The saga continues.......

[dunova]

.....I've fitted a new earth strap and i have power!! BUT, the starter (new/recon) seems to kick in then all my electrics go v.v.dim, do you think this means something is jammed? The battery is fine.

The car is free to roll in neutral and i can push the car foward in gear and this turns the engine over. When i replaced the clutch and gearbox, the flywheel was free to spin, so i dont see how anything can be jammed in there :? When i bought the new starter i also made sure i had got one with the right number of teeth. I'm stumped :|

I also seem to have an electrical problem on top of all of this. When i turn my alarm on and off the side lights come on (they never do this) and when i put my main beam on my indicators are constantly lit. I really need this sorted and i'm really stumped with it. The lump hammer may be coming out soon :x

[mowgli]

either you have got a lot of water in the wiring, or there is another earth problem. how good is the multi plug? give everything a wipe & a blast with wd40 check all of the other earth connections. if the engine was trying to earth back through unconventional means, there could be the odd relay or switch that is burnt out....

unfortunately it just takes time & patience

[burgo]

sounds to me like more earth problems mate, you've gotta check and clean up every earth point

[dunova]

But the only earth i touched was the g/box to body earth and i've replaced it?? So it doesn't sound like the starter motor is getting jammed to you?


if the engine was trying to earth back through unconventional means, there could be the odd relay or switch that is burnt out....

I might check the fuel pump relay then because they seem to be connected somehow. I may just call out an auto electrician because it's doing my head in :roll:

Thanks for the help

[Nick]

just call out an autoelectrician...

and stand with him and watch him do it, remind him about the bits you've allready done. as they are espensive per hour

[dunova]

Just been having a look. With my lights on, as soon as i turn the key the lights go out and all dash lights go out/very dim. What does this mean?

As far as i can see the earth's are fine

[m.d.]

sounds like when you turn the key you are getting a short somewhere. firstly chack the starter relay as said.

but i recon you have two wires touching somewhere. ypu said that the starter smoked when the rac man tried to start the car. have a look under the car and follow the black/red wire from the starter as far back to the bulkhead as poss. i think that it has melted the insulation and when you turn the key it shorting out to the body.

disconnect the wire from the starter and turn the key. if the lights still dimm its a short somewhere else but if not you either had the wire touching a part of the chassis by the starter or the starter has a short inside.

[Will F]

Put a meter from the engine to the body/chassis to see if it has earthed properly...

My guess is that you will need to remove strap and clean the metal and refit...

[dunova]

Well i've fitted a new earth strap so that one's fine. Battery-body seems fine and so does the alternator, but i'll give them a clean just incase.

I just tried removing the black/red wire from the starter, put my lights on and turnd the key and nothing happened. The lights+electrics stayed on-so m.d i guess there's a short in the starter (unlikely as it's new) or a short in one of the wires going to the starter?

I've checked the wires to the starter and i cant find any signs or them being burnt or shorting anywhere. I traced the red/black wire back to the bulkhead and it seems fine, but then goes off into the loom. I've got a 2nd starter (with the wrong number of teeth), i'm going to try connecting that up but not fit it in to the flywheel and see if it fires up. If it does, i know the starter on the car is shorting and if not it's got to be a connection to the starter or an earth?? I feel like i'm close to finding it, but at the same time i'm a million miles away!!!! Aaaahhhhhh

[dunova]

Just put the meter on the battery and engine-it reads 12.50 which is what the battery reads. Does this mean its earthed or not?

[Aragorn]

ok dimming lights means the gearbox strap is fine - the current is getting to the starter just fine but the battery cant supply the current...

either the starter is faulty and has a short (unlikely as u say its new), the battery is dead, or the battery to chassis strap is dead/worn

so stick a known good working battery on it (or try to jump it off another car) and if that fails check battery to chassis strap


1 thing to note - wires with a lot of current running thru them get warm, if theres a dodgy connection meaning high resistance they get hot, try to start it and have a feel around for hot cabling see if u find any

a wire thats half dead will act totally normal untill u hit it with a lot of load - so just running a multimeter from batteyr to engine wont really help you, try sticking a multimeter across the battery terminals and watching voltage when u try to start it, if it stays high but lights dim its an earth fault, if it drops off drasticly and lights dim its battery fault