HELP! Swift Sport not starting - any ideas?
Discussion
My wife has a 2009 Suzuki Swift Sport and for the last couple of months we have had intermittent problems starting it. I have tried a couple of garages, had a an auto-electrician inspect the car and called Suzuki but no-one has been able to resolve this issue, so I thought I would see if there were any PH folk who might have any bright ideas!?
The problem:
Occasionally, probably once a month, the car will not start. The ignition will turn over but the car will not start. The battery has recently been replaced and is in good health. We have had the alternator and all the electrics checked.
There are several reasons why the car might not fire up BUT when I attach jump leads from my car, the Swift starts straight away which to my mind rules out problems with spark plugs or anything mechanical.
If anyone on here has any thoughts on how to go about fixing this, I would love to hear from you! Cheers!
The problem:
Occasionally, probably once a month, the car will not start. The ignition will turn over but the car will not start. The battery has recently been replaced and is in good health. We have had the alternator and all the electrics checked.
There are several reasons why the car might not fire up BUT when I attach jump leads from my car, the Swift starts straight away which to my mind rules out problems with spark plugs or anything mechanical.
If anyone on here has any thoughts on how to go about fixing this, I would love to hear from you! Cheers!
So you're saying EVERY time there is a non start scenario with the battery in the car.
Using jump leads the car starts every time ?
And how have you the leads connected ?
Also...you state the battery was replaced and is in good health. But you dont say that it was a brand new good quality battery ?
Using jump leads the car starts every time ?
And how have you the leads connected ?
Also...you state the battery was replaced and is in good health. But you dont say that it was a brand new good quality battery ?
Yes, the car will always start first time when using jump leads attached to another vehicle.
Jump leads are connected up as they should: live to live and an earthing point in my engine to an earthing point in the Suzuki.
The battery is brand new and I chose Bosch as I thought they were a decent brand.
Jump leads are connected up as they should: live to live and an earthing point in my engine to an earthing point in the Suzuki.
The battery is brand new and I chose Bosch as I thought they were a decent brand.
Edited by andyg109 on Sunday 9th February 12:05
andyg109 said:
Yes, the car will always start first time when using jump leads attached to another vehicle.
Jump leads are connected up as they should: live to live and an earthing point in my engine to an earthing point in the Suzuki.
The battery is brand new and I chose Bosch as I thought they were a decent brand.
There you are, you are potentially looking at a bad earth between the battery and engine, using the earth jump lead direct to the engine as suggested by another member shows this to be the case.Jump leads are connected up as they should: live to live and an earthing point in my engine to an earthing point in the Suzuki.
The battery is brand new and I chose Bosch as I thought they were a decent brand.
Edited by andyg109 on Sunday 9th February 12:05
That's very interesting. My 2008 Suzuki Swift Sport is a little lethargic on starting, turning over a laboured couple of times before catching. By contrast, the 2005 1.5 GLX I had before it positively leapt into action with the merest turn of the key.
However, my Sagaris had a starting problem once and that was down to a corroded earth strap which would strengthen the earthing suggestion of other posters.
However, my Sagaris had a starting problem once and that was down to a corroded earth strap which would strengthen the earthing suggestion of other posters.
Mikey G said:
There you are, you are potentially looking at a bad earth between the battery and engine, using the earth jump lead direct to the engine as suggested by another member shows this to be the case.
So if I wanted to test this on my car, are you saying I should attach a jump lead from the negative terminal of the battery to somewhere on the engine block, and see if the car starts better with it than without it?For the benefit of the OP, I took some pics of my Swift Sport to help you identify your earth strap.
The black wire in the foreground comes straight from the negative terminal of the battery and attaches to the front slam panel (or bulkhead, or whatever you call it. LOL)
In this second pic I have artificially highlighted the engine block earth strap. It goes from the block to the slam panel. The slam panel itself completes the electrical connection to the negative terminal of the battery.
Hope that helps!
The black wire in the foreground comes straight from the negative terminal of the battery and attaches to the front slam panel (or bulkhead, or whatever you call it. LOL)
In this second pic I have artificially highlighted the engine block earth strap. It goes from the block to the slam panel. The slam panel itself completes the electrical connection to the negative terminal of the battery.
Hope that helps!
Edited by JonRB on Monday 10th February 14:22
JonRB said:
For the benefit of the OP, I took some pics of my Swift Sport to help you identify your earth strap.
The black wire in the foreground comes straight from the negative terminal of the battery and attaches to the front slam panel (or bulkhead, or whatever you call it. LOL)
That looks like a very poor earthing solution if I am interpreting it correctly. The primary ground return from the engine has to pass through the bolted joint at the ends of the slam panel? No wonder it doesn't work well.The black wire in the foreground comes straight from the negative terminal of the battery and attaches to the front slam panel (or bulkhead, or whatever you call it. LOL)
Mr2Mike said:
That looks like a very poor earthing solution if I am interpreting it correctly. The primary ground return from the engine has to pass through the bolted joint at the ends of the slam panel? No wonder it doesn't work well.
It certainly looks that way. The lethargy I reported on my own car was down to the battery being a little run down - an overnight charge with an intelligent battery charger has helped it no end. However, I agree with you that it seems like a poor earthing solution. I might attach an additional earthing strap direct from where the current one attaches to the block to where the negative lead attaches to the slam panel. Can't do any harm. JonRB said:
It certainly looks that way. The lethargy I reported on my own car was down to the battery being a little run down - an overnight charge with an intelligent battery charger has helped it no end. However, I agree with you that it seems like a poor earthing solution. I might attach an additional earthing strap direct from where the current one attaches to the block to where the negative lead attaches to the slam panel. Can't do any harm.
It can only help and is certainly what I'd do.Evening all!
Just a quick note to say thank you for all the helpful posts, especially JonRB for taking the time to put the photos up there and highlight the bits I need to be looking at!
The car has been starting alright (well, a little sluggish) since posting this but I will update once I've had chance to get under the bonnet in the daylight.
Just a quick note to say thank you for all the helpful posts, especially JonRB for taking the time to put the photos up there and highlight the bits I need to be looking at!
The car has been starting alright (well, a little sluggish) since posting this but I will update once I've had chance to get under the bonnet in the daylight.
Just found this topic.
Having the exactly same issues with my mothers car which is a 2012.
6 times in 2 Months she has had to have someone be kind enough to allow her to get a jump start as the car is totally flat.
This can happen after the Suzuki has made a long journey as well and has stopped for a 5 minute break.
The garage has checked the battery and even replaced it with a Bosch but this is still happening.
Will be straight out tomorrow to check this out and hopefully have this rectified once and for all.
Anyone else experiencing this recently?
Having the exactly same issues with my mothers car which is a 2012.
6 times in 2 Months she has had to have someone be kind enough to allow her to get a jump start as the car is totally flat.
This can happen after the Suzuki has made a long journey as well and has stopped for a 5 minute break.
The garage has checked the battery and even replaced it with a Bosch but this is still happening.
Will be straight out tomorrow to check this out and hopefully have this rectified once and for all.
Anyone else experiencing this recently?
Mr2Mike said:
Possibly the alternator is not doing it's job. Have you tried checking the battery voltage with the engine running to see if it's being charged?
Good call. 
You can get devices that plug into your cigarette lighter socket that tell you how well your alternator is working and your battery voltage. They are not expensive (as in, under a tenner). So maybe try that?
If that is the ONLY earth that's a pee poor design, IME there will be a 2nd earth from the neg terminal that goes down to a bellhousing bolt near the starter motor, thats the one that usually snaps/rusts/resists ect
there is no way that small wire is the main earth, look for a 2nd wire (thicker) running from the neg terminal down to the gearbox area
oops thread res
there is no way that small wire is the main earth, look for a 2nd wire (thicker) running from the neg terminal down to the gearbox area
oops thread res
Penelope Stopit said:
The earth lead that is bolted to the slam panel is the body earth
Poster "So What" is blob on with his above post
In fact it looks like you have even re-hosted the pic that I created for that post. I thought that pic looked familiar, given that it is my car and my annotations.
Edited by ClockworkCupcake on Thursday 28th July 12:30
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