This is an odd one. 2005 Xtype 2.2D 55plate.

Everything was good, then suddenly (as in overnight) this has happened. It is as if the battery is flat or low in as much as the starter will just about crank the engine over once or maybe twice then that's it.

I tried it with the lights on and the lights were fine, then when the starter stopped turning the second time the lights, dashboard etc everything went dead.

The battery is fine fully charged in fact I swapped the battery off my 2,0d to test. connections to the battery are fine also, I am thinking a dead short in the starter what are your thoughts?

Broken earth on the starter? where does it earth to?

as you can see I am guessing here in the dark :-)

Thanks

 

Jimbo61, with the X-types, the problem normally relates back to either the positive or negative battery cables. Just near the connections on the battery, the wiring will develop a high resistance (we are only talking like an ohm here, still a very low resistance) and this will cause too much voltage to be dropped at that point to allow you to start the car. What I want you to try is 2 things. The first being to simply open the hood of your car and then attempt to start the car. Hold the key in the START position for say 5 to 10 seconds. This should be enough time to get a response from the car. What you are going to do now is right after releasing the key, cup your hand OVER (DO NOT TOUCH!!!!!!) the battery terminals. They should both be pretty much at ambient temperature. If you can feel heat coming off of one or both terminals, then you have a bad cable or two.

The next check will require the help of a second person. What you are going to do is connect a multimeter across the battery, ensuring that the leads of the multimeter are only touching the lead posts of the battery (no touching the cable clamps). The multimeter should read 12.6 VDC at this point. Now, with the help of the second person, attempt to start the car(hold key in the START position for about 3 seconds). Watch what the multimeter goes to. If it falls to less than 11.0 VDC, you have a bad batter. If it stays above 12.0 VDC, you definitely have a problem with the starter or the starter circuit (ie, between the key switch and the starter). If it drops to between 11.0 and 12.0 VDC, then this confirms a bad starter.

The starter is grounded through the engine block. The case of the starter is ground and that gets connected to the engine block. If you look around the engine bay, you should see a fairly heavy gauge wire running from the engine block to the body of the car. You should also see where the cable coming off of the battery runs to the engine block also.

If you have more questions, let me know.

 

great advice thanks, it was a cable issue