In the last couple of days my felicia 1.3 has started playing up. A couple of times on turning the ignition nothing happened, on second try started fine.  It might have been a coincidence but a couple of times when the clutch was depressed while driving, the blower fan either slowed or stopped but started when the clutch was re-engaged. Then last night when driving home I noticed that one of the relays was chattering intermitantly and the lights were flickering as well. It was as if the car was loosing electrical power but the engine wasnt affected.

Have checked the negative cable from battery to back of the engine in case the clutch operation had damaged it. Have checked all the earth connections but can not find any problems. If the car is parked with the engine running the fault is not apparent, but when the car is moving you can hear the relay chattering occasionally. Any tips greatfully accepted. 

Does the windscreen leak?

Yes occasionally, but mainly on drivers side.

Have a look inside the fuse box, I bet it's damp....

At least that's where i would start anyway.

Have removed the fuse box and checked inside and its as dry as a bone.

The real puzzler for me is the fact that the fault is only there when the car is driving.

A while back I had quite a similar perplexing problem, intermittent starting issues, chattering relay & eventually flickering lights.

 

The problem turned out to be as simple as a poor connection of the feed wire onto starter motor solenoid. So would suggest as a first step checking this & in my case (1.6 mpi) it's a relatively thin yellow wire.

 

Good luck & hope that cures!

 

Rob

Either that or it could be a dodgy ignition switch, they are quite common failure points on these cars.

As above look for the yellow wire onto the starter solenoid. This happened to my old 1.3 a while back. Got in one day, went to start and nothing. Can't remember exactly now but I know at the same time a few of the electrical items also stopped working. I found the above wire had snapped right where it joins the motor. Put a new connector on and everything worked again.

^ Mine didn't actually break but initially I'd never have linked it back to the relay/lights related issues! Still occasionally reoccurs but a quick adjustment on the connection cures.

I've now got 3 spare relays thinking that was the culprit, doh!

Well I found the yellow wire on the starter solenoid and no break in the cable, well there wasn't until I decided to get the spade connector off and check the connection properly. Eventually found the container with the electrical connectors and fitted a new one and put it back together.

I did also strip back the insulation tape to the yellow wire to make sure there was no damage to the insulation and put new tape back on. I mainly did this as just after the yellow cable joins the wiring loom there is the final connection to a sensor ( I think) at the base of the engine just behind the starter motor. The insulation around a black and yellow cable had been cut through by the edge of the engine protector. I couldn't see any damage to the cables but wanted to be sure.

Will test it out tomorrow as I was to knackered to do it tonight.

On the subject of dodgy ignition switches wouldn't the fault be there with the car parked and the engine running, rather than only occuring when the car is moving. 

Well yes, but if there is a loose or bad connection it might only show when the vibration of the engine is there.

Well I have taken it out for a run around some country lanes and it is running like a dream so thanks for the help in solving the fault. It could be like robk1 and reoccur at a later date, but at this moment its running fine.

Well I have taken it out for a run around some country lanes and it is running like a dream so thanks for the help in solving the fault. It could be like robk1 and reoccur at a later date, but at this moment its running fine.

 

 

Hello! I have the same strange issue as mentioned above (Felici 1,3 - 98). Want to check the yellow cable connected to the starter solenoid. But im completely new to fixing engine issues so im not able to locate the starter solenoid.

 

I would be very thankfull if someone could explain or even post a photo that shows where the starter solenoid is to be found in the engine room. Thanks in advance!!

Found the starter solenoid after intense looking with a mag lite. And guess what!? The yellow cable was broken