car wont start

[DaGr81]

aww my baby wont start , battery is all good when i turn the key to start it, makes a loud fast clicking sound

plz help argh wats the problem, and how much am i looking at to fix it? or is there a cheap and easy way to fix without a mechanic ?

[krzysiu]

The only time i actually got the fast clicking sound is when the battery died ...

[Jordan]

Get some jumper leads.

[DaGr81]

but like the sound system and horn still works, doesnt that mean that theres still some power in the battery? or am i wrong?

[SkyGTRline]

Battery...

Had that the other week... Played my stereo too long withou the car on...

Stareo still worked... but car wouldnt start...

Get some leads onto it.

[DaGr81]

yeah i left the amp on accidentally for like 6 hrs, bad move on my part, i hope this is the problem , at first i thought it was starter motor but then i wasnt sure, hmmz better get nrma down here since its free

[DaGr81]

well i cudnt be bothered calling nrma and i still havent jump started my car, but just a thought, could i have a problem with my starter motor or nething else? or is it the gay battery ?

[krzysiu]

well i dont think the battery is gay if u left the amp on for 6 hours

Just buy some jumpers with a Protector, so your ecu dont get ***ked. And jump start it off another car.

[Trust33]

if ur safe u wont need the protector.

[cowie165]

As everyone else has said, it's prob your battery. I had the same thing two weeks ago. If the batt has gone flat, you're probably looking at buying a new one, rather than trying to charge it and stick with the old one. I tried twice then bit the bullet.

It takes around 20+mins of driving to charge enough to start the car again.

To answer your q, the battery doesn't have enough charge to turn the starter motor. It is a cheap fix. Replace it with a batt that has 450+CCA if you can. Your starter motor is fine.

Mark

edit: Sumo's thoughts are it isn't the injectors. The rationale makes sense to me. The battery is still the prob though.

[Sumo]

Fast clicking sound will be the starter motor solenoid trying to pull in. Have heard it plenty of times. The breakdown comes when it bridges the motor contacts and the bat doesn't have enough charge to spin it so it releases, Then pulls back in and so forth.

Cheers

Sumo

[blind_elk]

It's basically a problem of voltage to the solenoid (not necessarily a battery problem, though).

Install a relay between the battery and the solenoid. Use the existing wire onto the solenoid to switch the relay, so that the relay supplies direct battery power to the solenoid.

[eXc]

it's the battery.

Here's how to test.

Get a multimeter and a mate

Put multimeter on battery to check voltage

chance are you will get...12 volts, so you will say "SEE it's not the battery"

but then...get your mate to turn the engine over, if the voltage drops below 8v, your battery is cactus, take it to a battery shop and they will test it for you to be sure.....If the voltage holds at 10v+ then it is probably not ya battery, in which case...umm only think i can think of is you could tap the starter motor/solenoid, sometimes they jam up....

[machg]

Yeah, I wouldn't give up on the battery totally. I thought my battery was stuffed. Car had been off the road for 6 months and was completely dead when I went to crank the car. Stuck it on charge for like 18 hours and it started no problems. Drove it to the mechanics for rego., he managed to drain it completely, and said he reckoned it was stuffed. Had to jump it twice on the way home, whacked it on the charger again, cleaned the terminals and connections, and hey presto, no more problems. Like you suggested, if its still running the radio etc. it must still have some charge. From my experience with batteries, the big killers seem to be age, and running run them dead flat, then leaving it flat. If your battery is more than a few years old, its the easiest thing to change first when chasing this kind of problem.

Hope this helps,

machg

[eXc]

oh, and if it is your battery like I assume, jumper cables will *most likely* NOT help. You will also need some decent (fat) jumper cables that can pull heaps of current.

I havn't tired clutch starting one with these symptoms, but seriously, just take the battery to battery world and have it tested, I am quite confident it is the problem. And it's an absolute prick of a problem that had me stumped cause it had the 12v and like u say, stereo etc works great.

Way I found out was rang a mate that works for NRMA, I was trying to find imobilisers etc etc, and he was like "it's the battery" seen it happen to more cars since (mine did it on saturday)

[Bazelinez]

also, if your jumping off a small car, eg Mirage/excel. Keep the little car revving a bit to maximise the charge...

FWIW, if your starter motor was stuffed you'd hear nothing when the key was turned, the clicking indcates its all good there.

[Sumo]

Just because its clicking doesnt mean its all good. It merely lets you know that their is a connection between the key and starter.

Cheers

Sumo

[eXc]

So what was it? Did you sort it out?

[racsov500]

ive had heaps of problems and delays with batteries. jumping from another car just made things worse for me, as it ran down that car battery too.

i ended up on just buying a cheap ($15) charger, and i woudnt reccomend it, it gave me grief for several days. at first the charge indicator (4 LEDs) worked, but then they just stopeed working, but it seemed to still be charging the battery, as it was hot and humming. several days later it still hadnt chrged it, so i swapped the battery for a tiny one i had lying around. left it on overnight and it charged it up enough to start it.

if you want to charge it, its a good idea, but dont buy a cheap charger, there crap (my one was, other ones might work) spend some extra money, and keep it for if you have this problem again! the good ones start at about 60. new batteries cost about that much, depending on where you get them.

im just so sick of batteries. they just piss me off! i had problems for months!