Please help Rover 25 intermittent starting problem

Take a large hammer and hit the starter solenoid.

Tried that, to no avail.:-(

John,

Don't know if it's a common fault, but I bought my P-reg Rover 214Si a couple of years ago and noticed in the service history that the starter motor had been replaced once. During the first year of my ownership the car fired up immediately - no spluttering or anything like that. Last year the car suddenly developed the sort of problem you describe but not as extreme. On some occasions I killed the battery in the attempt to start the engine. It started very reluctantly if it started at all. As the car needed a couple of other minor things putting right, I left it in the hands of the conscientious local mechanic. He said he couldn't find anything wrong when he disassembled the starter, but he cleaned up all the parts before reassembling it - and that seems to have done the trick. He reckons all the muck may have been taking away the battery juice.

Worth a shot?

Paul

Thanks Paul, will give that a try then.

Hi I had the same problem with mine after turning the key to position no.3 wait for 10-15 sec then it fires up, just make sure the relays and all pus hed in properly as driving over speed bumps etc.can dislodge them, especial ly no.2 relay as this is your starter relay then try turning it over.It sta rts every time now for me.Good luck ?.

replying to John Woodhall, S G wrote: OKay my Rover 25 (pretty old 2006) started doing this last October. It did it 3 times. Lights worked great, radio fine, just nothing when ignition was turned on, not even a sound. I called the mechanic out, he turned the key, it fired up

-no problem. We had to laugh, and he wouldn't charge me a call out fee! (Go to Heaven Mr Mechanic!) Since then, it worked fine. Right, it did it again 2 weeks ago. I kept turning the key, and great -it fired. But I wasn't confident about driving it anywhere, parking, then wanting to start it again to come home! I went only within walking distance of home (8 miles) just in case. Once, I had trouble starting it when I was parked at the village store (3 miles) but after I kept turning the key 3-4 times, it was fine. The car runs great by the way. The starter issue doen't affect how it runs when going. Now 3 days ago it happened again. I gave up on it and was staring to walk to the mechanic's shop, when I thought I'd give it another shot. No such luck, though radio, and lights were perfect. Then I tried again and it fired just fine. I drove it around the block to just give the battery a bit of a boost as it had stood idle for days. Now I feel I can't trust it. If I drive say -20 miles, I'm unsure if I'll be able to get home. I'm hard headed, so would just walk back but wouldn't much like it. The mechanic didn't find any fault with it but think I shall have to go to him anyway even though it does work fine, once it starts!

Started doing WHAT? Because you have deleted all the original post no one has any clue what you are going on about.

The link in your post goes to some idiot problem with an 11 month old Fiat Punto from 2005. As the average age of cars when scrapped in the UK is 13.9 years it's due to be crushed soon. As this is average and I have

Post you appear to have replied to.

What does the presence of "baby on board" sign and emergency services searching for it, have to do with your problem?

Does it crank but not start? What lights are showing on the dash? The original post was about a Rover 111gsi and advice for 214/216 with Honda engine. So it's unlikely you have any parts in common.

Does it bump start? Always park facing down the slope.

If it doesn't crank. It could be the switch. Get a fairly high wattage (21w) test lamp between the starter solenoid wire and earth and check you can light it repeatedly. If you don't hear a clunk of the solenoid making contact and throwing the pinion into mesh then it's also possible the starter motor brushes are worn. But that shouldn't happen until about 150-200k miles.

Find a better mechanic. If the starter clunks but doesn't spin it's likely a sticky starter motor. If it doesn't clunk then either a dodgy ignition switch or some sort of immobiliser problem (tho IIRC they have an immobiliser light on the dash which will eliminate that.)

Since this is a 2004 thread that has been resurrected, I think we can safely assume that this car is either fixed or scrapped! (My money's on scrapped). Ian.

I?m not catholic but I do love a good Easter joke, so in the spirit of resurrection, I?m bring this back. Mostly because I?ve had some progress ruling out what this is, because that guy above was right not to trust what I?ve experienced to be a rapidly deteriorating p roblem.

Within 2-3 days of the silent starte peovken showing up I completely lost t he ability to turn the car on. However, because I have a job that requires a lot of driving, death was not an option!

The roadside mechanic who got it going again was more of a doctor Frankenst ein than a Lazarus, (see what I did there?! ?), in that i still have the problem but he taught me how to effectively hot wire it with a (we ll insulated!) screwdriver. I?ve actually settled on a pair of need le nose pliers, which fit nicely between the 2 unsheathed cables that conne ct the starter to the engine..? All I know is this cable seems to run throu gh all sorts of areas around the engine, and looked like a nightmare to rep lace.

That, or he was overplaying the complexity of the fix because it was roadsi de assistance and I?d already had him clean off the cable connectio ns - which did nothing.

So today I had the pleasure of getting under the bonnet to stock a pair of nn pliers between the live cable to the right, and the dead starter cable o n the left, to carry the current from red to dead, which works like a redne ck charm.

Now if only I knew how much it?ll cost to repair it so I can do a b anger cost/benefit assessment ?

snip

IIUC started the car by attaching . . .]

pliers between the live cable to the right, and the dead starter cable on the left, to carry the current from red to dead, which works

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Sounds like the starter solenoid, or whatever it's connected to. At worst, a new starter motor? At best, connections at the motor/solenoid need a clean.

If you can't "turn the car on", jumping the solenoid terminals wouldn't start it as the ignition would be dead.

When turn the car on do the dash lights come on?

Starter cable isn't dead, you jumped the terminals and starter runs.

Feed to solenoid from ignition switch or as RJH says solenoid.

You test this by getting a bit of cable, jam one end in the +ve battery terminal and the other in the back of the 1/4" spade connector that is on the solenoid. Careful with this as if you touch anything earthed it will be like an arc welder. If the starter runs then you need an auto electrician to find the fault between ignition switch and solenoid. If the starter doesn't turn then it the solenoid and a new starter is usually easier than replacing the solenoid.

If the fault is in ignition switch circuit it could be the immobilizer and most often the relay for this. This is always the number 1 isolated circuit in an alarm system. Sometimes there is a 2nd, which would be fuel pump or ignition but they are working as you can start the car.

I had a Rover 600 with a similar problem which the garage fixed (it was a company car) by replacing the ignition switch.

Prior to the fix I could start it by hot wiring between the battery and starter solenoid - which I guess is what you're doing. [having turned the ignition on first, of course]

If that works, the starter motor and solenoid are ok, and the problem is in the ignition switch or maybe in a relay in the starter circuit.