Help me!!!!! PLEASE!!!

[mikereynolds]

Ok my mk2 16V is playing up and its really getting on my nerves!!
Heres the scenario...
Go to start the car from cold in the morning and it doesnt start straight away (although occasionally it does!) normally needs a few turns and a bit of gas to get it going. Took it to the garage and the said its the thermo time switch, so going to get one this week, however that doesnt really explain this....

If you turn the engine off and restart it its fine, most of the time! However sometimes the engine goes to start but the starter motor doesnt turn over and nothing happens, if you keep trying to start it the starter motor slowly turns over and then suddenly it will be fine again!
Also when its hot it sometimes wont even turn over and its just as if the battery is flat with the rev counter going crazy!!
Then finally tonight this happens!!....

Driving down the dual carriage way and come to set of traffic lights, so put her in neutral, but rather than the revs dropping toi 1000, they sit at 4000!!! which is kinda worrying, so I pulled over and popped the bonnet thinking that a sticky throttle cable was the problem, however that is not the case!!
So I turned the engine off and thought WTF!!!
My house was only 1mile away so I thought sod it i'll drive it home and then have a look, go to start the car and theres nothing.... not starter motor or anything resembling the car starting, I could hear the fuel pump priming but that was it!!
Decided to bump start the car but once again it sat at 4000, so turned it off, then bumped it again and the revs started at 1000 but slowly climbed to 4000!! So turned the car off. Still wouldnt start so bumped it again and then it idled fine!!! drove all the way home just as normal, and then it would start fine again!!!

Please help as its driving me mad!!!!!

Mike

[davidhawkins_78]

Hello matey - sorry to hear you're having issues with your baby !!!

Firstly, I doubt very much that this is one problem so prepare to be patient ....

With the starter motor have you checked the voltage on the battery, before / after / and during the engine running?? Sometimes with these cars there's a trickle charge when the engines off that drains the battery. Over time it's enough to kill it, but on a daily basis it's enough to give this type of problem.

First thing in the morning it should be around 13.4 volts - even a few below is enough to cause a problem.

As for the erratic idle, and the fact it's intermittent it might be a pain to fix !

I'd start with cleaning out the idle screw housing - then the throttle body - then check for air leaks and finally clean the isv, might be worth a new coolant temperature sensor too, only a few quid.

Hope this helps and these are only a few starters - might solve it , might not !!

[Gambit]

1. firstly test to see your ISV is workin. with the ignition on you should feel it buzzing if you touch it.


2. too much advance on the timing can also cause the starter motor to make hard work of starting the car - but obviously u cant check this till you get the high idle sorted.

3 what condition is the hall sender on the dizzy in?

[richandhazel]

Nice one David and Gambit. I thought there must be more than one problem there too. That advice is a good place to start, keep us updated on how you get on and hopefully we can narrow it down.

[mikereynolds]

Cheers guys will have a look later on today and keep you posted!

mike

[mikereynolds]

Right problems now sorted, many thanks for all your advice.
Turns out that the main earth had worked itself loose and so meant that the only earth was my immobiliser earth!! Also one of the senders on the back of the head had worked itself loose. I took the ISV off and gave it a good clean and now the revs drop much more freely and it doesnt stick at 4000rpm!

Many thanks guys

mike