When I turn the ignition to number 2 the radio starts and all the lamps works. But when i try to turn if farther to start the car nothing happends. Does anyone have any ide of what's wrong?

Flat battery?

Starter motor?

Check the battery voltage first as even a weak one will let the radio play.

The battery is fine.

I used the car the day before and the next day when i walked out to it it just didn't start.

The battery may not be fine, it may not be charging and no longer have enough power to sutn the starter motor.

It's not an automatic thats been left out of park is it?

409 relay under the drivers side dash

no it's a manual

what do you mean with 409 relay?

409 relay controls the ECU or something like that. I think there is a relay specific to the starter motor as well. I'm getting slowly drunk and in no position to offer advice at the moment though :dtp:

. I'm getting slowly drunk and in no position to offer advice at the moment though :dtp:

lol bit early isn't it mate ?

And the only way to know if it's the relay is to bring to a service center so thay can plug a computer in and look, right?

lol bit early isn't it mate ?

Bad day mate

in that case, have one on me . hell, i might join you.:dtp::dtp::dtp:

Cheers mate that cheered me up I am having one for you now.

And the only way to know if it's the relay is to bring to a service center so thay can plug a computer in and look, right?

no mate take out the relay its under the drivers side dash remove and give a tap or 2 and put back into car and try

you will need to get the fault codes deleted when done though mate but should run once done pm me and let me know how you get on

where do you see the fault codes?

When you turn the key can you hear a relay clicking? A mate a had a similar problem on his Volvo recently and it was the 'exciter' wire terminal at the starter motor that was corroded. He could hear the relay clicking in, but it wouldn't start. The AA guy took all of 5 minutes to fix it.

Started the car today by taking power from the starter engine to the magnet. So it's not the 409 relay since it shouldn't have started then.

Anybody else have any ides?

Diesel or petrol?

petrol

So, from #17, it starts if you put in a parallel feed to the starter motor?

If so, then it's pretty much got to be the starter wiring or ignition switch.

So how do you find which wiring?

Can you explain again how you got it started? Did you short the battery directly onto the starter motor?

If so then it could simply be the solenoid on the starter motor itself. Since the starter motor uses a huge amount of current. It has a massive solenoid switch attached to it's side. It is this sloenoid switch which is triggered by the ignition switch itself (or was on older VAG cars). If the solenoid fails, the starter moor will not engage when the ingition is switched on but will spin if it is jumpered directly from the battery.

If you have already connected the battery to the starer and got it to spin then you have already done half the test. Next get a multi meter and connect it to the signal feed wirre on the solenoid (it will be the smaller of the wires running to the starter motor solenoid). Check if this gets a signal when the key is turned. If yes, it's the solenoid. if not, it's the ignition switch itself or wiring from the ignition switch the solenoid.

Try this out and get back to us.

Cheers,

iep

It gets 4 volts for a few seconds but that's all.

4 volts? That's plain weird.

Can you describe in detail what you connected to what in order to get the car to start. You mentioned a starter engine and magnet but that does not make sense to me. Please confirm that you connected a wire directly from the pos battery terminal to the input of the starter motor itself (this is what I am assuming).

Can you also confirm that on the solenoid you have three conections. One (the smaller of them) will be the solenoid signal input. The other two will be connected to very large wires and will be the direct bettery connection and output to the starter motor itself. Are you confident that you can identify which of these is which?

The only obvious answer as to what might be causing 4 voolts on the slenoid is that it has failed short circuit. In this case you will prefiely draw a large current from the ignition switch while it is in the start position and this will be dropped over the potential divider created by the wires resitance and the resistance of the solenoid. The result migth well be about 4v.

Does the solenoid make a click sound when the ignition key is turned to the start position? You'll need top get someone else to turn the key for you while you listen from the engine bay.

iep

Yes I took power straight from the battery.

I got it working late last night. It was the ignition lock that was not working. I can't say what's wrong since I don't really know myself. I took it apart and put it together again and now it's working.

Thanks for all the help I got here.