Birchall
Dick Chown Award 2016
My wife's A2 had a small issue this winter, the starter motor started to turn slower than usual.
The batter was the original one, so I bought a new one and it was better.
Then a month or so ago, after no indication of any problem, it failed to turn over.
Not a peep out of the starter motor.
I looked at the earth connection (externally) and it looked fine, almost like new.
So I bit the bullet and had a new starter motor fitted.
After 3 or 4 weeks the wife told me it wouldn't start the other day and I just thought it was a "blip", but then today it failed to turn over again.
So this time I decided that the only thing left was either a faulty starter switch (not a common fault) or the earth strap (a much more common fault, of course)
So I undid the bolt on the earth strap and after two turns it broke off!!!!
I could see that the face of the strap (the contact area) was dirty and grey and closer inspection of the bolt showed signs of arcing.
So I connected the earth strap to another bolt and "hey Presto" !!!!! All good!!!!
In the end a new battery and a new starter was probably not needed but no harm done and my wife now has a reliable car again.
But the Moral is, learn from the information on this forum and don't be lazy!!!!!!
My Bad !!!
Steve B
The batter was the original one, so I bought a new one and it was better.
Then a month or so ago, after no indication of any problem, it failed to turn over.
Not a peep out of the starter motor.
I looked at the earth connection (externally) and it looked fine, almost like new.
So I bit the bullet and had a new starter motor fitted.
After 3 or 4 weeks the wife told me it wouldn't start the other day and I just thought it was a "blip", but then today it failed to turn over again.
So this time I decided that the only thing left was either a faulty starter switch (not a common fault) or the earth strap (a much more common fault, of course)
So I undid the bolt on the earth strap and after two turns it broke off!!!!
I could see that the face of the strap (the contact area) was dirty and grey and closer inspection of the bolt showed signs of arcing.
So I connected the earth strap to another bolt and "hey Presto" !!!!! All good!!!!
In the end a new battery and a new starter was probably not needed but no harm done and my wife now has a reliable car again.
But the Moral is, learn from the information on this forum and don't be lazy!!!!!!
My Bad !!!
Steve B