sporadic starting

My campaign wont start after a journey of around 5 miles or more.
Its fine on shorter journeys, but if for instance i go 7 miles out of town and need to get fuel to continue the journey when i fill it up, it just wont start. Just a clicking from a relay (got 17 on it and is very warm to touch) and no engine turn. If i then leave it for 5-10 mins it fires up fine and runs like a champ.


I have checked all connections to the starter (i replaced the starter two weeks ago) and it has a new battery.

Could it be the relay at fault?

Its driving me nuts.

cheers K

forgot to mention, it bump starts fine..

Its probably a sticky starter solenoid. As a temporary solution, tap it with a hammer.

starter and solonoid are new, i changed em coz i thought that was the issue but it wasnt...

Being new, doesn't guarantee its not faulty - worth bearing in mind!!!

It could also be the ignition switch. To check this, bridge the large round terminal on the starter motor to the solenoid's terminal, if it works fine then, its the ignition switch (or something similar).

Does your car have an immobiliser?

I know new can sometimes be faulty, but i think its unlikely that it would have exactly the same fault as the old one in this instance.

Will bridge it tomorrow when it packs up again.

It does have an immobilsiser.


Thing is, why would the switch not work after a medium length journey only?

Surely when im driving the "start" terminal is just dormant? (not that i dont believe you, just trying to get my around the bloody issue)

Are there any earth straps i should be investigating?

Thats why I suggested the solenoid first of all. Its a fairly simple circuit. The solenoid is a moving part and eventually wears out, the only other suspect item is the ignition switch which is a known Mk1 Golf weakness. The other parts of the circuit are just wires, etc.