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Poor starting.....


del mar
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Morning,

2003 car.

Getting trickier to start. I assumed it was the immobilizer as some random pressing of the button would sometimes illicit a response but it could be the starter motor on the way out.

Has anybody seen immobilizer problems or is it likely to be the starter motor ?

Thanks

Del

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When it does fire it starts up without issue, when driving it charges at 14v. If it was battery I would assume it struggled to turn over but it fires well.

the coils are 18 months old.

The starter does click bit doesn’t always fire up. Now is that starter or the immobiliser not switching off?

thanks

 

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It's the starter... no need to think about it. Everyone is going to have this problem there is no avoiding it.

Time to kill the red herring. Blaming MEDS, connectivity, weak battery.  All have LITTLE to do with the problem. Replace your battery.... clean your terminals... it starts "better"... but still not the same as it once was before. All waste of time.

Progression is as follows:

Year 1. Hmm... car didn't start the first time... that was weird... maybe I didn't disengage the immobilizer.
Year 2. Hmm... car isn't firing up with the ferocity it did back in the day... maybe the battery is weak or it's my wiring/terminals
Year 3. Hmm... cold starts are now 1K RPM then it climbs from there not sounding normal... maybe it's a combination of all the above
Year 4. Wait a minute... maybe it is the starter... I'm having to turn the key 2+ times to get it to turn over
Year 5. Yeah it's the starter... damn it should have just fixed the starter to begin with and not waste years dealing with this problem...

 

Don't waste time... fix the starter.

 

 

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If your battery is old,  I would change the battery first.  But don't put the fender liner and the wheel back on since removing them will be part of changing the starter. 

With that said, I agree with PoKnow.  Your starter is most likely the culprit.

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Thank you for your suggestions.

I will start with the cheapest easiest option and work up form there.

Battery is a few years old now, and I have never changed the key fob battery.

Being on lockdown means I have the time to play with the starter motor, although the rebuild shop is closed !

 

Thanks

Del

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Yeah ditto to all above. I suffered for a couple years before I eventually got stuck with no staring at all (and if you can't start it and need to raise the front for any reason such as pushing out of an uneven driveway for tow or getting it on a tow truck, it will not raise to save your front lip). With the guys here they helped guide me through the process of putting a remote starter on the starter to send all the juice right to the starter and I was able to start it that way to get it to the shop for a new starter. You can read the link below about my issue if you want. But before all that also a tech told me to check if the dome light comes on right after disarming with the fob and opening the door, because if it doesn't come on sometimes the car alarm thinks the car was not entered properly and so the ignition alarm is still set. Good luck with it, maybe you just need a rebuild/cleaning and new solenoid but with me I learned the dealerships don't rebuild and just put in new parts. Ok with me, hopefully I'm good for another 10 years.

https://www.lambopower.com/forum/index.php?/topic/83070-starter-problem/

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Afternoon

Was bored yesterday morning so I took the starter motor out. It was easier than changing the oil !

the car lives on a 4 post lift so I can sit on a chair and reach the starter motor. Getting the wheel off was the hardest part- it is just fiddly finding a jacking point on a 4 post lift.

battery shows 12.68 and the car hadn’t been out for a couple of weeks.

i didn’t remove anything, big oil line is still in place handbrake cable is still there. The front but 19mm spanner, the top nut 17mm socket. I could get about 2 clicks on the ratchet but that was Just enough to be able to ind the nut. I would have struggled without the inspection camera though. I reckon under an hour once I had finished p****ing about with the wheel.

Hopefully the repair shop can have a look at it next week.

thanks for all the suggestions and LW for his thread on removing the starter, will report back on the outcome.

del

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  • 3 weeks later...

Refitting was harder than removal !

I have an inspection camera and could see the top bolt clearly, i could get the nut on the end of the bolt quite easily but struggled to get it to bite.

the nut is held perfectly square in the socket and the angle of the bolt against the angle i could get the socket at meant they never quite mated together. In the end i had to put spring washer in the socket under the nut so that is sat at a slight angle in the socket. It fitted first time and was done using one to two clicks on the ratchet at a time.

Rather than start it i found myself helping a neighbour with his Toyota MMT gearbox - gearbox actuator and clutch actuator aren't work so need to come out.

 

Will try again this evening

  

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