arrghhhhh damn car

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

right i am lost now so over to you guys

r19 16v ph2

as you know, i recently had to put in another engine as the old one blew up.

ever since then i have been having problems with it starting, when cold it would start up fine, when hot it would not start at all, i put this down to the heat sheild not being in place, it now has a heat sheild and its still doing the same thing.
what i have also found out is that its mainly doing it after a run, full charged battery and she starts fine wether hot or cold, drive 70 miles and its dead (even when leaving it to cool down, it wont turn over)

so i am assuming there is a drain on the battery, higher drain when the car is running and a lesser drain when the car is not running (as in put a full charged battery on, dont run the car, 2 days later i got the car to start to check voltages, turned it off after 5 mins running and the car would not start again, like it has a dead battery, click of the solonoid and thats it)

anway i have now checked the voltages with car running and with it not running and find no change.

battery neg disconected (postive connected)

pos to neg on battery = 12.8 volts
neg lead off to neg on batt = 11.7 volts

battery neg connected

neg to block = 0 volts
pos to block = 12.8 volts

neg to rear engine lift bracket = 0 volts
pos to rear engine lift bracket = 12.8 volts (took a while to settle on that reading thou)

neg to earth strap on rear engine lift bracket = 0 volts
pos to earth strap on rear engine lift bracket = 12.8 volts (again took a while to settle on that reading)

neg to same earth strap but at the bodywork = 0 volts
post to same earth strap but at the bodywork = 12.8 volts

neg to gearbox earth strap = 0 volts
pos to gearbox earth strap = 12.8 volts

that was with the car not running and with it running change the 12.8 volts to 12.375 volts

it has a new battery on it (currently on charge again) the old battery is fine as it starts the chammy with no probs.

so what now ?

is it possibly a duff solonoid on the starter ? althou i can hear it clicking when u try to start the car.

i do have a spare starter motor kicking about, should i change it out?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

with it running should go up to 14 ish volts across the battery terminal.

Have a look at the alt, the red pos wire has a habit of breaking opff, the earth isn't so much a prob as it earths through the casing as well, but check it anyway.

Also the alts wired through the starter, if the starters got an internal fault then it can drain the batt through there.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

righto, i'll check those and change out the starter motor as well

cheers again chris

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

right today i swapped out the starter motor, not my fav job to do on these cars lol

put the starter on it from my old white hatch

fully charged battery on it, turned the key and defo started much much better, no slow whir whir, nice fast turnover and she fired up.

voltages:

car not running - 12.8 volts across the battery

car running - 12.575 volts across the battery

lights on main beam - 12.4 volts across the battery

lights and frt and rear fogs - 12.26 volts across the battery

lights and frt and rear fogs and rear heated screen - 11.6 volts across the battery

revving the engine up does not affect those readings

turn all the lights and stuff off and voltage across the battery returns to 12.5 volts

took it for a spin around the block, switched the car off and fired it back up again, started fine.

will take it for a longer spin tonight, prolly about 80 miles and see if the battery is flat when i return home as last time i did an 80 mile trip on a fully charged battery, the battery was dead when i got home.

Site Subscriber Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 502

Alternator

With the engine running lights on, 1500 RPM you should see between 13.5V and 14.8V. 14.8 is the max, any more its over charging.

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

righto, i'll swap out the alt tomorrow, got a spare one of those as well from the old white hatch

Gay Rights Activist Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 1268

did it work?

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

dunno, not been out for a spin in yet lol

I reckon its basicly running off the battery, the alt is not providing enough charge to keep the battery charged, so when u have lights on and stuff, its draining the battery

i'll swap out the alt tomorrow and test voltages again

Gay Rights Activist Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 1268

i see

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

you know my problem feels a bit like yours neo and i did suspect it could be the alternator as well but have not got the equipment to prove .

i am buying a new battery tomorrow hoping that it will solve the problem ,and i hope i am not barking at the wrong three doing that Rolling Eyes

Gay Rights Activist Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 1268

can u not get the alternator tested mate?

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

a simple multimeter will do the trick schaks

like this one

click here

loads on ebay

ebay

Gay Rights Activist Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 1268

yeah try that

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

stan wrote:

can u not get the alternator tested mate?

still means getting the alt off the car, so as i have to do that, i'll swap it out for my spare one and check voltage at the battery again

Gay Rights Activist Joined: 07 Apr 2004 Posts: 1268

yeah true

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

right than how does this sound

lets say the battery is duff(a few dead cells =low amp ) even though the alternator is charging normal yeah ?
would this affect the spark at the plugs ? and cause the car running rich in a way that more fuel is being pumped in to the chambers in order keep the revs normal ????? or am i thinking/talking shit ??????

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

ur talking shit

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

Wicked Neo wrote:

ur talking shit

thanks for the support mate Laughing

serious though , i wanna know what the feck is going on with my car .
it starts up fine for the last couple of days ,only messes up when hot
i.e ,cranks once or twice very weakly and nothing happens after
and starts up after 4-5 cranks when cold Rolling Eyes

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

in theory you could be having the exact same problem as i am, but first change your battery, its defo fucked if its only putting out half its stated ampage

Spammer Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 5717

Wicked Neo wrote:

in theory you could be having the exact same problem as i am, but first change your battery, its defo fucked if its only putting out half its stated ampage

thats what i am saying mofo ,
i still dont get one thing though , would the reading be low as it was ( 265amp on a 620 amp battery) if a perfectly battery was drained by non working alternator or another shortcut etc in the system ????? meaning the battery could be good in fact under normal circumstances ?

dont want to fork out 50 quid for nothing u see Wink

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

get a new battery, yours is fucked