PVRS

Hello, could be the starter? First just check your battery cables are tight still? And put a multimeter across the new battery aswell just to check its at least 12.6V. What engine do you have? Mine is the 2.0TDi and if you remove the air filter housing you can inspect the starter. Could be a lot of corrision, perished braided cable or faulty starter? Either way its not too hard to get to and test. If you have a multimeter and are reasonably competant you can test for voltage at the starter (at least 12V) and voltage from the signal wire (5V if I remember right) when turning the key. If you have both and the starter does nothing then you'll need a new one.

If you've gone genuine, you wont need to mod. Mine was aftermarket so you might be alright. When I say Mod, you have 2 options. 1. Take out the rubber seal inside the loom plug 2. Use a hacksaw and take 2-3 mm of the plug housing on the new starter. Neither are ideal but still going strong

Solved!!!!!! Hope this helps somebody in the future. Always go with your instinct! I had the new starter in and tried to crank but still no start. When I had both starters off the vehicle I bench tested them. I didn't put 12V to the connector plug. Just bridged to the other large terminal and it only span the motor. I thought this might have been a new faulty unit not realising that the solenoid is only going to work if you connect a feed to the connector plug. Seems obvious I know to some. Anyway, with both the starters off I at least inspected both to ensure they were the same and curiosity made me think the pin inside the new starter was further inside the plug housing than the old unit but proceeded to fit it anyway. FItted and still no crank. I wasn't sure the plug was making contact with the new starter pin so this morning I made a short cable to go between pin and plug. Had multimeter on to check voltage when turning key and boom, fired up perfectly. The new starter plug pin was infact further inside the plug housing and not making contact with the old wiring loom connector plug. So a slight modification to the loom plug and everything is fine once again! Thanks for the help and advice! again hope this helps someone in the future.

1st pic, braided cable perished to dust. 2nd pic to show 2 terminals + connector plug

Hello, Thanks for your reply. The old starter is done. I touched that braided cable with a screwdriver and it perished into dust. This is why I bought a new starter. So unfortunately no good cleaning up and refitting. Will get a pic up later of the old starter. When you say the solenoid winding terminal, do you just mean the terminal on the left in the picture? If so, I have already fed 12V to this terminal (whilst starter fitted, so Positive on the terminal in the right and body to ground) and it only spins the motor on the new unit. I will supply a 12V feed to the starter plug pin to see if that helps to activate as I am not sure the new starter plug pin is making contact with the wiring loom plug. Thanks

Hello again. Hoping someone can help me still? Am I being stupid? When I bench tested these starters the motors span but they didn't move out. I thought, maybe they freewheel and are always touching? Ive done the same principle on the car by joining the positive feed on the starter to the solenoid bolt and can hear the motor spin freely with no resistance so not engaging with the flywheel. Has my new starter also got a bad new solenoid meaning no power when connected up normally hence when bridging and bench twsting it only spins the motor? And Ive just been a muppet this whole time? Thanks again

Hello I am having a no crank issue with my Octavia 2.0L turbo diesel. I hadn't used my car for a few days. Loaded it up to go on holiday, went to turn the key and it cranked but very laboured and didn't start. Tried again but no crank this time. Put on jump leads and left for a while. Still no crank. Swapped bits over in the car to Mrs car and off we went. Got back home and removed the battery. Charged it overnight and put back in. Turned the key, still no crank. Checked engine bay fuses, all ok (but can't find one related to the starter anyway). I can hear a click from the engine bay but think this is a relay and not the solenoid. Removed the air filter. Checked continuity/voltage at the starter. I have voltage and all seems ok. Inpection of the starter showed the wire joining the solenoid to the motor looking corroded. Considering it was now a plug and 2 bolts holding it in, I thought I would remove it and bench test it with my battery also removed. I poked that wire with a screwdriver and it perished. Wire gone. I thought cool, get a new starter, all will be fine. Fitted a new starter. Still no crank. What is going on? I have bench tested both these starters removed with my battery and both motors spin (I have to bridge to motor on the broken wire old one). I get 5V from the signal wire plug when trying to crank. The voltage across the battery drops to about 12v when trying to crank. I have noticed the voltage across the starter dips to almost 0v when trying to crank. I have also put a jump lead from battery negative to starter negative to eliminate bad earth. Is my relay clicking but playing up? 1 other thing to mention is I have noticed on the new starter the pin is further inside the plug so may not be making contact like the old unit? I will bridge this and try. Any ideas or help greatly appreciated. Sorry if I am in the wrong area. Cheers