Club 80-90 Forums

Cmcalpine3 wrote: I am going to removed the starter and try it in the other engine. Will let yous know.

now he tells us

Yep same thing is happening in the other engine. Very unlucky indeed if 3 starters arent right.
Will get another one and fingers crossed. will keep you posted.
Thanks for you help.

Where do you keep getting these starters from?

R0B wrote:Where do you keep getting these starters from?

my money is on a atx europants



click this link and say bye to starter issues
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PowerLite-Fo ... 1438.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

937carrera wrote: Pretty bad luck if you have had 3 dodgy starters, but I suppose it is possible, if very unlikely

A good s/h bosch one will be better than the three you have bought. Get the other 3 credited and you can probably afford the one recommended above.

The van came with one in it a spare and i bought one from ebay. Bad decision

Oh well, easy fix now

It does,nt matter how many starter motors you keep fitting, if you only have 1 or 2 volts whilst cranking none of them them are going to work !( as o b g said ,you

should get about 9 or 10 volts whilst cranking)


My next move would be to poke the voltmeter leads directly onto the negative and positive battery posts ( not the lead clamps) whilst an assistant cranks the engine( spark plugs in) - about 9 volts suggests a healthy battery,about 2 volts suggests the battery is faulty( maybe it’s been damaged by low level of charge or infrequent charging ,despite it being new )

If the above test shows about 9volts the problem is most likely corrosion on the battery posts ,inside the battery clamps,where the battery cable enters the battery clamp,where the cable enters the cable lugs,where the lugs bolt to the starter motor,where the negative cable bolts to the engine and ( much less likely ) the negative path across the joint between the engine/gearbox and the gearbox / starter motor body.

E D I T - oops- petrolvan! Negative battery lead where it connects to vehicle body near battery,braid by gearbox mounting and,most importantly steel gearbox mount bracket where it is bolted to the aluminium gearbox.
Having said all of that it should be none of that if you correctly eliminated that by connecting the battery directly to the starter motor with neg and pos jump leads earlier. So my money is on an iffy battery!




Bad connections may get hot /warm when you attempt to start the engine ,which may help you find the faulty one!
Alternativly a voltmeter across a suspect connection ,showing more than about quarter of a volt (whilst cranking) may lead you to the problem connection. Connections may need dismantelling/cleaning up until bright and protecting with petrollium jelly or equivalent.Or you may need to renew the battery leads if they are in poor condition.
E D I T the above assumes that the engine,starter motor,starter motor pinion are not partially seized or jamming ,I guess that might drag the voltage of a healthy battery down below 9 volts.
E D I T - you tried using “ a jump” did that have a strong / healthy battery?

Don't know whether I missed it but no one seems to have mentioned the check of connecting a multi meter directly between exposed thread of the terminal post and a scraped clean area on the casing of the starter motor and getting someone to operate the starter while you observe the volt drop.

He has already checked at the starter and gets 1 - 2 volts.

OK so forget all the theory and measuring you try different starters, different batteries and use jump leads, it really won't take long to establish which is at fault.

It's nothing to do with the van wiring, the problem transferred to the second engine,so that 1-2V measurement is irrelevant, if correct.

What's common ?

Starter motor
Battery
Jump leads

Battery we're told is brand new, could maybe benefit from a charge as only 12.5V, no knowledge that it works well in any other vehicle, so no certainty that the battery is OK from a rapid discharge perspective

Jump leads - Assuming they are decent quality, connectors in good condition.

I'd hate for the OP to buy another starter if his new battery has gone down on discharge ability, but maybe he already has.

I had a dodgy battery recently, thought it was duff, charged it up and it seemed to hold charge for 48 hours at 13.2 volts. Put it on a car and nothing happened, which was not entirely unexpected. I've been scratching my head trying to understand how it could show 13.2V as that's beyond the chemistry of a lead acid battery. (Multimeter working correctly, validated that with another one). Ho hum

This should have been a easy diagnosis

Now I would first fully charge the battery off the van , and take it down to Kwik fit and get a free test on it . Get the print out , because if it’s faulty it’s your evidence for a warrentry claim .

Once you know the battery is good , put It on the van and take some voltage readings at the battery before switching any thing on , then take readings at the starter before putting the key in , it should be the same .
If it’s not , the wiring needs investigating.

Then measure voltage at the battery as you crank , it shouldn’t drop below 8v