Hello folks,

it's been a while since I last posted, and then it was about the "hot start" problem with my first skoda, a cube van.

That van has now gone to someone who wants to mod it beyond all reason after it failed once again at a bad moment and I lost all heart with it.

Last Monday I managed to find (hours after No 1 died) another identical cube, but a few years younger. It had been standing on a farm for nine months and had a flat corsa battery in it! After much, much, much cranking, booster jumping, and jump leading it started, and I paid for it and drove it away.

After first cleaning the green slime off it it didn't look too bad. A hole where the radio arial enters the roof, and that was about it.

But there would obviously be some work to get it through an MOT.

Three brake pipes, a stuck compensator valve, a dangerously coroded McPherson strut (new one taken off old cube van), and an 075 battery and I was away. Passed the MOT and all's well, but for a slight niggle...

Just like the old one used to it is a terrible starter! Sunday morning (yesterday) it wouldn't start and drained the battery. So I bit the bullet and went and bought a brand new 096 battery, which just about fits into the bay.

Today I'm going to get a new starter, as I'm sure the one on the van has been on it since new in 1998, and wondered if there was any option other than replacing the known "lazy starters" that come as OEM.

It's such a royal pain not to be able to trust the van to start everytime you put the key in. And I'm sure after coaxing two cubes into life that part of the "hot start" problem is related to starter problems, which lead to battery problems, which may even lead to low current to glow plug problems etc. etc...

So...is there another starter motor option for a 1.9D felly van?

Answers appreciated as ever.

I guess that's a "no" then!

I guess not. Its not something I've come across before I'm afraid.

Sounds more like a fuel problem than one to do with the starter itself. Is the fuel filter clean?

Hello Tom,

thanks for the reply.

The whole fuel system has been checked from tank to injectors, and all's well. It really does sound as if the starter motor is just weak; hence my wondering if another SM can be fitted, or if there's a "better" SM, bosch Etc.

But oddly, today I was asked if I'd consider swapping it for a Fun! Now I wonder...

I assume you have checked the glow plugs are working.

Hello Rigsby, thanks for the reply.

Yes, the glow plugs are all working, and are actually brand new, although still checked as my old Landy taught me that new parts are as prone to faults as old ones!

She (the cube, that is - must be a she to give me so much worry and concern!) is starting every time now with the brand new 096 battery, but the starter still sounds weak and unwilling to do its job.

All I actually want to do is change it, but would like to know if there are any other starters that will fit rather than fitting another OEM "lazy" starter.

Is it possible your current starter motor has lost efficiency somehow? I think the diesel starter motors are higher power than the petrol ones anyway.

How fast does the starter motor spin the engine?

Also, are you sure you're getting current to the glow plugs? My dad's ZX had issues with the control box, where the glow plugs seemed to be working correctly, and weren't!

Worth doing a compression test on the car?

I would check all the main power leads and engine earth point / leads, if you have a voltage drop across any of these you would get a symptom of a flat battery / bad starter.

A simple check for the earth lead would be to run a jump lead from the engine to the battery - terminal this would eliminate corroded connections etc...

Same with the + from the battery + to the starter motor main lead supply.

Just a thought on the old cvh Ford Escorts the starter used to churn very slowly when cranking, for cars that had this fault we used to wire in a manual solenoid low tension lead from the battery to the starter solenoid and use this to engage the starter, if it cranked okay which it usually did the fault was in the lead from the switch to the solenoid. Just an idea:D

Thanks for the replies and the ideas.

I haven't replaced the starter yet, just in case it is another fault, so your ideas give me somewhere to start now. First I'll check the earthing point and lead and try the test you suggest for it. And then work through the rest I suppose.

The starter cranks VERY slowly in the morning and with a dip of the accelerator will start. For most of the day afterwards it's okay(ish). If it sits around a long time it's back the morning scenario.

It's annoying more than anything, because once it's going it runs like a dream.

Anyway, thanks again to all of you.