Weird Electrical Problem

[schueymcfee]

I have a very worrying electrical problem!

Symptoms are:

Starter motor clicking or not at all when hot - and sometimes even when cold.

When the starter refuses to start sometimes all power will be lost througout the car - windows, dials, ignition (as if a fuse has blown) for about 10-20 seconds and then everything will come back on - on it's own what's all that about?

Also, I lost all my radio channels.

It does sound like battery, but it's been doing this for about 4 weeks now, if it was dead it surely wouldn't begin working again after a couple of hours.

[tvrbob]

This sounds like a common Chimaera/Griff fault. The starter motor is subject to a lot of heat and overheating is the normal failure mode. Sounds like yours has been on its way out for some time. The loss of power is symptomatic of this. The starter draws a lot of power, if it has failed then it may well draw even more.

[GreenV8S]

I suspect you've got an intermittant fault on the main 12v or earth cables. Earths would be the first thing to check as the connections are exposed to the elements. It may also be a loose terminal at the battery, or even a mechanical failure within the battery itself. If you can reproduce the problem, I would start by sticking a meter across the battery to show you still have volts there, if so then between battery +12v and car earth to see if the earth is still good etc and see if you locate the point of failure that way.

[david beer]

See if you have a fuse between the battery and the fuse box, if you have might be worthwhile opening the box up and checking the connections. For the hot start "non click" try the relay mod first.

[schueymcfee]

Where does the 12v main run to from the battery?

It seems to go up into the dash...

I have checked the + terminal on the battery and it is a little freyed

[spend]

To the starter motor main stud.... Then all the way back to the fuse box (twin brown cables) ?????

Dave