Hi Guys,
This is my first of what i guess will be many posts to this site. I've recently bought a 2004 2.0ltr diesel X type, I absolutely love the car. However it's developed a fault. The other day I came to start it and it was very sluggish when turning over the engine. I purchased a new battery and all was fine for a couple of days but this morning it was very sluggish again and now won't turn over at all although the battery is showing a full charge. Any opinions would be appreciated. Cheers guys,
Steve

 

Steve, first off, welcome to the Forums. I think you will find lots of really good information here and people calling things as they see it. We pride ourselves in being a very friendly place. But, as part of this, we like to get to know a little bit about you. Please stop by the New Member Section and give us a quick bit about yourself. This will also give yo ua the chance to meet those that make this place what it is.

As for your problem, before you just jump to the starter, I would check out your battery cables first. These are known to be more of a problem than your starter is. Besides, the battery cables are cheaper and easier to do than the starter motor. If you want to prove the cables bad, I can help you with that. I just need to know how much you know about using a multimeter. I will detail the procedure accordingly. With these checks, we will also prove down to the component what is wrong at the same time so you are not replacing things just because of a guess.

 

Hi Thermo,
Many thanks for your reply. Yes I've used a Multimeter in the past and if you could give me a few pointers that would be great. I'll drop by the new members forum as you've suggested in the meantime. There was some suggestion by someone 'in the know' that I could have some issue with what he called the 'Mass Flywheel'? a common fault on the Mondeo diesel engine used in the X type he said. Could that be an issue?

Many thanks once again,
Steve.

 

wrangham, for the starter to not be able to roll the engine would tell me that you either hydro-locked the engine (not likely), you have a bad starter/wiring issue (most likely), or you have something putting some very significant load on the lower crank (ie, siezed bearing, warped flywheel dragging on the block, etc). Because playing with the battery caused things to change, I would want to believe that the problem lies in that area.

For the first check, get yourself a second person and using the multimeter set to read VDC, put the red lead on the block of the engine (or any metal part of the engine connected to the block) and then the black lead on the negative lead post (not the wire terminal around the post). Attempt to start the car. What did the multimeter go to? As long as it stayed under 0.5 VDC, that cable is doing what it needs to. If the multimeter read 0.5 to 1.0 VDC, the ground wire is starting to fail and is dropping too much voltage, but is still ok for the moment. Next, put the red lead on the positive lead post (not on the terminal around the post) and the black lead on the large post of the starter. What did the multimeter read as you were attempting to start the car? If less than 0.5 VDC, the cable is good. If 0.5 VDC to 1.0 VDC, the cable is starting to show age and should be replaced in the near future. If greater than 1.0 VDC, replace the cable.

Now, if you got 2 good readings for the cables, move the multimeter leads over to the battery terminals and note the voltage. It should be at 12.6 VDC. Anything less and your battery is not at full charge (may have gotten a bad battery), put the battery on a charger and get it back up to 12.6 VDC. Once the battery is at 12.6 VDC, watch the multimeter as the car is attempted to be started. The multimeter should drop to around 11.0-11.5 VDC as the motor is rotating. If the motor didn't rotate, did the voltage drop significantly (ie, into the 11.0 to 11.5 VDC range)? If yes, then you have that significant friction of the crank and would be looking into what the Mondeo suffers from. If the voltage stayed up around 12.X, then you have a bad starter most likely and it isn't developing enough power to roll the motor.

Hope this all helps.

 

Hi Chris,
Many thanks for getting back to me with such a comprehensive reply it's very much appreciated.

I have a friend coming down tomorrow evening with his tester so we'll be putting the starter and ancillaries through the steps you've mentioned. In the meantime, I had a go at trying to start it today and as i turned the key to turn the engine over, it was as the the starter was trying to turn but wasn't receiving enough power from the battery, although the battery is brand new and fully charged. I had a go at a second attempt and kept the key in the start position for around 6/7 secs, gradually the engine turned over quicker and started. The engine, when running, sounded perfect which makes me think that it isn't a 'mechanical' problem inside the engine/flywheel, that indeed it's a problem with the starter/cables as you described. Anyway, I'll keep you updated.

Many thanks once again Chris,

Steve.

 

steve what you are describing sounds a lot like a bad cable issue. If you have an IR thermometer, you can run it along the cables and find out exactly where the bad spot is in the cable. NOrmally the cables fail right where the wiring attaches to the terminal that goes on the battery. You can possibly put your hand on the terminals and feel one get warmer than the other.