Why won't my car start?

[swee'pea99]

Just died on me as I approached a junction, and wouldn't start up again. Plenty of petrol, plenty of juice in the battery, but just r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r.....r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r......r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-....

I got it dragged back to the street outside, but unless I can get it running again it's going to need towing to the garage, which will cost me loads. Any hints & tips appreciated.

(It's a 20 year old Golf GL estate, BTW, in case that matters.)

 

[Drago]

Could be anything from a dead ignition amplifier through to a timing belt snapping.

 

[steveindenmark]

It sounds like your starter motor is stuck. Find out where it is and tap it all round with a hammer. If that doesnt work you will probably need a new starter motor. You can get the copper armature rewound, but that will cost far more than a second hand starter, if you can get one.

Please be aware that this is just guesswork.

 

[Dayvo]

Starter motor, generator, flooded motor from too much petrol in the carburetor?

Try googling possible causes.

 

[Speicher]

I used to have a Hillman Imp that made a similar noise because it had a sticky starter motor.

Or it could be a loose screw in the distributor rotor arm.

 

[User33236]

Difficult to tell from your rrrrrrr-rrrrrrr-rrrrrr-rrrrrrr description what exactly you mean but, if you mean it sound like it's 'turning over' normally like it is trying to start (but not) then your starter motor in probably ok. If it doesn't sound 'normal' then your starter motor will be the starting point for diagnosis.

A car needs air, fuel and ignition and it's likely a problem with the latter two that it stopping the car from starting. Many years ago I had a car that wouldn't start following lots of wet weather. Turned out it was damp in the ignition leads and they were arcing like crazy under the bonnet.

 

[Dayvo]

Or hit it with a hammer: it won't help, but it'll make you feel better. Or not.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks everyone. It's definitely not the starter motor - that's turning away like crazy. In fact the guy who came to do the recovery used the starter motor to turn the car round in the street. I'm hoping it'll be damp somewhere - which would make sense given the weather lately. Is there anything I can actually do about that? Can ignition leads be removed and put in a warm oven to dry out?

 

[User33236]

Thanks everyone. It's definitely not the starter motor - that's turning away like crazy. In fact the guy who came to do the recovery used the starter motor to turn the car round in the street. I'm hoping it'll be damp somewhere - which would make sense given the weather lately. Is there anything I can actually do about that? Can ignition leads be removed and put in a warm oven to dry out?

Try spraying them and the outside of the distributor cap, with some WD40. It'll drive out moisture as a temporary fix till you can replace them.

 

[berty bassett]

i was told if it stopped all of a sudden then electical - distributer cap sounds good - starter motor turning over then dont think its that - if it coughs and sputters to a halt then more fuel related - or in the case of my vauxhall victor if theres a loud bang and a horrible clunking after- the rods gone through the engine - rip

 

[gbb]

Not much you can do at the side of the road but...
Spray WD 40 over all the leads and wipe clean,
Make sure your spark plug caps and distributor leads are tight.
If youre feeling brave, remove a plug, re-attach the lead, hold the electrode a couple mms from the engine and crank it over...do you get a good spark. Be careful....
An engine that runs then stops as you take the power off can sometimes be a vacuum fault, split pipe of pipe off, but they usually restart with use of the throttle.
Blocked fuel filter ?

Most of the above relate to old technology cars, not sure if things have changed that much.

 

[Brandane]

I have had similar symptoms from an old VW - turned out the distributor cap had split clean in two! Put it back together with an elastic band and it ran perfectly until I got a replacement.

 

[Saluki]

My old fiat died and refused to start. Busiest junction in Stoke! Turned out to be a Head Gasket. I hope it's not the same for you.

 

[User33236]

[QUOTE 4096638, member: 9609"]I'm sure the OP car has electronic ignition, but I do remember during wet weather regularly having to take the distributor cap off, the rotar arm out disconnect the leads - warm them all up under the grill in the house, put it back together, then it would start first time, then go to work (every bloody morning)[/QUOTE]
I recall one of my older car will electronic ignition still having the distributor cap albeit without the points, just the rotor arm. Can't put a time frame of that though

 

[Pale Rider]

My old fiat died and refused to start. Busiest junction in Stoke! Turned out to be a Head Gasket. I hope it's not the same for you.

I had an old Austin 1300 which conked out in the Euston Road underpass in central London.

I managed to freewheel up the incline to level ground, where a couple of people helped me push it to the side of the road - across two lanes of traffic.