Club 80-90 Forums

OK I'm probably a plonker and I've caused it myself but...

97 Golf GTi 8v (my daily driver)
I go outside this morning and find it's a bit frosty so think I'll start it and let it warm up while I scrape the windows. I don't bother to get in but also forget to check it's not in gear and go to start it. A slight lurch on the starter before I realise, let go the key and knock it out of gear before turning the key again. This time there is no starter, just the warning lights flashing about twice a second and heavy clicking at the same rate. And the clock has reset to zero. I check a few of the relevant fuses (engine electronics) but they are fine.

So is there a fault condition in play that needs to be reset. Is the starter jammed (I've tried rocking it in gear) and that is causing big current drain when the key is turned to start position, causing a relay to overload. Any ideas? Cos I'm stuck and my RAC membership doesn't cover me at home.

the battery has moved has it keith ? check the terminals

Think there might be 2 probs now..

The high load to the starter probably initially found a weak (corroded) earth and opened it up, probably on the main battery lead or the engine earth.
Subsequently, seems the starter is still jammed, or the solenoid has locked it in somewhow,

Start with earths, esp if they look corroded, clean the solenoid connections and take the main power lead off the starter, if they're separate. Try to troubleshoot it from there, starter might have to come out, unless you want to risk the odd thump with a club hammer.

The cold combined with starting in gear is the culprit.

Clive
Thanks - I'll go and have a look at those issues and report back...

Well, the battery hadn't moved and the starter and it's solenoid were not jammed. However the battery was rather low on charge (probably due to my having been listening to the radio for a couple of hours each day over the last week or so with the doors open while I worked on the camper) and I guess the cold battery finally didn't have enough juice left in it to kick the solenoid let alone start a cold engine (it had started fine from warmish yesterday).

I took the starter off this morning (not as straightforward as it might be as part of its mounting is shared with the engine mount) and checked it; put it back together hoping it may have freed something up - but no, still the same solenoid cycling. Then towed the car out of our drive and bump started down the hill we live on, left it running for a few minutes while I had a think about what to do next. Switched it off and tried to start it again (hoping something may have sorted itself out) and there was a very brief attempt to kick the solenoid into starting. Aha I thought! The battery is down! So it's been on charge for a few hours and now all is well. At least I now know how to get the starter off!
Thanks again for your help both of you...

Oops the obvious I suppose, but glad you tracked it down. Same symptons as a bad earth - er, I didn't say that did I