Club 80-90 Forums

Ok, so for at least 7 months I have had an intermittent starting problem. Turn key, hear a click, no turnover, nothing. This can happen at random times irrespective of whether its not been run for 1 day or 2 weeks. Happens about 15% of the time, when it happens it then takes between 1 and 5 further attempts and then always starts. When engine turns it starts quickly and easily. A mechanic has not found anything obviously wrong and has changed the ignition switch to rule that out.
I wonder if I noticed the obvious today. The battery was replaced just under a year ago by previous owner. Its a Bosch S4 Silver S4005 but that is only 540 amps and 60AH. Does that sound a bit small for a 1Y engine and might it be the cause of my intermittent fault? I know its a good battery but depending on where you look a bigger battery is usually suggested. I was thinking of a Bosch S5007 Silver at 750amps and 74AH.
Any thoughts please.
Brian

You could always boost the ignition feed to the starter by using a relay to switch it - take a positive feed straight from the battery and switch it at the starter. I'm led to believe it's a common mod, it's been done to my 1.6d and it starts really well.

I would be looking at the earth where it connects to the battery strap and then the earth that goes to the gearbox, take them off clean up the contact points and away you go, I have the same set up with a Bosch silver I will check the size when it is light.

Yes I have heard about the direct feed but thought it shouldn't really be necessary, more likely battery not powerful enough? Electrical connections and earths been checked and thought to be OK. Be interested to know what battery others have with 1Y engine.

Even money on an earth I had the same thing and it was the short earth cable that goes to the bracket that holds the battery down, would not have thought it would affect starting intermittently but it did.

So many people say that earths have been checked when they mean that they looked at them visually only. They all need taking off both ends and all contact points cleaned up to bare metal. THEN you can say that they are OK.

I seem to remember using that battery on my diesels and it was fine.

I had similar symptoms once and it was the large cable from the battery to the starter. Several of the strands of multicore had snapped leaving a poor connection. It took ages to find this was the issue as the cable looked fine on the outside.

Good luck,

Ringo

Thanks for the advice. The checks on wiring/earths were done by a garage but I'll keep in mind they might not have been thorough!
Looking at the Bosch website, it is correct to use my existing battery with 540 amps for a T3 1.6d or 1.7d or 1.6td. However as the engine is probably a 1.9d 1Y from a Golf (12 years ago) the correct Bosch S4 battery is 4008 with 680 amps. I'll probably upgrade the battery anyway and look more closely at the earths when its a bit warmer.

I had a 1963 VW beetle with exactly this problem it turned out that over years vw wiring gradually starts to resist current flow and it resists just enough so that the starter solenoid cannot quite draw enough current . I rewired from the ign sw to the starter solenoid and hey presto. In the end I rewired a number of circuits due to slight loss of voltage and more importantly current!!

also check the braided cable fromm solenoid to motor they tend to rot

vwsween wrote:Turn key, hear a click, no turnover, nothing....

A mechanic has not found anything obviously wrong and has changed the ignition switch to rule that out.

Note bold bit by me = change your mechanic then

Reason = If you can hear a click then the ignition switch is doing it's job of firing the solenoid just fine

I agree with the others ^^^ = Likely a bad connection (in the heavy wires) first, or duff starter second, not an inadequate battery.

A mate had the same with a Merc van, the AA wired it to bypass the ignition to get him home the Merc garage wanted £500+ and fitting for a new starter that said they had tested (for £80) and was showing resistance and I could see the blacking around the earth which we cleaned up with a grinder, been fine ever since.

If you buy a new battery can I have the old one as it will be ok

At least its good to know you are confident in your advice - just a question of finding where the faulty wire or earth is.
Yes agree what you say about the ignition - did it anyway as very cheap and he was doing other work as well. The mechanic has been professionally working on vw campers for at least 20 years. He was unable to get this intermittent fault to occur even though he had the van for 10 days - maybe its been cured by his poking about without revealing any obvious problem.
New battery is on order, even if its not the cause or even contributing to the problem I'd rather have the right one - the old one will fit nicely in my car which has a battery dated July 2004 and on its last legs!
Thanks for your thoughts.