starting trouble - nissan micra L shape

Some more information might be useful!

What year is it?

What engine?

How long have you owned it, and how long has it been hard to start?

When you turn the key, does it crank slowly, or at normal speed?

How do you get it started in the "later part of the day"?

I can confirm without too much doubt that its difficult starting is not related to the anti-freeze :-)

Chris

Its 1993 model Engine size(CC)998. I am holding it for past 10 days and it was running perfectly fine. Past 3 days its giving problem when I start it around 8am. Engine doesn't crank only a *click* is there... And when I try it starting it somewhere around 10 am it starts in one go. No extra effort is required. After that it is just fine on the road. I am not able to figure out the problem. I showed the car in the garage and mechanic suggested me full service which got done yesterday but the problem still persist. During service mechanic did not chance the coolant, so again a thought on this aspect....is it coz of antifreeze????

I'm not a mechanic, but i'd suspect the battery on this one - 8am is still cold, by 10am it'll be warming up a little.

Old, cold batteries can have trouble turning over an engine, but are often OK for a while if the temperature doesn't drop.

I'm hoping it might be my problem in the other thread (a click is common for knackered batteries, but I haven't heard one hammer / chatter away like mine) :-}

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.individual.net...

Amit:

I'd second replacing the battery - the click you can hear is the starter motor contactor engaging. Sounds like garage were having you on - you'll be lucky if you got anything more than an oil change in a service.

Colin:

I've no idea which thread is yours, but I can confirm from experience that some contactors (relays if you like) will chatter away with a low battery - probably because when they close the extra load that the starter motor adds causes a voltage drop, which then means the contactor does not have enough voltage applied to stay closed. Then the contactor opens again, and the battery voltage rises - and of course the contactor can then close another time. Hence the chatter.

Hello Colin,

Thanks for the reply But I would rather like to re pharse my problem as the word click was used wrongly by me.

In the morning when I try starting the engine it does makes the alternator turn it does moves its not that the engine completely misses the starting process its just that after so many tries it doesn't lets the engine pick up in start mode

but the same thing happens in one ignition when I try at around 10 AM or so. I hope I am able to make my question more clear now.

Also, do let me know if engine cooling can be the reason and if i NEED TO check the antifreeze status in my car...

its so confusing coz apart frm mornings it starts everytime thereafter for the whole day without any problem

a reply to this problem would be highly appreciated

thanks.

AA

Hello Colin,

Thanks for the reply But I would rather like to re pharse my problem as the word click was used wrongly by me.

In the morning when I try starting the engine it does makes the alternator turn it does moves its not that the engine completely misses the starting process its just that after so many tries it doesn't lets the engine pick up in start mode

but the same thing happens in one ignition when I try at around 10 AM or so. I hope I am able to make my question more clear now.

Also, do let me know if engine cooling can be the reason and if i NEED TO check the antifreeze status in my car...

its so confusing coz apart frm mornings it starts everytime thereafter for the whole day without any problem

a reply to this problem would be highly appreciated

thanks.

AA

Hello ,

Thanks for the reply But I would rather like to re pharse my problem as the word click was used wrongly by me.

In the morning when I try starting the engine it does makes the alternator turn it does moves its not that the engine completely misses the starting process its just that after so many tries it doesn't lets the engine pick up in start mode

but the same thing happens in one ignition when I try at around 10 AM or so. I hope I am able to make my question more clear now.

Also, do let me know if engine cooling can be the reason and if i NEED TO check the antifreeze status in my car...

its so confusing coz apart frm mornings it starts everytime thereafter for the whole day without any problem

a reply to this problem would be highly appreciated

thanks.

AA

Unless you are in a part of the world where the temperature is substantially below zero centigrade overnight, but by 10:00 AM it is warmer., the answer as several posters have indicated is NO - antifreeze status will have no effect on starting. If you are in a cold desert somwhere and you don't have antifreeze and gets really cold and your coolant actually freezes the damage done will probably destroy the engine and I doubt that it would restart at all.

Andy

Almost certainly you just have a dead battery, try starting it with the headlamps on.

No, but it's not a bad idea to check as a split radiators going to be a lot more expensive

Then it's warm. Batterys hate the cold.

OK, clutching at straws here :-}

Could it be damp / condensation in the electrics ? - it could be that until that has dried off as the ambient temperature rises, it could be shorting out somewhere...