Day #3 Tuscan Ownership - Starting Issues!
Discussion
Hoping someone might be able to help out with this one!
Happy to be joining with my first TVR after about 15 years of lusting after them.. Unfortunately the car has been presenting some starting issues whereby the car is *very* sluggish to turn over. Whereas you'd normally a constant turning over I am getting some movement from the starter followed by a hesitation for maybe half a second (or more). The voltage on the pod drops to 7-8v during cranking and this is actually usually enough to start the car - just. Though I have had 2 bump starts already so this isn't always the case! Once from a drunk guy at 3am and once from a couple of amused Halfords employees. I'm aware there are hot start issues with the car too so this probably doesn't help.
I've just replaced the battery so that shouldn't be an issue and the car does sometimes turn over in what I would consider to be a 'normal' fashion, though there doesn't seem to be any particular logic to it. Sometimes it turns easily sometimes it seems to be quite laboured.
The voltage at rest on the pod displays around 11.8v when the car is off - a mulitmeter in the Anderson Connector displays closer to 12.7v which is more reassuring. When the car is running, and taken for a bit of a blast, the pod voltage reading never strays above around 13.1v whereas the voltage via the Anderson whist the car is running shoots straight to 14v which I presume rules out the 100A fuse and Alternator. Not sure if this difference in voltage between the pod and multimeter is a symptom or if it's a case of 'They all do that, sir'.
I have also attempted to clean the ground points... one below on the nut pictured to the left of the caliper on the OSF (caliper pictured for perspective!) but I can't for the life of me find the other one near the drivers front wheel. All grounds are good at the battery, too.
My instinct is telling me it might well be the starter motor, but don't want to toss away part of the TVR running fund so early on in ownership if I'm missing something else obvious!
Any assistance would be very much appreciated
Dave.
Happy to be joining with my first TVR after about 15 years of lusting after them.. Unfortunately the car has been presenting some starting issues whereby the car is *very* sluggish to turn over. Whereas you'd normally a constant turning over I am getting some movement from the starter followed by a hesitation for maybe half a second (or more). The voltage on the pod drops to 7-8v during cranking and this is actually usually enough to start the car - just. Though I have had 2 bump starts already so this isn't always the case! Once from a drunk guy at 3am and once from a couple of amused Halfords employees. I'm aware there are hot start issues with the car too so this probably doesn't help.
I've just replaced the battery so that shouldn't be an issue and the car does sometimes turn over in what I would consider to be a 'normal' fashion, though there doesn't seem to be any particular logic to it. Sometimes it turns easily sometimes it seems to be quite laboured.
The voltage at rest on the pod displays around 11.8v when the car is off - a mulitmeter in the Anderson Connector displays closer to 12.7v which is more reassuring. When the car is running, and taken for a bit of a blast, the pod voltage reading never strays above around 13.1v whereas the voltage via the Anderson whist the car is running shoots straight to 14v which I presume rules out the 100A fuse and Alternator. Not sure if this difference in voltage between the pod and multimeter is a symptom or if it's a case of 'They all do that, sir'.
I have also attempted to clean the ground points... one below on the nut pictured to the left of the caliper on the OSF (caliper pictured for perspective!) but I can't for the life of me find the other one near the drivers front wheel. All grounds are good at the battery, too.
My instinct is telling me it might well be the starter motor, but don't want to toss away part of the TVR running fund so early on in ownership if I'm missing something else obvious!
Any assistance would be very much appreciated
Dave.
Edited by UncleDave on Monday 17th July 21:19
Christ I'm an idiot - I don't know why I didn't think of that. I only found the Anderson jump leads in the boot about an hour ago and it's been a long day - so that probably didn't help!
Just added in the 'dud' battery via the anderson and it seems to start repeatedly with no issues. Thanks for that!
To be honest I really didn't expect a brand new £140 battery not to work - I suppose that's what happens when you go to Halfords as a one off instead of my usual Motor Factors.
I've cut the
lugs off the thing now (it was an 096 recommended by a few people on here - a bit too big for the tray) so I hope to god they cover it under warranty now - the decent thing to do since it'll be less than 24hrs since they sold it to me!
Just added in the 'dud' battery via the anderson and it seems to start repeatedly with no issues. Thanks for that!
To be honest I really didn't expect a brand new £140 battery not to work - I suppose that's what happens when you go to Halfords as a one off instead of my usual Motor Factors.
I've cut the
lugs off the thing now (it was an 096 recommended by a few people on here - a bit too big for the tray) so I hope to god they cover it under warranty now - the decent thing to do since it'll be less than 24hrs since they sold it to me!Hmm... Yeah having the second battery connected via the Anderson does seem to have solved it, though I will clean all the earths anyway, and maybe the uprated starter will be an option too a bit further down the line.
So... I now have two batteries connected and the car works perfectly it seems... Safe to assume that the new battery is shagged too? Or could the extra boost of two batteries still be covering for another issue?
So... I now have two batteries connected and the car works perfectly it seems... Safe to assume that the new battery is shagged too? Or could the extra boost of two batteries still be covering for another issue?
The situation appears to have changed (again) - ha.
I've still got around 12.7v at the battery, I cleaned a couple of earths this morning and the car seemed to be starting and turning over absolutely fine 3-4 times, which it never used to do without struggling.
Bingo! That must have been the problem... so decided I'd go and get some petrol then give it a quick blast. Came to start it and it has now stopped turning over completely! It clicks when you turn the ignition, and clicks when you release - which I assume is the Starter Solenoid. Nothing. I've even tried with a third known good battery and still nothing. Whilst this is happening the battery drops to around 12.2v.
I've connected the Anderson negative to the engine close to the starter to rule out grounding issues with no luck.
So... Guessing it's a new starter motor time or even something immobiliser related maybe? Though I can hear the fuel pump priming when I disable the immobiliser so I'm not convinced by that.
Was just at the brink of booking it in somewhere as it's taken the shine off having a new car slightly, but now I can't even get it there
I've still got around 12.7v at the battery, I cleaned a couple of earths this morning and the car seemed to be starting and turning over absolutely fine 3-4 times, which it never used to do without struggling.
Bingo! That must have been the problem... so decided I'd go and get some petrol then give it a quick blast. Came to start it and it has now stopped turning over completely! It clicks when you turn the ignition, and clicks when you release - which I assume is the Starter Solenoid. Nothing. I've even tried with a third known good battery and still nothing. Whilst this is happening the battery drops to around 12.2v.
I've connected the Anderson negative to the engine close to the starter to rule out grounding issues with no luck.
So... Guessing it's a new starter motor time or even something immobiliser related maybe? Though I can hear the fuel pump priming when I disable the immobiliser so I'm not convinced by that.
Was just at the brink of booking it in somewhere as it's taken the shine off having a new car slightly, but now I can't even get it there
Just a quick update just in case anyone finds this thread in the future!
I had cleaned and sanded back the earth points and I'd tried earthing the engine direct to the battery (-) via the Anderson connector multiple times using some pretty hefty jump leads with no result and eventually determined it was likely the starter at fault.
After removing the starter and bench testing it, determined the motor itself was working fine but the starter solenoid was knackered.
Luckily, if anyone is in the same boat the solenoids are very cheap and can be replaced seperately. In my case, I took it to a local and very old-school Automotive Electrical repair shop. They replaced the brushes in the starter and reconditioned it, then replaced the starter solenoid too. The whole thing came back looking quite literally as good as new for £50.
Sorted, and now the car turns over hot or cold with no issues at all.
The shop was Electro Diesel in Worksop just in case anyone is in the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire/S Yorkshire area
I had cleaned and sanded back the earth points and I'd tried earthing the engine direct to the battery (-) via the Anderson connector multiple times using some pretty hefty jump leads with no result and eventually determined it was likely the starter at fault.
After removing the starter and bench testing it, determined the motor itself was working fine but the starter solenoid was knackered.
Luckily, if anyone is in the same boat the solenoids are very cheap and can be replaced seperately. In my case, I took it to a local and very old-school Automotive Electrical repair shop. They replaced the brushes in the starter and reconditioned it, then replaced the starter solenoid too. The whole thing came back looking quite literally as good as new for £50.
Sorted, and now the car turns over hot or cold with no issues at all.
The shop was Electro Diesel in Worksop just in case anyone is in the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire/S Yorkshire area
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