Wondered if anyone had any ideas on this. Couple of weeks ago I went to my car and tried to start it, the engine malfunction light was on and nothing happened apart from a click noise. I went back to the car later and it started fine. Mechanic said it was the starter motor so he replaced it (costing nearly £200) 5 days later the same thing has happend again so it obviously wasn't the starter motor in the first place. He now says he thinks it could be the starter motor ring gear???? Apparently it will be a major stripping down the car job to replace this but he says he isn't 100% certain its this so I don't want to go down that route unless really necessary some people are suggesting it could be an electrical problem as sometimes its perfectly fine then others nothing. Any suggestions welcome.

Many thanks

 

Stuart, if the starter motor is clicking, but not rolling the engine, it is either a starter motor going bad, a bad battery, or a battery cable issue. Since you just replaced the starter, I would feel fairly safe to say that is good (granted, re-manufactured parts have been known to fail shortly after install though). I would say to connect a multimeter across the battery terminals and then attempt to start the car. If as you are seeing the multimeter drop to under 11.0 VDC when attempting to start the car, then odds are you have a battery that is starting to go. If the voltage stays above 11.0 VDC, then I would do a preemptive strike and replace both battery cables (can get you out the door for under $40 USD if you can do the work yourself). If you are still having issues, then I would be looking at the starter motor. You can verify that by putting the multimeter across the posts of the starter and seeing if you are getting over 11.5 VDC at the starter motor. If you are not, then this confirms a bad battery cable (assuming the battery was over 11.0 VDC). If you are, then the starter motor needs replaced.

Hope this helps.

 

I have had the battery tested and its fine also the starter motor I had fitted was brand new genuine part. I will look into battery cable but it seems strange that it works perfectly fine for ages then all of a sudden nothing then after a few hours starts again. Very strange.