock from 12v... but the sparks would shock you....

Pop the tops off the battery... check that there is "acid" covering the plates (top up with distilled water, do not fill to the brim)... beg/borrow/steal a charger and leave it in an "well ventilated" place on charge overnight... disconnect, leave for a couple of hours check the voltage... you want to be closer to 13v.

While the battery is off.... Conections to battery and earth in battery box.. clean these well, no horrible "fur" and corrosion.. (small wire brush is fine)
Earth strap on the gearbox to chassis (near front of box) undo, clean and refit.. again no corrosion etc.... if the strap is falling apart replace it... you can get similar ones from a local motor factors...

Starter (this is more difficult as tucked up the side of the box) inspect the conections.. if look ok, prob are... undo if you can... clean etc... the small wire is what "fires" the solenoid, these do get very cruddy and fall apart...

Engine bay... on the left of the engine there is a brown wire earthed out on the head... undo, clean and refit... Its also worth inspecting the wires that go to/from the ignition amplifier.. even unplug and plug it in a couple of three times...

Adjust alterator belt.. doesnt have to be wranged up tight.. just a bit more than it is now...

Refit battery... start it... check voltage of alternator you should be getting 13.8v as a min...

if its still not turning or playnig up... its poss the starter motor...

[Aidan]

just a thought was the battery disconnected as it should be when whoever worked on fitting the buzzer circuit, could jst be poor connection at the terminals,
talk later, don't spend any money till we really know what it is, regards

Aidan

ps remind me spare battery

[kathyshack]

Thanks everyone for all your help and advice. the lovely Aidan is gonna come and take a look at it for me on Friday. I did just test the voltage on battery when trying to start and it dropped from 12.4 to 8.x then 4.x then 0.x was all a bit erratic. Ta muchly, will let you know how we get on.
Kathy

[steve8090]

The buzzer is not the problem so don't go there, this was happening long before the buzzer was fitted and fyi is a 350ma buzzer that is connected to te positive of the side lights and the door pillar swith for the interior light, why would you disconnect the entire battery for that? it would take approximately a month for that buzzer to flatten the battery going all the time, as it can only go off whern the lights are on then you are on a bum steer.
This is cable/alterator/battery faults, the reading at the battery is 13.8v at all rev ranges urt could do with a volt meter fitting to see if the brushes are breaking down or if a voltage drop is evident when under load, has the battery been checked for full cell charge as I suggested

[kathyshack]

steve, not been able to check the battery for a full cell charge as I have had no transport to get it to anywhere to get that done. Will do that when i get chance.
Thanks,
kathy

[ermie571]

Kathy / Aidan,

I have been following this thread with interest, as I have starting issues with the camper. At present, the first start in the morning is the difficult one - then all fine during the day. This morning for instance, I got a similar response to that of a flat battery - very slow turning, nothing...then just as I was about to give up, it fired up with no problem. Stopped it immediately, and restarted - immediate restart?! Guessing earth related. All that info up there about the battery and what voltage is full etc mucho useful (I had kinda assumed that a 12v battery would be full at 12v )

I have read much, and I have a spare starter motor if it comes to it.....but I would like to "do" my earths first!

Any chance of some pictures to fo with the pointers that you have put up? These can then reside in the wiki. I know where my negative connection is, and I will deal with that first. Its the one at the gear box I am not sure of...

Also - if you do any further investigations, could you take a brief note of what you have done?

Then, maybe I will get my camper turning on the key like my caravelle does. Everyso often it does - think it shocks the van as much as it shocks me!

Em
x

[sendiw]

I did just test the voltage on battery when trying to start and it dropped from 12.4 to 8.x then 4.x then 0.x was all a bit erratic
Thats a Failed heavy duty discharge test to me. Looks like a faulty battery.
They do give off gasses in such circumstances, hence smell. Maybe

[kathyshack]

BIG Thanks to Aidan for coming out to look at the van for me yesterday and also to Steve Shaw for being on hand on the phone to answer any questions. Really appreciate it
Van is starting ok now. It did indeed turn out to be a dodgy battery. Interesting lesson to learn that despite 2 batteries giving readings of over 12v that they still didn't have the cranking power to actually start the engine. Everything has had a thorough looking over and I am confident that it is ok now.
Thanks guys for all you help and advice. Hate that feeling when it dies on you and you don't know what to do. great to be a part of 80-90