overheating issues

Well, the inevitable has happened!

My daily driver Volvo has been in the garage all week with a spongy brakes problem so I was forced to use my GTA for the commute to and from work. Got caught in a traffic jam on the way home last night. The temp gauge went into the red and the car started to stutter and cut out on me. I pulled over to a lay-by at the roadside and waited for it to cool down and the traffic to clear enough for me to set off again but it wouldn't start. Tried a jump start off a friendly local but that didn't work so had to wait 3 hours for the AA to send a recovery truck to get me home.

I checked the car over while I was waiting for the recovery. Non of the coolant hoses had burst but there was some wetness around the radiator fan switch and the bottom hose from the engine to the rear bulkhead where it joins the metal hose, I'm guessing is water seeping past from the pressure of the heat. Anyway, when I try to start the car it doesn't even try to fire. I can here the fuel pump relay click and the fuel pump buzzing but all I get is a metallic clicking sound when I turn the key, like a stuck starter motor or something. I'm wondering if the heat has fried something? Any suggestions what to check? I fitted a new dizzy cap and rotor arm and cleaned out the idle control valve the other week.

Cheers, Juzz.

Will it crank/turn over ? Try by hand .
Pull the plugs and have a nose .

......but all I get is a metallic clicking sound when I turn the key,

When you turn the key and get that click, do the all small indication lamps (ign etc) stay on or go out?

Cheers fellas,

Lee, the engine won't crank at all, haven't tried taking thde plugs out yet, the weather's pretty awful here at the mo & got to go and badger ther garage about my Volvo!

John, the ignition warning lights flicker on and off when I turn the key in time with what sounds like the starter clicking at the back. Also, curiously, the fuel computer display goes funny and reads: 18.8888.8 but will go back to normal if I press the red reset button, but will then read funny again with all the 8s if I try cranking it again.

[BIG_MVS]

Knackered Alternator? Or bad earth to it?

Put the car on a trickle charge for a few hours then give it a go?

I know it's most probably NOT related but does sound a bit like battery problems if the dash has apparently gone crazy.

I've had similar - especially before I started using a battery conditioner gizmo to keep things topped up while the car was hiding in the garage. I had a well-topped up battery but it was a bit low on the Ah rating and when running all the fans etc on a blast down the M6/M40, wouldn't start the car when I tried to leave Warwick services.

I've seen my speedo whoosh round to 170mph and the other instruments show all kinds of nonsense when the battery has got into this sort of state and won't turn the starter.
If the car's been sitting in the garage for a while in the recent poor weather, might be worth checking this out even though the main problem is obviously the overheating.

On the starter being naughty, it sounds like the starter solenoid could be stuck. I've also experienced this before I had the starter replaced. It seems that when they're a bit past it, being near the exhaust etc. the heat causes the starter to stick so that all you get is a quiet click instead of a turn over. I usually found that whacking the starter with a wheel brace sorted it but if not, I just had to wait for everything to cool off (e.g. the time it took the RAC to arrive when it happened when my wife was out on her own in the car - started first time when the RAC guy tried it... ) or bump start the car. An occasion nuisance turned into a more regular and tricky to solve problem at which point, I replaced the starter (well, Mr Sage did!).

On the overheating. Have you received / fitted the new thermostat you talked about before?

Could just be that a combination of glitches have struck at once - assuming all the fans were blowing full pelt with possibly lights and wipers going the battery might have been taking a hammering, the heat sticking the starter...

Might seem a bit out-there but what you describe sound familiar.

Jon

Yes ,crazy dash is more than likely charge related .Check bat ,alt etc and I need not say your earths .
Give the solenoid a twating with a brummie spanner .

the ignition warning lights flicker on and off when I turn the key in time with what sounds like the starter clicking at the back. Also, curiously, the fuel computer display goes funny and reads: 18.8888.8 but will go back to normal if I press the red reset button, but will then read funny again with all the 8s if I try cranking it again.

Justin,That that tells me is the battery voltage is dropping to near zero when this happens. A few things spring to mind:-
1. Poor connection at battery....try cleaning battery connections (Both + & -)
2. Poor Earth ( ) where batt - is attached to body.
3. Faulty Battery....even though you have tried jump start.
4. Faulty starter.
I would start with cleaning connections, then trying another battery...not jump start....(or get battery checked out with a heavy discharge meter)...if all this does not cure fault, then it could be the starter motor itself

I had starting problems a few years back, it turned out to be a poor connection to the starter motor, one of the little wires. Just giving them a wiggle seemed to fix it...... for a few weeks. I undid the connections, cleaned them up , checked the spade eyes and crimped them up a bit.
Been fine since, thankfully.

Like others, give the battery a nice charge up, batteries hate the cold and cranking power can fall off dramatically.

If you want to "specifically" test the battery you need one of those tools/devices which draws a big current for a short time.

A substitute way is to watch the battery voltage while you have the ignition on and all lights and high current devices on. Normally they say enough devices to draw a current of half the amperage of the battery. Just do it for 15-20 sseconds and the voltage should not drop much at all. Alternatively, you can just turn the car over for 15-20 secs on the starter motor and see what the voltage does (but disconnect the ignigtion so it does not fire). This sustained load gives the batterry a good work out.

Maybe Plan-A is better suited to your symptons at the moment if you have starter issues too, but at least you can rest your mind that you have a reasonably good battery.

Good luck.

And Check ALL your earths, even the one between gearbox and transmission tunnel, maybe put an extra one between the engine head and LH rear turret (it was a mod on later cars).

Thanks for the replies chaps. I think what you're all saying sounds right. I did restart it on the key a few times when it started cutting out and I did have all my lights on, radio, cabin fan, engine fans and rad fan all going and the battery did sound weak the last time I restarted it before it completely died. So the idea of a dead battery and a stuck starter due to the heat does sound plausible. I'll try going out and giving the starter a thwack later when the weather's hopefully dried up a bit. Thanks.

Battery Load Tester.....
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/produ ... ery-tester

and it looks like Big MVS has a Starter Motor too, if that really is your problem.

So the idea of a dead battery and a stuck starter due to the heat does sound plausible. I'll try going out and giving the starter a thwack later when the weather's hopefully dried up a bit. Thanks.

.....before you try anything, clean connections and charge battery first

I'll try going out and giving the starter a thwack later when the weather's hopefully dried up a bit.

....the safer way of freeing a stuck starter pinion (if in fact it is stuck) is to put the car in gear...handbrake off, and rock the car backwards and fowards. The moment the flywheel moves, the pinion will disengage and spring back.....no risk of damage

not as satisfying as twating it tho ...
stupid, thud ! piece of ,thud ! French , thud ! sh-it !! thud thud thud !!!!!

I'm going to take the battery off at the weekend and give it a good charge and then have a look at the starter. I do prefer Lee's method but agree John's way is more sensible.