intermitent starting problem

[yorkie boy]

wondered if anyone can help. my father has a v70 2.4 petrol auto about 10 y/o.approx 65k miles.the car has served him well.couple of weeks ago he went to local shop car had started perfect as normal,came out of shop and wouldn't start .i went to help all dash lights were on but turned the key and nothing there .i jump lead started it.went to have battery checked and told needed replacing (it was 5y/o)everything fine till this last saturday and the same happened again.
had battery and alternater charge rates checked all fine and the car has run great since,but father lives in fear of another breakdown . i have been told it could be the lambda sensor but i am more inclined to think of an intermitent fault on the starter or starter solenoid.when the car fails there is no dimming of the dash lights when i try to start it or any clicking from the starter.as soon as the car starts off the jump leads i turned the engine off removed the leads and the car starts absolutly perfect with no effort,so the battery is not going flat at all.
any ideas from anyone
cheers
steve

[Barkychoc]

The starter and starter solenoid will be a combined unit.
Unless you're unlucky and have an unusual fault I reckon a new starter will cure it.
££££ Ker-ching!

[valve bounce66]

yorkie boy said:

wondered if anyone can help. my father has a v70 2.4 petrol auto about 10 y/o.approx 65k miles.the car has served him well.couple of weeks ago he went to local shop car had started perfect as normal,came out of shop and wouldn't start .i went to help all dash lights were on but turned the key and nothing there .i jump lead started it.went to have battery checked and told needed replacing (it was 5y/o)everything fine till this last saturday and the same happened again.
had battery and alternater charge rates checked all fine and the car has run great since,but father lives in fear of another breakdown . i have been told it could be the lambda sensor but i am more inclined to think of an intermitent fault on the starter or starter solenoid.when the car fails there is no dimming of the dash lights when i try to start it or any clicking from the starter.as soon as the car starts off the jump leads i turned the engine off removed the leads and the car starts absolutly perfect with no effort,so the battery is not going flat at all.
any ideas from anyone
cheers
steve

had a few were the terminal on the starter solenoid had oxidised,fitting a new terminal on the wiring side and cleaning the starter terminal could help.

[porscheuro]

had the same problem on mine till i removed the terminal cleaned it up, never happened since (touching my head)

[yorkie boy]

thanks guys ,
i had a feeling i could be starter related.got an auto-electrician coming to check it out tomorrow.
thanks for your help i will report back for future ref
steve rodgers
york

[yorkie boy]

hi
just had auto-electrician to my fathers V70.he seems to think it could be the starter.the next time the car fails i need to pull the green wired terminal wire from the rear of the starter then put a test light between terminal wire and earth.when the ignition switch is turned to the start position if the test light illuminates this would indicate a starter motor faulty! if it doesn't illuminate start looking for another problem. it seems like a hit and miss method but thats the joy of intermittent faults !!!
i'll report back wih progress , hopefully soon !

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:01

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:02

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:17

[morgrp]

yorkie boy said:

hi
just had auto-electrician to my fathers V70.he seems to think it could be the starter.the next time the car fails i need to pull the green wired terminal wire from the rear of the starter then put a test light between terminal wire and earth.when the ignition switch is turned to the start position if the test light illuminates this would indicate a starter motor faulty! if it doesn't illuminate start looking for another problem. it seems like a hit and miss method but thats the joy of intermittent faults !!!
i'll report back wih progress , hopefully soon !

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:01

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:02

Edited by yorkie boy on Friday 23 January 12:17

They do suffer from a common fault with the ignition switch in the steering column starts to fail - I've had 850's where the lights won't work unless you wiggle the key about in the barrel - simple to replace - and if on a budget easy to pick up second hand -