So my black G40 has given me grief for about two years now with crappy starting ability... it started as an issue where it would not start from warm then developed to occasionally not starting when cold to now... not starting at all...
I have changed the obvious parts battery/starter motor/alternator wiring/alternator... and still no improvement!!! after changing all these bits I came to the conclusion that maybe the bottom end had seized up whilst it had been stood over winter or something along these lines, although it had a fresh HG and skim prior to being stood... I have just dropped a 1341 in from one of my other G40's (which ran and started fine everytime) and hey ho I am faced with the very same problem! It sounds like a flat battery even with jump leads and the battery charged up... I was hoping to get it running and then get it down to the pit and have a good look over it tonight but seen as darkness is now upon us and the car is still refusing to run it will have to wait until tomo!
I am basically wondering where common areas are that battery drains occur as I can only put it down to the fact that when the starter draws power to crank it cannot pull enough power to turn the car over/
Also wondering which wires you can get away with out running to the battery so that I can strip it back to the basics of the minimum electrics required to make the car run and hopefully from there identify the offending item...
A further possibility is that the imobiliser is playing up, I can still hear the fuel priming ok but not sure if they are usually linked in to fuel or ignition?? I tried spraying in some eay start and still no joy but oddly I am getting spark from the plugs I can hear a prime, I've tried adding easy start and it still does not fire it only cranks and very weakly at that.... is it usually best to leave removal to an expert????
Thanks for reading my essay any advice would be greatly appreciated...
Cheers,
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Have you examined or swapped the starter bush in the gearbox bell housing? If this is shafted then it can easily stop a starter from turning over properly - especially when warm and expanded slightly.
You can change this without taking the box off but have to be careful not to drop the bush into the bell housing. Remove starter, attack from underneath the car, get some plasticine and push into the starter bush then tap a metal drift that's a close fit into the plasticine and the bush will be pushed out under hydraulic pressure and be still wrapped around your drift (and so not in the bell housing!). Freeze the new bush overnight or for a few hours and then fit being careful not to damage the edges.
cheers man - this does seem logical, I'm going to try swapping parts over from the blue G to the black G and see if I can find the offending part that way but when I take the starter off I will check out the bush... I do remember checking this a few weekends ago when I fitted the 1341 and it looked fine to me.. I think the new starter did come with a new bush from recollection... will have to check the box!
I take it a knackered bush is just bent or something and therefore resticting the starter shaft from extending out fully and therefore the cog cannot engange properly... would I be correct in thinking that the starter would also not have the same power to turn the fly if it has not fully extended as it would have its full momentum at full extension and hence the lack of ability to continually crank?
Cheers,
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When on the car a visual check of the bush is very difficult, only if the gearbox is off can you tell by eye if it's cooked.
Yeah, you're on the right track - If the bush has failed then usually it will let the starter motor shaft in, but put a hell of a lot friction on it, gripping it if you like - makes it sound like the battery is flat because the starter is prevented from turning over at a decent speed. You can imagine that when the bush is warm it'll be an even closer fit and put even more friction on the starter shaft. If you've got a new bush handy then for the sake of an hour-hour and a half I'd definately change it. Do it as your first job as it seems you've changed almost everything else already ;) If you plan to do the job tomorrow then stick the new bush in the freezer tonight so it's good to go :)
Occasionally if it's completely fecked then it will prevent the shaft from fully extending, stopping the starter from engaging the flywheel.
All seems logical... I cant find the bush that came with the starter :( which means a 60 mile round trip from my parents to my house to pop the one out of a spare box I have at home and back again!!! I'll call by tesco and grab some plastercine to... guessing blutac will do the same job if I cant get any plastercine..?
Cheers,
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Aye, blutac will be fine. Bugger about the spare bush :-[
Good luck! Fingers crossed for you
bush on my spare box is knackered... so think I'm going to have to buy a starter motor just to get the bush tomo... or I could be sensible and order one from TPS and wait till next weekend... but so frustrating when its so close!!!
Think I'll have to leave it rather than waste the cash on a new motor... might go for the ever so fun job of valve time asjustment on the beemer instead tomo!! fun times!!!
Yeah, wise choice on the bush. Sorry to hear your spare is knackered too.
As it's a pain in the arse getting to the bush on the car (but can be done), it would be worth practicing the removal, finding yourself the right sized drift, refitting etc on your spare box, if you didn't plan to already.
Cheys = hero!!!
£3 from vw... bush fitted and car fires up!!! there was actually no bush in there at all!! not sure how or when that happend but I dont car because the 1341 now lives!!! just need a rad fan switch and we're good to go!!!
Only down side is whilst on a trip out in the blue G40 to get it some nice high octane petrol for the black G I overtook a car doing 30 in a 50 (apparently on double whites - need to check that later) and hadnt spotted the police behind me damn misty up polo windows! Sadly this means points and points definitely do not mean prizes unless higher insurance is a prize?
Awesome dude! Very happy for you (except the points)!
What sucks the most is that I went back to the road last night and it was 100% not on double whites, really frustrating because I didnt mention it when cautioned that I didnt think it was double whites because I thought they'd start on the due care and attention route...
They also told me I can plead not guilty but its not worth it because there was two of them as witnesses (not sure thats even legal to say that... regardless of the fact that its blantantly true!)
I wouldnt mind if I'd done something wrong (and I am not suggesting that I always stick to the rules) but leaves a bitter taste in your mouth about the state of our police force when you've done nothing wrong and are just ticked off on a list of targets/achievements for an officer... in my eyes it is a case of an officer looking for a situation to fit in to a crime, rather than seeing a crime and acting on it...
Pffffft anyway life goes on... I'm off to get the 1341 over the pit and get tinkering...
Cheers again for your help Cheys
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