Car not starting. Clicking noise.

[Solarion]

@OP. Have your starter motor checked out. The Solenoid could be burned out/needing new brushes.

 

[Colin62]

@OP. Have your starter motor checked out. The Solenoid could be burned out/needing new brushes.

Checking the solenoid is easy - just short across the two thick leads with a spanner and the starter should turn. If it doesn't, it's not the solenoid. Don't use an expensive spanner, it might get damaged a bit.

 

[SauRoNZA]

My car started doing this, coupled with all sorts of other weird symptoms (inc central locking refusing to lock, dashboard lights pulsing). After the car was towed in to a dealership they simply diagnosed it as a new battery being needed ... R1 200 later, perfectly working car again.

I've always had a sneaking suspicion the dealership lied and were actually covering up some other fault, because I've never seen a flat battery affect a car like that before, but then again the last time I had a flat battery it was on an old 1990s Toyota Conquest

What car?

On a VW the one-touch up/down stops working on the electric windows when the battery starts going wonky. Seems to reset the setting when it runs low or something.

So I'm sure it will do similar things on other cars.

 

[Colin62]

With everything being run off electronics, you get all sorts of weird faults when the battery is dying and voltages drop. Usually they vanish when the battery is replaced.

 

[AfricanTech]

Much hilarity in this thread...

@OP, Tokai Battery Centre closest one I know of


Tokai (Cape Town)
268 Main Road
(021) 701 6509
-34.069538, 18.458083

Operating Hours
Monday - Friday: 08:30 - 17:00
Saturday: 08:30 - 12:00

^cut and paste from their website

 

[bromster]

UPDATE: Battery Centre put the battery under load until one of the cells started smoking. Dead. Buying a Willard replacement and will advise later.

 

[Fazda]

UPDATE: Battery Centre put the battery under load until one of the cells started smoking. Dead. Buying a Willard replacement and will advise later.

Ha!!

I rest my case!

 

[Colin62]

Ha!!

I rest my case!

There was some seriously dodgy advice in this thread.

 

[Fazda]

There was some seriously dodgy advice in this thread.

I know - that's why I originally posted.

Guys tend to know very little about a subject, but somehow feel that they have to give their advice, and 99% of the time they are wrong by a Country Mile!

 

[AfricanTech]

Sounds like your battery is shot

UPDATE: Battery Centre put the battery under load until one of the cells started smoking. Dead. Buying a Willard replacement and will advise later.

 

[bromster]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I was completely stumped. I couldn't understand how a battery could go from working 100% one day to not even trying the next. This, coupled with the fact that the battery voltage suggested that the battery was fully charged, is why I suspected something more sinister than a simple battery change.

But as soon as it was put under strain, it folded like a cheap hooker. And here I am, back on the road.

Did I mention how much myBB rocks?

 

[thehuman]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I was completely stumped. I couldn't understand how a battery could go from working 100% one day to not even trying the next. This, coupled with the fact that the battery voltage suggested that the battery was fully charged, is why I suspected something more sinister than a simple battery change.

But as soon as it was put under strain, it folded like a cheap hooker. And here I am, back on the road.

Did I mention how much myBB rocks?

That is what bateries do
Wait till one explode underneath the seat you are sitting
Old type vw beatle

 

[SauRoNZA]

My guess is that the battery doesn't have enough oomph to start motor.

But why doesn't jump start work then?

 

[Segg]

But why doesn't jump start work then?

Exactly my thoughts, if a jump worked with decent cables in the past, it should work again unless the battery is really really badly borked

 

[SauRoNZA]

Exactly my thoughts, if a jump worked with decent cables in the past, it should work again unless the battery is really really badly borked

Should work without battery even.



Unless OP is wiring it wrong, battery to battery.

 

[Sinbad]

Should work without battery even.



Unless OP is wiring it wrong, battery to battery.

Nope, you don't get enough current down the jumper.

 

[SauRoNZA]

Nope, you don't get enough current down the jumper.

Not even if the other car is running?

 

[Sinbad]

Not even if the other car is running?

nope. Tiny contact area on the crocodile clips

 

[SauRoNZA]

nope. Tiny contact area on the crocodile clips

Interesting.

I've never had a car not start with jumpers.

 

[Sinbad]

Interesting.

I've never had a car not start with jumpers.

Normally you need to let the donor car charge the flat battery for a bit, unless you have a really good set of cables