Hi fellas,

Can't find a relevant forum to post this in, so hopefully this will do. Also had a bit of a search to see if anyone else has had the same problem, but couldn't find much.

A few weeks ago I had the battery replaced, as I was having troubles starting my car. What was happening was that I had to hold the key (when starting it up) for about 10-15 seconds each time for the motor to eventually turn over and start as normal. Once it started turning over there were no problems with it getting up and running after a couple of turns.

Now, I seem to be having the same problem with the new battery. I'm not sure if it is actually the battery doing it this time though.. as it's only a few weeks old. When turning the key this time, nothing happens at all - it's as if I am trying to start the car in gear.. the comes up on the dash and there is no sound.. then eventually it will turn over and start without a problem.

Soooooo.. just wondering if anybody has any ideas in regards to what it could be ? Something to do with the gear selector (although not having any troubles while actually driving the car.. so I don't think it could be that) stopping the car from starting "in gear" ?? Another dead battery ? What would that mean ? What about the Spark plugs ? I really have no idea.. I'm not that mechanically minded.. so I'm really hoping some of you guys can give me a hand.

Cheers,

-Dave

well does sound like there is no current to get ur starter to move. if u turn terminal 30 on (ignition on) and turn head likghts on do they light up correctly? if so then sounds like possibly starter motor problem or ecu relay ect.
if there is no power though to crank, ur car might have a high current discharge when u lock ur car. so some thing is not turning off eg lights. ecu relay ect.

its hard to say what it is with out checking over it. do u have a mutimeter if so check batt voltage.
also i take it its a auto. try moving the lever when cranking see if that helps.

Thanks for the quick reply !

I don't have a multimeter so I can't check the battery voltage, however the headlights and everything else operates as normal with the key switched to ignition.. so might have to get the starter motor checked out. I'll goto a sparkie tomorrow and see what they say.

Thanks again !

EDIT: and yes, it's an auto.

Last edited by char on Wed Jul 27, 2005 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Exactly the same thing has been happening to my mates car, thought it was the battery but is still doing it with the new one. Gradually got worse and worse and now the car won't even crank over, turn the key and all you get is the click of a relay nothing else.
Have tried another working battery and same problem. I'm guessing its the starter motor and will be trying another in it tomorrow.

Yeah, pretty sure it isn't the battery, but the old battery did need replacing.

The car hadn't been driven for about 5 or 6 weeks a while back - maybe that has something to do with it ?? *shrugs* hehe.

I asked my brother and he is a mechanic . . . he reckons from what it sounds like it may be your starter motor. Just an idea he reckons from what you have said. Get it checked out cause they delay your experiencing when trying to turn the car on is draining your battery as well. He had the same problem on his v8 manual xe, he decided to change his starter motor and guess what . . problem solved. Before he did that his battery was being drained so sounds like the same thing he had.

same as me.

Starter motor ahoy. $220 or so fitted.

also: I was lucky enough that when i spoke to woman at local garage about buying a battery she was like yeah go get them to check it out first (auto elecs), i mean i can sell you a battery but you'll probably be wasting your money.

turned out it was the starter.

Okay guys, thanks heaps for all the help ! I'll take her in today and see how much that's gonna cost me, hehe.

Cheers,
-Dave

sounds like the inhibetor or how ever you spell it, it tells the car wat gear it is in, and sometimes it can tell it it is in the wrong gear when it is dirty, and it will display the (!) in the dash...i'm pretty sure fuz wrote up a docco for it

i just had a check, seems that it wasnt recovered after the site crash...so mite help to send fuzion a pm

Hmmm.. interesting. Yeah I'd have no idea how to check that out myself without any help, hehe. Thanks for that.

Just thought I'd let everyone know that I gave the inhibitor switch a bit of a degrease and all that, and don't seem to have the problem anymore.. at least for now.

Cheers !

hi this might sound very stupid but i have the same problem with my car turn the key and nothing happens at all. what i found out was that if i held it on start and then tap or hit the econ switch it would start like normal havent ever bothered finging out why this is but ..... good security sytem

Haha, that's some crazy stuff. Will have to keep that in mind whenit happens again.. I have a feeling it will, hehe.

same here.. i got the sort of the same problem. turn the key and take about 10 secs to kick over....but my dad keeps on saying i have to wait for the gas to go to the engine so it can kick over... but went i bought the car at the begining of the year it didnt do that? also when the car is warm the engine startes straight away?? any idea... i got a spare starter motor, should i try that one and see if it works?? any info will help.. thanks