Strange Starting Issues (Inconsistant)

[cds]

I dunno an issue that started about 2 month ago, feeling like its getting worse and no changes have been made to my car's electrical in over 12 month.

Sometimes when I start my car, it struggles a lot like the battery's cold cranking power isn't enough to get it started and just turns very slowly making a crackling noise from the engine bay, then sometimes its fine or in between sorta dead sorta okay and any of these times could be early morning before I go to work or random in the afternoon. According to the dash it reports when the car is running 13.5 - 14.0v and when off 12.1 - 12.5v. The battery in the car was replaced last year about 13 month ago, before i go just buy a new battery.. any suggestions?

[HSV.006]

starter motor mate

[jamiev90]

I have the exact same thing, with a brand new alternator and starter motor..only thing i haven't tried is to get a heavy duty battery..

[VTvoodoo]

starter motor mate

id be thinking the same ,

Ive got the same prob , but ive got a new battery , alternator is only a year or so old , and with car running , 14.5v avg, car cold 12.5v avg , so only thing i can think of is starter motor

[cds]

wtb, change starter motor how to

[Commydoor]

you need a new starter anyway so pull the old one out strip it down give it a bit of a rub with some emery put it back together and refit it....if it seems to come good then it was your prob and go get a new one....if it doesnt come good then get a new one anyway and start looking for a new prob lol....

[cds]

you need a new starter anyway so pull the old one out strip it down give it a bit of a rub with some emery put it back together and refit it....if it seems to come good then it was your prob and go get a new one....if it doesnt come good then get a new one anyway and start looking for a new prob lol....

lol.. well yeah I might do that.

[pablo]

Sounds like starter motor, but first I would be checking the battery cable connections, just in case.

[VTvoodoo]

wtb, change starter motor how to

located on drives side

to remove

[Tsunamix]

I actually think its the solenoid switch rather than the starter. The solenoid could easily make the crackling noise, theres a bloody great relay inside and if its misbeahving it will energise/de-energise rapidly and sound like its rattling. If its the original starter, maybe just replace the solenoid first ?

[Adriianz]

i had the DEAD same problem, i replaced my key and have had not one problem since, starts first shot every time. without fail/stall/weird noises!!

[cds]

Actually today after playing a little bit.. I discovered something.

On a cold start, if i turned my key to try and start it would struggle... and make that burning noise (nothing smells or anything just a weird burning wood sound noise) it would struggle to turn but eventually start.

If I turned my key to the ON position after accessories (but not to the starter position) and wait about 5 seconds, then turn to the starter position car starts normal, perfect in fact.

Repeated this a few times over a few 6 hrs periods and same results, if i tried to start straight away wouldn't work right.. if i put into on for at least 5 seconds then to starter cranked fine.

Any idea if this helps anything? I'm not keen to change anything yet as the car is undergoing paint work, but once that's done I need to resolve the issue.

[Commydoor]

just adds more possibles to the mix lol....doing that has primed the fuel pump and supplied voltage to the ignition module till the comp didnt receive a crank signal and shut it all back down....even 5 secs will warm it up a tad....still sounds like an electrical prob....process of elimination i'd say but where to start....

[FstStig]

Sounds like it could be your CAS mate (Crank Angel Sensor), Also worth having your spark plugs and spark plug leads looked at. Also worth having your Coil Packs looked at.