Jen

Just tryed starting the Scoob for the manditory weekend trip to B&Q and it didn't start

The car was running fine yesterday, UK MY 98 Turbo - had a 200+ mile round trip on motorways and A roads without a problem, idled as usual when we got home, between 1/4 and 1/2 a tank of Optimax still in the car, engine stripped down an re-built 3000 miles ago, only serviced 2000 miles ago...the best way to describe it is a noise similar to a woodpecker on metal () The ignition comes on fine, all the lights light up as usual, just on the final turn it makes a bl**dy awful noise for as long as you hold the key (which isn't long once you've heard the noise! ).

Battery's fine (alarm etc. still works) - problems? starter motor? Spark plugs? Fuel pump? I'm really in the dark here (still learning as much as I can ) - is this a good time to renew the AA membership and up the overdraft limit?!

Any help or suggestions or actions would be much appreciated, just popping down to B&Q in the Corsa...I could be some time

Thanks

Jen

Ray T

jen,
does sound like a starter motor problem, try putting car in gear , release hand brake and rock the car backwards and forwards, if the starter pinion is jammed this sometimes releases it, then try to start it (in neutral of course).

hope this helps

ray t (what am i doing at work!!!!)

Trout...

Is the engine actually turning over - or do you get a horrible grating noise?

Stick it in gear, 3rd will do, and take the handbrake off - try rocking the car back and forward - could well be the starter motor sticking.

If that does not work then can't help you - good luck.

Trout

Trout...

Ray - you copycat

Trout

Jen

Thanks Ray and Trout - after much rocking and strange looks from neighbours No luck I'm afraid....

So...is it easy to change a starter motor? Or is it a case of getting it to a dealer?

Thanks again,

Jen

P.S. Ray - being at work at a weekend is not good! I've got to do next Sunday

Jen

Just put brain in gear and realised "search" is working, hense found this wonderful thread which appears to be my problem!

http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/threa...hreadID=126433

I'll give the battery thing a go and then check the alternator, although as usual I welcome any more comments

Thanks

Jen

StevieB

Have you got it sorted Jen ???

Perhaps my starting prob migrated across the carpark at last months meet !

I’m going home your way tonight to fill up - if its still playing up I can come and see if it the same as mine when its playing up if you like?

Let me know
Steve

Jen

Thanks for the offer Steve - hopefully it's sorted now

Chris did ask if we parked near your car at the last meet!! You never know if things like this can catch

We think in the end it was the battery - although it didn't sound like anything I've ever heard before We ended up swapping the Scoob battery for the Corsa one in an "experiment" (it took a whole 30 seconds to get the scoob one out, but the Corsa one took 20 minutes - very difficult to get at!) and it started fine...so a quick trip the next day to get a new battery and it seems to be sorted. Very bizarre as there was no battery light on and we'd done a long trip the day before. The only thing I can think of is some cells got damaged (I believe this happened to Simon) in the 2 months it was off the road and the repair centre kept trying to start it only guessing though. I'll be annoying Chris to check the alternator tonight

You can always pop around if you want to know if it was the same noise though? ...although I guess the garage's would have solved it if it was just that? Are you still having problems then?

Jen

HKSubaru

so sorted?

StevieB

Jen,

Glad to hear you got it all sorted.

Mine plays up every now and again, but not as much as it did. Got the 30k service next, so will be interesting to see if it goes away once the plugs are changed.

Actually, as the car is low milage in relation to age, the next service will be equivelant to the 90k !!!!! - major service + cam belt which I will have done to play it safe. Looking at the best part of £700 on the price I have so far !!!

The word ‘****’ springs to mind !!

Jen

Very much "****" me thinks! That's alot of money Hopefully it''ll work out a little cheaper than you reckon, doesn't happen often though...

You want to do what we did - we got the 45000 service + cam belt change + MOT for £114....of course that was the week after we'd crashed the car and they'd re-built the engine and changed the cam belt on the insurance! ...or actually, maybe that's just a little more hastle

Jen

Chris_S199

Yeah Steve, if you want to get the service done on your insurance, give me a shout as I know an excellent stretch of road with a "small" ditch I can put yuor car in for you...

HKSubaru

where is this little stretch of road?

Chris_S199

On the road leading to the Ower services from J2 of the M27.

Jolly Green Monster 2

StevieB,

90k service should be around 450 mate! I'd shop around if you are getting quotes of 700... If you want to Ring Lancaster Subaru at Sevenoaks they quoted me 450.. you can then take the quote to your dealer and say oi!

might be worth having the Front Crank/Oil seal changed whilst the cambelt is off.. they seem to go at about 100k but might go with age too and when they go you get oil dripping out the front and a new cambelt plus seal change is required to fix when it shouldn't cost much more when the cambelt change is done to do the crank seal then.

JGM

StevieB

JGM,

Nice one! thanks for the info, that sounds more reasonable. Worth the drive for those kind of savings if i cant get anyone to match the price. Whilst i am waiting for the car i will buy you a pint !!

Chris,

I thank you for your kind offer !, but would it offend you if I pass on it?! See you at Mondays meet.

Steve

Jolly Green Monster 2

Stevie,

No problem, at the quote of 700 I can only assume either they were trying to pull a fast one or you are not talking about a standard 90k service??

JGM

Nimbus

Jen,

I had exactly the same problem with mine last week. I can to start the car in the morning to go to work and it made just the sound you describe. I too thought it was the starter motor, since it worked OK the previuos day. I called the dealer who said it was probably a flat battery . Anyway, I connected the one from my wifes car via jump leads and it fired first time.

No idea how it got flat. My wife used the car last so I'm blaiming her .

Jolly Green Monster 2

Does sound the same noise mine made when I went to look at it in the dealers and that was the battery.. it did it when I went to drive it away.. was not best pleased but the salesman was really good about it and jumped it, drove it straight into the workshop and shouted at the mechanic that he was suppose to have checked the battery on this car, put a new one in it NOW! 5minutes later he reversed it back out with a new battery!

I had forgetten the clicking noise until reading Nimbus's post.

I'd get a new battery Nimbus as it is likely to be running near the limit of enough power.. and so might let you down at any point..

Was it last driven with the lights on by chance?

I did recently have a similar problem on my bike but that turned out to be the alternator not charging enough as a couple of the coils had burned out.. but usually car alternators work or don't work and you can check this with a volt meter across the battery.. should charge at about 14volts or similar at tickover I believe.. If you have a volt meter you can check the battery too, it should only lose something like 0.1volt in a week.. so if you stop it and check battery voltage an hour or so after you get in so the battery has settled and then again in the morning, if the stored voltage is different by much more than 0.1 or so volts then your battery is dead.. going to be getting colder too so can only get worse with more drawn on the battery to start the car in the mornings and the lights on more.

JGM

Nimbus

Thanks JGM, I'll check the battery.

Normally when my wife drives it, it has the lights on, the rear screen demister (and if it had been raining) the wipers on. These are usually left on as a nice supprise for me when I come to use it the next day

Jolly Green Monster 2

LOL@Nimbus..

JGM

Jen

lol...at least she doesn't leave the radio on at "18" I do that and it *really* annoys the husband ...still, means I get to drive the car more

Sorry to hear about the problem Nimbus, you'll be happy to hear ours is still running well (albeit with a new battery) and I tested it with a few short runs the other day dropping of display boards and stuff...still no problems So hopefully yours will do the same. Kinda good to know it's not just me though

Oh, and our last journey was with the lights on

Jen

Nimbus

That was the first time it happened. It's been fine since, but maybe it's time to invest in a new battery...