Earth Straps

[hitower]

Hi All,

 

I’ve been trying to figure out why my 2013 26k mile citigo would only start with a jump start for a week. 

The AA man insisted it was a duff battery so I fitted a new one. Still nothing when I turned the key, not even a click.

Scan tool showed trouble code p305400 (starter motor jammed) so I took the motor out and tested it out on the bench. It was working fine.

Put the starter back in and still no start.

It was then that I connected one of my jump leads between the engine block and battery negative. It started first go.

When I gave the earth strap connected to the o/s engine mount a wiggle it came apart in my hand.

This must be a common fault on citigos of a similar age now, so anyone having strange starting or electrical problems have a look at your earth strap before you go buying a new battery or taking out the starter motor.

[Breezy_Pete]

Easy to say in hindsight, but that doesn't look well protected from either vibration or corrosion.

Thanks for posting, surely going to save other people some cash.

[CWARD]

Not good for a 5 year old car. Nice find though and good to see proper fault finding going on even if you had taken the starter motor out before going for a direct earth to battery. 

[Jon_Citigo]

I too was recently stranded with a broken engine earth strap on a 2012 Skoda Citigo. Car would not start. Then I noticed the broken earth strap. Breakdown attended and did me a get you home repair. I have now replaced the original earth strap with a new one and also added an extra earth strap between the engine mount and the an unused bracket on the drivers side inner wing.

[Bemused1958]

 

Exactly the same thing happened to me 6 months ago. Stranded at lights when the stop/start stopped. The earth strap dissolved the Green Flag drivers hand on my 2012 registered Citygo.

[Emil]

Vibration, road salt, or both? Just pondering. 

[Jon_Citigo]

45 minutes ago, Emil said:

Vibration, road salt, or both? Just pondering. 

I had only owned the car for a few weeks so I have very little history of its upkeep. I would say that based on the design and quality of the original Skoda earth strap it is far wear and tear for a 2012 car.  My engine mounts appear solid and it does not appear to vibrate beyond what I would expect. On my model the earth strap is by the alternator and this as an area open to the cold and wet air that arrives straight through the grill. This path straight through the grill to the alternator has been previously documented very well on the Citigo forum. I now carry a spare earth strap and enough tools that I could swap it at the roadside myself. I will keep an eye on it and if the earth strap is turning blue and fraying I would swap it out. Earth straps that I installed as a replacement can be picked up even at Halfords for around £4 to £6. Worth swapping before it inconveniences you. If the earth strap is starting to look old and ragged then consider changing and limit the chance of a roadside breakdown caused by a lack of engine earth. Hope that helps.

[Emil]

3 cylinder engine vibrates quite a lot sometimes. 

[oxonboxn]

I'm interested in the poster's original photo....there seems to be a lot of corrosion going on under that bonnet - the strap, it's connection, the nearby bolt-head.

I have a 2013 Citigo (with stop-start) and there is no sign of corrosion anywhere...in fact, in comparison under the bonnet looks like a new car and i don't know why there should be such a difference!

[rum4mo]

6 minutes ago, oxonboxn said:

I'm interested in the poster's original photo....there seems to be a lot of corrosion going on under that bonnet - the strap, it's connection, the nearby bolt-head.

I have a 2013 Citigo (with stop-start) and there is no sign of corrosion anywhere...in fact, in comparison under the bonnet looks like a new car and i don't know why there should be such a difference!

 

Location and use, ie mileage I'd reckon.

[edbostan]

I thought the engine bay looked corroded.  Are you in a coastal location? My 2013 Roomster is still like new perhaps due to the efficient undertray and living in North London borders.

[hitower]

On 11/01/2019 at 20:39, edbostan said:

I thought the engine bay looked corroded.  Are you in a coastal location? My 2013 Roomster is still like new perhaps due to the efficient undertray and living in North London borders.

I’m located in Stoke-on-Trent, nowhere near the coast. The car has only covered 25k miles. When I bought the car from a car dealership the engine bay had been jet washed and I presume any anti corrosion coatings where probably washed off?

[Emil]

I'm pretty sure there's no corrosion coatings in these. 

[thekrankis]

Happened to my wife’s Citigroup today.

Earth strap snapped at the end.

Initially thought it was a duff battery.

Seems these earth straps are not really man enough.

[peter3197]

If this is mostly down to corrosion the the best thing would appear to be protecting the strap with something like waxoyl.

[Lucylo]

Hello everyone. I felt I had to sign up to share that I found this thread whilst standing next to a Green Flag provided mechanic in a supermarket carpark next to my totally dead 62 plate Citigo whilst he waved the below at me (After replacing the battery to no avail first). 

And yes I do live by the sea, me and my Citigo have driven 107000 miles mostly in Cornwall in the course of my job.... This is absolutely the first thing that has gone wrong for us though. 

[Breezy_Pete]

Ironic that the part number label has survived better than the part!

[Emil]

Vibration. 3 cylinders.