HELP! 1.4TDi not starting

[A2A2]

Our 2005 A2 1.4TDi has been in the family for the last 7 years and has run to 131,000 with no starting gremlins at all. A few days ago an attempt to start produced only two or three clicks from the starter solenoid. Assuming a flat battery we successfully started with jump leads. A new battery was fitted same day but the car still failed to start, just clicking from the starter and not turning over. A push got it going and it ran perfectly after firing up. Today I replaced the starter with a new one and having ensured that the battery was fully charged tried a start. The starter turned and the engine started. I then switched off and tried a restart- just clicking again!! Has anyone had this problem and can offer some advice on what to try next? For further information, I did clean up and check the starter earth lead. The car is used for 3 hours motorway driving four days a week so is regularly driven. I did consider a possibly poor alternator output, but the new battery ought to have eliminated that as a suspect. Thanks for any advice...

 

[Birchall]

Our 2005 A2 1.4TDi has been in the family for the last 7 years and has run to 131,000 with no starting gremlins at all. A few days ago an attempt to start produced only two or three clicks from the starter solenoid. Assuming a flat battery we successfully started with jump leads. A new battery was fitted same day but the car still failed to start, just clicking from the starter and not turning over. A push got it going and it ran perfectly after firing up. Today I replaced the starter with a new one and having ensured that the battery was fully charged tried a start. The starter turned and the engine started. I then switched off and tried a restart- just clicking again!! Has anyone had this problem and can offer some advice on what to try next? I did clean up and check the starter earth lead.

That is almost certainly just the common fault of a bad earth on the starter motor lead (the end of the lead that bolts to the chassis on the right hand side of the engine bay) check out the position shown in the "How to" Index section.

That will almost certainlyt be the cause.

Steve B

 

[wilco184]

I'd agree with Steve, it's almost certainly this.

For reference, the 'how to' index is here.

Matt.

 

[A2A2]

Thanks for the advice Sam & Matt. A brand new earth cable arrived today and after fitting it I turned the key in great expectation. No such luck, the symptoms are just the same, just clicking from the ( new) starter solenoid. I have reinstalled the original battery, which the AA chappie had checked and pronounced as good, so maybe that is the problem after all. I will probably refit a brand new one, but meanwhile any further suggestions of what could be wrong?

 

[Birchall]

Thanks for the advice Sam & Matt. A brand new earth cable arrived today and after fitting it I turned the key in great expectation. No such luck, the symptoms are just the same, just clicking from the ( new) starter solenoid. I have reinstalled the original battery, which the AA chappie had checked and pronounced as good, so maybe that is the problem after all. I will probably refit a brand new one, but meanwhile any further suggestions of what could be wrong?

Did you sand down the area around the bolt hole on the chassis end?

Is the clicking coming from the starter motor or from the key area?

If your new starter is not faulty (and they sometimes are so please check) the it must be either the earth or the wiring connections / ignition barrel.

There really isn't anything else.

But it if you just changed the starter earth lead without cleaning the contact area around the bolt then it still may be that. It often looks ok even when it isn't.

Steve B

 

[JIGSAW]

if youv already cleaned up the earth under the bonnet, it can only be either end of the positive , red covered wire, id remove terminals from your battery and clean the batterys posts and on the inside of the curve of the batterry connectors , also check, undo the smaller 10mm red wire that splits from the main positive battery lead and clean as this goes directly to the starter

 

[ExV6Avant]

Starter relay ?

 

[Birchall]

Starter relay ?

Yes, worth suggesting, thanks.

But the OP stated that he has fitted a new battery and a new starter.

it is not impossible for the new starter to be faulty, but it would be quite a coincidence.

I suppose that it would be possible to bench test the old starter motor that was removed (and the new one, but since the old one is off?) and if that works on the bench then it was not the starter motor anyway.

Steve B

 

[A2A2]

Thanks for the advice everyone. To test Steve B's last advice, I ran a jumper cable straight off the starter mountings to the battery earth terminal and found the car started right away.This morning I took the new earth lead off the chassis connection and cleaned everything up with emery cloth and file. Job done, everything back to normal! Thanks again.

 

[Birchall]

Thanks for the advice everyone. To test Steve B's last advice, I ran a jumper cable straight off the starter mountings to the battery earth terminal and found the car started right away.This morning I took the new earth lead off the chassis connection and cleaned everything up with emery cloth and file. Job done, everything back to normal! Thanks again.

I am always pleased when the information on this forum helps people with their problems.
Thank you for taking the time to let us know the outcome, this will certainly help others with similar problems.

Cheers
Steve B

 

[dangp]

Hello, I have the same problem, can you please explain how you easily reached to detach the earth bolt from the chassis? Seems that is very tight in there and I cannot remote it to clean.

 

[Howey]

Hello, I have the same problem, can you please explain how you easily reached to detach the earth bolt from the chassis? Seems that is very tight in there and I cannot remote it to clean.

Just add an additional earth lead from offside engine mount to drive belt tensioner top bolt, Halfords do them for under £3!

 

[dangp]

I can't undo the bolt from starter either Because of its position, I don't have enough leverage. How can be easily done?

 

[rotifer II]

I can't undo the bolt from starter either Because of its position, I don't have enough leverage. How can be easily done?

Remove the fan. That is quick and easy.

Post in thread 'Stubborn AUA engine fitted to a 1.4 petrol BBY car refuses to start'

12 Apr 2025

After working most of the day on the car this evening, I completed the tasks I had planned out this morning. These included replacing the green upper and blue lower coolant temperature sensors, fitting the new crankcase oil separator, and using VCDS to bleed the brakes plus fit the nylon rollers in the passenger door check strap. Removing the cooling fan to make extra working space is my new three-minute tip to gain access to the front portion of the engine bay.

Compared to the petrol A2 I usually drive, I had noticed that starting this engine required a few more cranks...

• rotifer II

 

[Little Dog]

I can't undo the bolt from starter either Because of its position, I don't have enough leverage. How can be easily done?

Lets deal with the space frame end first. UK car with a few miles on it? The bolt is gripped by galvanic corrosion. Get the right tools to shift it and the head may just shear off.

Go no further with the earth just yet.

Use jump leads to jump the engine to the space frame.
Does iit start?
Yes, supplementary earth as suggested by @Howey will do the trick.
No, start with a VCDS scan (I have assumed there is plenty of fuel and the fuel filter has been serviced, no crushed fuel pipes under the car etc?).

The engine end of the earth strap is secured by a nut not a bolt, I think. Sturdy well fitting tools should get that easily. But there is no point:

If the earth strap is not your problem
If the space frame end screw shears
A supplementary earth fixes things

 

[Robin_Cox]

I can't undo the bolt from starter either Because of its position, I don't have enough leverage. How can be easily done?

If you haven't done this before and are trying to access from above where the bonnet should be it is extremely difficult to get to the earthing point from above because of the ABS and a/c pipework.

Undo the passenger (UK)-side headlight securing bolts (two Torx T27 normally) - one on top of the headlamp, and the other lower down inboard of the headlamp. Release the headlamp forwards and undo the loom connector. Then remove the headlamp altogether.

This now gives you near-direct access to the earthing point with a socket extension bar - it is about a foot behind where the front of the headlamp lower edge was located in situ, but almost straight on which makes having a good go at the bolt (and subsequent wire brush cleaning) much easier.

As @rotifer II has said - getting more access to the starter motor can be achieved by removing the fan assembly to give more room to work. Bonnet drain cup can also be easily removed for access purposes (but make sure it is correctly positioned when it goes back on or it can cause long-term gearbox issues).

 

[dangp]

Hello, thank you all. I managed to repair the car, now it starts again. Unfortunatelly i disconnected by mistake a small hose that comes from the washer reservoir and i dont know from where it came. Anyone can help?

 

[Robin_Cox]

Isn't that the pipe that is connected directly to the outlet from the pump to take screenwash to the spray heads?

By the look of things it is still attached at the pump end, which means that it has been disconnected somewhere above this, meaning that you will spray screenwash all over the engine bay but not onto the windscreen.

The tube connecting to the spray heads runs underneath the scuttle from just to the right (if you are standing in front of the car) of where the passenger-side spray head is located, but underneath the scuttle, then along to the right edge of the engine bay and forwards just inside the wing - from memory it is normally clipped together with the wiring loom that runs forward to the side of the coolant expansion vessel. Somewhere just behind the headlight on that side it then splits downwards towards the pump, and I am guessing that it is around here, just behind the headlight casing that it has been disconnected. Should be able to put it back together using a piece of silicone aquarium tubing of appropriate diameter and a couple of small cable ties to clamp it in place.

 

[dangp]

its not the tube of wash fluid, I tested it. When spraying it comes nothing through that tube. The tube for fluid is somewhere underneath the reservor close to its pump. Windhsield sprsying works good

 

[Robin_Cox]

Is it that rubber tube visible in the centre running downwards vertically? I don't know what it does but it is fixed to the frame that secures the outboard end of the headlight casing.