S2 Won't start

[GBreadner]

The car started Ok but having left it for 20 minutes I returned and no life at all. I can hear the fuel pump clicking but when I turn the ignition to go all I get it is a load click . The engine is not turning over. If anyone could help with a diagnosis process it would be much appreciated. thanks all. Gary

[Sparky]

sounds like battery or starter. got a voltmeter?

[Sir Paolo]

If the static charge of the battery is less than 12.4v, it is in need of an overnight charge.

If it fails to retain charge after this, suspect faulty battery, or a short in the electrics.

[molemot]

Could be battery..or connections. Battery terminals often get corroded and give this sort of result. Easy check is to turn on the headlights and then try to start...if the lights go dim suspect the battery terminals. Doesn't need much resistance to limit the current available, and starters draw several hundred amps when first energised. Good old Ohm's law gives R=V/I, so maximum resistance to get (say) 480 amps would be 12/480 = 1/40th of an ohm. Wot isn't much. The click you hear is the starter solenoid operating, most likely....you could try connecting the +ve terminal of the battery directly to the starter motor with a jump lead...if you look at the starter, you will see the solenoid on top and the connection to it from the ignition/starter switch. If you get an accomplice to operate the keystart whilst you connect the battery directly to the motor terminal (the one that connects to the solenoid) then you will be able to see if the solenoid itself is the culprit...if the engine turns over (and might even start!) then the current is being limited by the solenoid internal connections. When the solenoid operates, it moves a lever system which engages the starter motor with the ring gear...then there is a great big copper plate inside which contacts two others, all living inside the solenoid, and this switches the electricity to the starter motor. These copper contacts can deteriorate and you don't get enough power to work the starter. If it is this, then you can dismantle the solenoid and sort them out....it needs soldering and a giant soldering iron (one of the times I get out my old tinman's iron, a large chiunk of copper on a stick, essentially; heated up on the gas stove!) to dismantle it, but it's not complicated.....a new or recon one is easier, though! I remember rebuilding the solenoid from a Moto Guzzi T3 using an extemporised soldering iron and a camping gaz stove.....

[CharlieCroker]

Try a good battery, your's maybe on it's way out. Could be that you've toasted an internal wire somewhere from the dash to the coil, happened to me, fried the tacho wire, car wouldn't start until we re-wired the unit from the back of the tacho to the coil. A whole day of pulling our hair out until we diagnosed the problem!

[madmax]

I had a similar problem where everything electric would work but the starter.

Used a jump pack to start it, running the negative lead straight to a good EARTH rather than to the neg lead on the battery.

When I got home I cleaned the main EARTH lead connection in the engine bay, Copper slip'd it and it's been fine since

Hope that helps as it was an easy fix