Club 80-90 Forums

Joelbtdavies wrote:After a good clean of everything with Emery cloth the van has started twice ok and I left it running a bit each time. Lots of rust/crap on many connections. Battery voltage was 11v.
Hopefully solved for now but we shall see...
Thanks for the directions!

Well done Joel


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Unfortunately back to two vans with a problem... Drove for about an hour today, battery charged from just below 11v to about 11.5v. after sitting for some lunch returned to exactly same problem as before. Click with the key turn and nothing more. Gave all the connections a wiggle and re tighten but no joy. Shorted the connection between the solenoid spade and the bolt the battery cable connects to on the starter to start it to drive home, all fine. Still won't start after getting home. 

So of the checklist:
So have we checked / replaced or fitted securely...
1 - Ignition switch. (Potential burnt or pitted terminals).
seems fine to me, and all other connections seem to be working fine. But not exactly sure what I should be checking here
2 - All earth straps (potentially loose, dirty or corroded connections)
cleaned all yesterday. The gearbox nose earth strap was slightly frayed at one point, wrapped some insulation tape round it. Obviously this needs to be replaced but didn't think it was causing the problem as it has been starting fine with it. 
3 - All starter wires. (Again potentially loose, dirty or corroded terminals).
all cleaned yesterday and seemed ok. Though I'm thinking the wire to the spade is the problem...
4 - Have you considered fitting a hard-start relay to take the load off the starter switch.?
Had a look at the possibility of this yesterday. Not against it, but am i right in thinking this wouldn't solve my current problem, but would be good for avoiding future problem?
5 - Do you have a good healthy battery?
Good output voltage. 
As I said before this is at 11.5v now when not running. Is this ok? 

Seems to me the wire between the ignition and solenoid is not working properly for some reason. Any help please. 

I think if not already mentioned your battery has probably had it, if allowed to drop to 11.5v they rarely recover and get worse over time by not holding the charge, and not enough to start the engine.

Perhaps the battery has had it. Although seems more likely my voltmeter's had it! Was given to me second hand...The split charger display says it's over half full. And if it was 10% surely it shouldn't have started the van earlier today and yesterday

Sounds like your meter then, what reading does it give when engine running, should be in excess of 13.8 if all charging systems ok

So got a new meter this morning. Charge across the battery is 12.5v so all good there. On re testing the starter feed wire there is a voltage of 0.9v coming through here when the key is turned. And this should be 12v if I'm correct? Seems the wire is corroded/frayed/not connected somewhere. Complete transparency, I have very little electrical knowledge, should I try and fit a new wire myself or wait to see my father in law in a couple weeks (was a professional electrician and is a
very capable amateur mechanic).

It seems odd how you have an intermittent fault.
0.9 to 12.5 volts is a huge jump.

My head still tugs at the ignition switch.
Externally, unless the casing is burnt or melted, you would not be any the wiser as to the condition of the switch contacts inside.

Or have you stripped and checked the switch internally?

You could do a voltage check on the terminal with the red / black wire coming from it.

If the voltage drop is noted this far up the circuit, then that is your issue.

Haven't  stripped and checked the ignition. Assumed that because all other functions seems to be fine it's not to do with this. Also thought that as the problem arose after fiddling about with all the gearbox and starter motor connections, the problem was more likely to be to the rear of the car than in the dash/ignition somewhere.

Will try do a voltage check on that terminal though, good idea. 

This is the problem when people hijack someone else's post. 

There are 3 vans in this post now, I gave up trying to follow the other ones that climbed aboard.

Probably a case of piggy backing, members not wishing to start a new post out of courtesy and not wanting to generate more posts about the same subject albeit a different van.  I have been tempted in the past also, but due to this post can understand the confusion.  Hopefully more members will read these posts and comments and refrain from doing so in the future.

It gets somewhat confusing when people are replying to three different people on the same thread. By all means, start your own thread. We are here to help if we can. And if a solution to your question has been answered on another thread folk can point you to it.

My money's on corrosion in the crimp on the female spade terminal to starter solenoid. I'd replace that terminal, making sure the cable strands are clean bright copper, not crusty green.

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