Starting Problem

[mohitos]

Anyone got any ideas about the following problem:

Car starts fine and battery has been confirmed as holding its charge etc.
For the second time tonight, I went to start the car having used it earlier in the day.
Ignition comes on and I can briefly hear the fuel pump whining.
All of a sudden there is a click from under the bonnet and everything goes dead. No power to anything at all.
Last time the breakdown recovery got it started by jumping the car from the engine block, as I cannot even open the boot with no power.
It's a 1992 V8S btw.

Thought ?!

[Gerald-TVR]

There is a way to open the boot but obviously not for putting on a public forum. Would be happy to send the details via a PM but your profile is a little sparse some more detail and prehaps a pic or two of your car would help

Norman

[orange_dodo]

I had this problem on my V6. Cleaning up the starter, contacts and the wires to the starter and solenoid sorted it out.

The click was the solenoid activating but not enough to make the contact and power the starter motor. I took the starter apart and cleaned and greased everything. That and the clean contacts did it.

[ketvrin]

No power to anything sounds like an immobiliser ?

A click under the bonnet sounds like a relay ? try tracing the main supply from the battery/alternator back to the ignition switch... somewhere in that line there has got o be a main isolator which cuts all power.

good luck

K

[mohitos]

So excuse my mechanical ignorance, but wouldn't a connection problem on the starter motor or solenoid just mean that the car wouldn't start, rather than a complete loss of power to everything including interior lights, stereo etc etc etc ?

[orange_dodo]

mohitos said:

So excuse my mechanical ignorance, but wouldn't a connection problem on the starter motor or solenoid just mean that the car wouldn't start, rather than a complete loss of power to everything including interior lights, stereo etc etc etc ?

Yeah thats what I would think but I had exactly the same symptoms of complete power loss. All the gauges died and nothing worked. As soon as the ignition was turned off and on again everything worked fine. It was as if there was a circuit breaker in the system but I couldn't find anything like that in the wiring diagram.

ETA, Ketvrin, I've never heard of the main isolator but that sounds like it would kill the power in this situation.

Edited by orange_dodo on Thursday 29th July 21:38

[ketvrin]

orange_dodo said:

mohitos said:

So excuse my mechanical ignorance, but wouldn't a connection problem on the starter motor or solenoid just mean that the car wouldn't start, rather than a complete loss of power to everything including interior lights, stereo etc etc etc ?

Yeah thats what I would think but I had exactly the same symptoms of complete power loss. All the gauges died and nothing worked. As soon as the ignition was turned off and on again everything worked fine. It was as if there was a circuit breaker in the system but I couldn't find anything like that in the wiring diagram.

ETA, Ketvrin, I've never heard of the main isolator but that sounds like it would kill the power in this situation.

Edited by orange_dodo on Thursday 29th July 21:38

By main isolator, I wasnt suggesting a standard TVR S item, sorry for bad wording, I meant the immobiliser would "isolate" the battery from the rest of the wiring... To kill all power to everything there has to be a break in the supply between the battery and the Ignition Switch via the alternator... I dont know where an immobiliser is normally fitted but if it cuts the power in that section then you would experience total power loss.

My money is on the immobiliser...

K

ETA : I just noticed you have a V8S - sorry my opinion was based on the same problem on a V6 so ignore... apologies for any confusion... I dont know the V8 but see on the wiring diagram there are "Ignition relays" between the switch and the fuses... maybe thats what you hear clicking... ? I'm out of this now

Edited by ketvrin on Friday 30th July 09:07