GTA atmo not starting

[johnb]

In answer to johnC re the starter .

What I did do the other day was connect the meter across the battery and look at the voltage when the solenoid was clicking and the starter not rotating? It stayed at 12V. But I'll do the more detailed check that you suggest.

To make things easier before doing the first engine start attempt I bought a remote start switch and ran a new wire from the starter solenoid up the bulkhead and terminated it with a sheathed connector screwed to the bulkhead. I now just clip the switch across this connector and the battery positive terminal. The battery is in the engine compartment in the A310, against the bulkhead, so it's an easy connection to make. With the battery there, the heavy cable to the starter is short without any breaks. The earth cables from the battery -ve are also short.

Having the remote start switch makes things a lot easier.

Hi John B

I did exactly the same and also have a remote button in the engine bay a must if your working on your own. I have had intermittent problems with starting and charging. People will always say check your earths, however, the power leads are just as important. I recently found having replaced the power leads from the bulk head to the starter and then the solenoid/starter to the alternator. It was found that both cable had intermittent faults; of course I discounted the cables as being the problem as they had been replaced!! A mistake that cost me dearly about 3 alternators and starters and lot of time. Of course everytime I remade the connections the cables made contact and the problem temporarily solved itself only to re-occur again the problem alternating a nightmare I didn't know if I was coming or going or arriving TBH...drove me insane!!

The last issue was the battery went flat as the power lead failed to make good connection. I was competing in a sprint so I ran another positive heavy duty cable from the alternator up to the water pipe ran it round to the terminal at the bulkhead and now the starter spins over like any modern new car and no sluggish hot start problems and I now get a full 13.8 volts at the battery at tick-over. I have doubled up all earths from the battery and engine bay end and currently power leads at the engine bay end as well. New cables will be fitted when the engine comes out over the winter for a new box and clutch etc... I also checked voltage at the alternator check that the alternator is getting the right voltage to energise it I have had all these problems, ensure the multi-plugs at the bulkhead are making good connection...contact cleaner and some tie-wraps to keep them pulled together firmly works for me.

I hope some of these pointers help just some of experience i have had with the normally aspirated prv.

Many thanks to John C who took the time to PM me usually from somewhere else in the world!!

Si21

[johnb]

Thanks Simon, I'll take on board all you say.

I'll recheck all the power and earth cables even though I've taken them all off previously and replaced the battery to starter cable as this one had a join in it which had signs of overheating. I think the A310 is a bit simpler than the GTA with having the battery in the engine compartment, so the power and earth leads are relatively short and direct. I'll still recheck though.

My thanks to JohnC also for help on this topic and a previous issue.

Ah yes John I had forgotten the battery location is at the rear. The new cables I fitted were faulty and they threw up various issues at different times the result was two different intermittent faults that drove me crazy for 2.5 years !!!

I hope you find the fault as its no fun thinking you have fixed a problem only for it to reoccur time and time again.

Cheers Simon

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Johnb, if you know a local friendly sparky, the chances are he might have an IR thermal image camera, or find one you can borrow. It's how I check it.. Where there is volt-drop there is heat, and you just look for the hot spots or relative differences. So you can spin it over etc, and then go and have a look, the hot spot heat can be detected distinct for quite a while, so doesn't need to be real time. It's going to be a poor joint, crimp lug termination or similar. All gets revealed in nice handheld techni colour these days, back in the day they used to be a rucksack, big camera Nitrogen or CO2 cooled (can't remember which now) and black'n'white...

Martin

[johnb]

Hi Martin,

I'm not sure that I have a volt drop problem yet but that's an interesting point about temperature effect. I do have an IR temperature gun which might detect any high temperature spots but a camera would be better.