MY CAR STILL WON'T START! - Link for video added

Car would start fine when my Uncle moved the car to and from the drive and garage. After it was left for a while outside on the drive, he tried to move it and it wouldnt start - it would tick over but not fire up. He replaced the battery, and then let me have it and start work on it.

Cleaned the spark plugs, cleaned distributor cap, there is fuel going into it…

Battery was pretty much dead, so had it fully charged up, all electrics work (lights, windscreen wipers etc) but when I turn the key and hold it, nothing happens. I can hear a click (which im told is the "solenoid" or something), but it doesnt even start to turn over.

I've tapped the starter motor quite a few times incase the mechanism inside was locked up…but nothing changed after I did that.

Has anyone got any ideas? I want it to start so badly   ,

Thank you,

this may sound sill but its an auto  is it in park and is you foot on the brake if not it w2ont start

divweir said

this may sound sill but its an auto  is it in park and is you foot on the brake if not it w2ont start

I tried in park, neutral and drive…but didnt have my foot pressed down on the brake as i turned the key. What would normally happen if I don't then?

Three things I can think of now

1 distributer condenser (the thing on the side of the distributer cap)

2 ignition coil

3 starting motor

one or more of the above may need to be replaced

Good luck with it    :wink:

Ok, will get those checked over again too. Thank you,

Ok, I've just found this…

How to Drive a Car with an Automatic Transmission: 15 Tips

Are you telling me the brake pedal HAS to be pushed down for the engine to start?

So sorry if this is a stupid question, just never driven an automatic before…and being 18, havent really got any experience with driving different cars.

marklawrence said

Ok, I've just found this…

How to Drive a Car with an Automatic Transmission: 15 Tips

Are you telling me the brake pedal HAS to be pushed down for the engine to start?

So sorry if this is a stupid question, just never driven an automatic before…and being 18, havent really got any experience with driving different cars.

No it doesn't, not on a Golf.

paul_c said

marklawrence said

Ok, I've just found this…

How to Drive a Car with an Automatic Transmission: 15 Tips

Are you telling me the brake pedal HAS to be pushed down for the engine to start?

So sorry if this is a stupid question, just never driven an automatic before…and being 18, havent really got any experience with driving different cars.

No it doesn't, not on a Golf.

Right ok, thank you.

Not sure when the car was lass filled up with petrol…there is fuel pumping into it…but would fresh petrol make any difference?

have you looked below the dash, to the left of the steering wheel for a choke ?
as i know on mine it had a manual choke put on it at some stage of its life, sometimes you miss it as the choke pull looks like part of the dash

opentopvw said

have you looked below the dash, to the left of the steering wheel for a choke ?
as i know on mine it had a manual choke put on it at some stage of its life, sometimes you miss it as the choke pull looks like part of the dash

Yea, there was the cut out section for it, but I couldnt pull it out. My uncle said if I pressed down on the gas a couple of times, it would activate it.

Will try and upload a video once it has finished processing on youtube, just to show what happens when I'm sitting in the car…

The engine doesnt turn over when I turn the key completely. But, once it's fully turned, i can move it back and forwards about a pound coin thickness, and I can hear something clicking and moving near the engine, but I'm not sure what it is.

Boring video, but hopefully describes what I mean better than using words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb92wOWN5OE

your battery is as flat as a pankake trust me, borrow another good one thats proven to work or buy another, one thing batterys dont like is being left for ages idle and even if you fully charge them they still dont hold a decent charge as the cells inside dteriorate, a decent Bosch silver battery is around ?30 for a mk1
The noise you can hear is the starter solenoid trying to fire out to engage the ring gear, it hasnt got enough juice hence the non starting

bet ya a ?1  :wink:

you could try jump starting it  get a set of jump leads of a freinds dad most people will have a set laying around get another car  then connect the red+ black-  leads to each battery keep the other car running give it 5 min then turn over that will tell you if you battery is fooked ps make sure its red to red black to black  +-+  -/-

You owe me ?1, its a brand new battery and was fully charged last night. All electrics work...headlights come on and stay on, radio works, indicators, wipers...the lot.

Could there be a problem with the actual starter motor?

It has to be a fairly minor problem…it would start fine, and had then just been left on the drive for a bit.

Yeah sounds like the starter.  Stick it in drive and give it a good rock backwards and forwards to see if that will free it.  Has it ever made any strange noises when cranking?  When it was working did it turn the engine over fairly slowly before it would fire?

ew said

Yeah sounds like the starter.  Stick it in drive and give it a good rock backwards and forwards to see if that will free it.  Has it ever made any strange noises when cranking?  When it was working did it turn the engine over fairly slowly before it would fire?

Not sure, will need to speak to my uncle properly about it. Cant think of any strange noises, and have tapped it quite a few times with a small hammer to see if I could free it.

Are they easy to remove and have a look at?

marklawrence said

ew said

Yeah sounds like the starter.  Stick it in drive and give it a good rock backwards and forwards to see if that will free it.  Has it ever made any strange noises when cranking?  When it was working did it turn the engine over fairly slowly before it would fire?

Not sure, will need to speak to my uncle properly about it. Cant think of any strange noises, and have tapped it quite a few times with a small hammer to see if I could free it.

Are they easy to remove and have a look at?

Does it start if you bump start it? If so (and you've replaced the battery) its more than likely to be the starter motor at fault. It could be the solenoid, or loose or poor condition wiring, or loose battery terminals, or a loose earth, or bad earth lead, too.

That's quite a few things that could go wrong,

Haven't tried to bump start it yet as I've mostly been working on it myself while my Uncles been out at work. I might have to call someone to come and look at it, there's not that much I can do myself at the moment…other than spending the weekend reading through the Haynes manual a few more times.

Thanks for all your help though so far, has given me more of an idea what I need to do and sort of motivated me to go out and really try and get it going.

Actually, just seen its an auto - forget about trying to bump start it. Also, good luck in reaching/changing the starter motor!