Start Motor

The message from Andy M Jenkins contains these words:

As long as you don't mind giving it a tap every now and then it'll probably keep going for years. Trouble is - you can be certain it'll be piddling down with rain and dark next time you need to whack it.

Thats the theory I had been tought with this as well - except I'm having to tap the solenoid *every* time i need to start the car - 100% of the time. Not really practival I think.

The message from Andy M Jenkins contains these words:

Ah - you're not a true Scot then.

A truly mean Scotsman would always park on a hill and coast most of the way down before letting the clutch up to start.

mrcheerful

Surely that'd harm the cat, no?

Reminds me of when I was using the Carlton, with a s**te battery on it, for work a while back (between vans). If you'd taken it out for a decent spin (100 mile or so round trip, you reading this Peter?) and kept the stereo off or very low in volume (had some nice speakers in it, so it was tempting to use them), then if you were lucky it would *just* turn over and start straight after, but you'd be very lucky if it'd start the next morning.

Sometimes I just about managed to get it started by pushing it down the little cul-de-sac bit of my street (our driveway is on a slight slope), but sometimes not, and I'd have to borrow my Dad's car for a jump start. Then one day I had the genius idea of backing it up onto ramps when I got in at night, which did the trick nicely, and a day or two later I blagged a free replacement battery from Halfords. Don't know if there was a more complex underlying problem, as the battery wasn't that old (though it was over 2 years old and had done its fair share of car-hopping), but I don't own the car any more :-)

Peter

The message from "AstraVanMan" contains these words:

Where on earth does this idea come from? The engine turns over and starts just the same way it would with a starter motor - how's the cat involved?

No, it would make no difference to the cat, assuming it starts easily. According to the books on most modern cars if the car won't start within so many seconds of spinning over you should leave the car for so many minutes before trying again to avoid possible damage to the cat (yeah right, I can see someone stalled in the middle of the road NOT trying and trying till it starts or the battery is flat) My own car says do not leave ticking over for more than twenty minutes ! Jams that long often occur, it is impractical to keep starting and stopping again and again in a long, very slow moving jam, where the engine tickover is enough to move you along.

Unless of course you meant the cat that the scotsman keeps round his waist?

mrcheerful

I use bits of dead baby seal, topped with a nice bit of silver for that thing round my waist. Wouldn't keep a cat anywhere near my wassnames !!!!! By the way Scots are not mean, only those from the east coast, the Highlands, the west coast, and the southern lowlands. The rest are fine.

Stuart.

Probably a brush stuck in the motor. Most people mistake this for a solinoid fault as the solinoid will "click" but not engage. Giving it a whack moves the brush a fraction and gets a start.

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