Club 80-90 Forums

Thought I had sorted my starting problem with some advise from Fritz and others. After checking and cleaning up the earth strap and charging the battery all night just in case, the van fired up no problem. Tried it again half hour later and first turn of the key I heard the starter solenoid click and relay in fuse box click but no go. Second turn of the key, only the click from the relay but no noise from the solenoid.

The battery is showing 13V but is it possible that it's not putting out enough amps to turn the starter motor over?
I had a quick shimmy under the van to look at the earth on the starter end but didn't really know what I was looking at and didn't really have time to sort it as I needed to go to work.

I have no idea how old the battery is as I only bought the van a few months ago.

Any suggestions most welcome.

Thanks

Adrian

ok, shimmy underagain, and look at the 10mm spade connection onto the solenoid, its likely that the connection is cruddy, best move is to replace the spade connection with a new one, that way you can look at the condition of the core of the wire too, it may well be rotten, which is also a common issue, meaning the signal to start isnt getting from the key switch to the solenoid.

could also be the keyswitch at fault, its also a common problem with these vans as age takes it s toll.
(Disconnect the key switch and "hotwire" will proove this if in doubt)

Thanks Steve, will try both of those when I get home tonight.

one other thing to try is to get a jump lead and place one end on the solenoid body and the other onto the engine to make sure theres a good connection between the starter,bell housing and engine..see if it fires up ok then

yeah, i ment to mention, the earth strap at the nose end of the gearbox , but i forgot after scribbling the above!!

thanks guys, will see if I can find it tonight. don't get home from work until 7.30 so will have to work fast before the light goes.

HI had same problem on mine turned out to be the starter motor bush its easy to replace and only cost £1.50