Morning, 

 

Had an issue this morning, went out to warm the car, it started everything well, stopped it for 5 seconds, mainly because I felt like the steering wheel was really hard to turn around when trying to turn it on again the car had an issue, mainly not starting.

 

When turning the key car either does half crank and then nothing, after I have to take the key out and put it back to be able to turn. Or no crank at all. What can be the issues, what should I check? 

 

 

And why the battery does not light up when I first turn the key? 

video-1517818668.mp4

Edited 5 February, 20188 yr by elaasi

Blue wire to the alternator is broken. Find where, and mend it.

You have not told us that the "steering" warning light was on.

 

I take it that you do know that your battery has not been getting charged up due to this alternator wiring issue, and so that will be why the steering was stuff and now the battery is so discharged that it can not crank the engine over fast enough to start?

 

If you use the search function on this forum, you should find out all you need to know in able to get this sorted.

3 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

You have not told us that the "steering" warning light was on.

 

I take it that you do know that your battery has not been getting charged up due to this alternator wiring issue, and so that will be why the steering was stuff and now the battery is so discharged that it can not crank the engine over fast enough to start?

 

If you use the search function on this forum, you should find out all you need to know in able to get this sorted.

 

Just quick question, I am not sure that's why I am asking, if my battery would be dead would I still have the front light/radio?

Well, it does sound like the battery is discharged - and not having a "battery light" kind of points to that being the cause. The radio and instrument lights do not require much current from the battery so they would work until it was discharged a lot more.  Have you tried switching on the headlights with the "ignition" on, do these lights look as bright as normal?  Also does the instrument panel lights not go out when you try to crank the engine over?

 

Edit:- sorry I missed answering your question fully, your battery will not yet be dead, it is just a bit low in charge so is not able to crank that engine over.

Edited 5 February, 20188 yr by rum4mo

Your starter motor solenoid wire might also be about to break off.

Alternator sense(?) wires breaking can show as battery light not coming up on dash (it should) before starting, and battery going flat as the alternator gives low output at lower revs (not wanted in a large TDi).

 

Starter signal wire breaks result in intermittent or no starter when key is turned. All other electrics seem to work fine. Car can be bump started with a little effort.

tomorrow will go the mechanic, hope to solve the issue, will update

16 hours ago, vindaloo said:

Alternator sense(?) wires breaking can show as battery light not coming up on dash (it should) before starting, and battery going flat as the alternator gives low output at lower revs (not wanted in a large TDi).

 

Starter signal wire breaks result in intermittent or no starter when key is turned. All other electrics seem to work fine. Car can be bump started with a little effort.

 

On 2/5/2018 at 10:52, Wino said:

Your starter motor solenoid wire might also be about to break off.

 

On 2/5/2018 at 10:50, rum4mo said:

Well, it does sound like the battery is discharged - and not having a "battery light" kind of points to that being the cause. The radio and instrument lights do not require much current from the battery so they would work until it was discharged a lot more.  Have you tried switching on the headlights with the "ignition" on, do these lights look as bright as normal?  Also does the instrument panel lights not go out when you try to crank the engine over?

 

Edit:- sorry I missed answering your question fully, your battery will not yet be dead, it is just a bit low in charge so is not able to crank that engine over.

so have been today to the mechanic, turned out it was just the battery totally dead, I have no idea how old it was, as it was there when I bought the car, but judging by when the oils and filters were changed it was old as ****. Changed the battery, checked the alternator looked fine. Solved another issue with the driver electrical windows that would work intermittently.

 

this thread 

 Thank you everyone for the advice and replies 

If your battery light still doesn't come on with ignition then your new battery will soon end up in the same condition as the old one.

@elaasi, or does the battery light now work as expected?

Edited 6 February, 20188 yr by Wino

29 minutes ago, Wino said:

If your battery light still doesn't come on with ignition then your new battery will soon end up in the same condition as the old one.

@elaasi, or does the battery light now work as expected?

 

how can I check this issue that you are saying because I can see that the battery light does not come out at all, I have never actually seen it coming out. I asked the mechanic to check my alternator and whether it is charging the battery. And he checked it with one of those testers with two cables, sad that it is charging the battery, I'm not sure, but as I remember he said something 14 ah (but not sure about the number). Now I asked why does the light does not come out, he said that it might be the bulb itself under the dashboard cause he is sure that the battery is good and charging. As I sad, I have never seen that light coming up like ever. How can I force it to show up just to check if it is a bulb issue or something else? 

If you are able to work on your own car, check underneath where there is a plug<>socket mounted on a bracket roughly below where the engine is bolted to the gearbox, it is normally in that area that these wires break.

 

If you are not able to work on your own car, take it to a proper garage that can sort it as I'd thing that it is not a "bulb" but an "LED" and the chances of you having correct wiring, working alternator and just a faulty LED indicator are quite remote.

 

Edit:- to reinforce what/why Wino is making that suggestion/statement is, your car has a TDI engine in it and as these engines move around more than a petrol engine, it is usually these PDI or TDI engined cars that suffer from this/these wires breaking.

Edited 6 February, 20188 yr by rum4mo

1 minute ago, rum4mo said:

If you are able to work on your own car, check underneath where there is a plug<>socket mounted on a bracket roughly below where the engine is bolted to the gearbox, it is normally in that area that these wires break.

 

If you are not able to work on your own car, take it to a proper garage that can sort it as I'd thing that it is not a "bulb" but an "LED" and the chances of you having correct wiring, working alternator and just a faulty LED indicator are quite remote.

the garage that I went, it went there the first time, and it seemed to be a proper one, as I could not start the car they send someone home to jump start it and after we went to the garage. The LED/bulb is due to my translation as I was talking in my native language. Technically I could go underneath as I have already done that when I changed the oil, the car is quite high so I can squeeze myself in there as I am not that much of a big guy, I will look in the weekend, but not sure yet if I will be able to see it. Tried to find images, there was a thread about it, but because the images were on a third party server they are not available anymore. 

9 minutes ago, elaasi said:

how can I check this issue that you are saying because I can see that the battery light does not come out at all

 

If you have a multimeter you can check for the presence or absence of the excitation voltage at the two-pin connector where it goes onto the alternator.  Put negative meter probe to battery negative or chassis/engine metalwork, then the positive meter probe on the pin of the (disconnected) connector that has the blue wire going to it. With ignition on you should see approx. 12V. 

Sorry, no I was thinking that your garage really did mean a "bulb" as when they were fitted they did, in some cases fail and so cause same issues, well with older Fords they did.

 

Maybe resort to trying to use Google to find pictures?  Good luck - save this battery soon!

Just now, Wino said:

 

If you have a multimeter you can check for the presence or absence of the excitation voltage at the two-pin connector where it goes onto the alternator.  Put negative meter probe to battery negative or chassis/engine metalwork, then the positive meter probe on the pin of the (disconnected) connector that has the blue wire going to it. With ignition on you should see approx. 12V. 

 

Unfortunately, I do not own one, but he first checked the output before changing the old battery, as the old battery was dead, and if there wasn't any output from the alternator, it would have shown that there is not voltage towards the battery? Just to explain, he jump-started the car, and after placed those 2 pins from the tester where at the battery connections and it showed him voltage. 

Buy a cheap meter or borrow one from a friend for ten minutes.  Any quality of meter is fine; in this country you could get one for <£10 which would be adequate.