VL RB20DET Starting Problem

[dj_gardner007]

Hi all,

Ive recently finished rebuilding my RB20DET and its back in the car, all wired up as before it was removed.
I put the battery on charge overnight as it had been sat in the boot for about 3-4 weeks during the rebuild.

Whats happening is it will crank over and start and it will run fine, but if i shut it off and try to restart the starter will just click as if the battery is dead. When i got back home after work, I thought id try and start it again, (this is after it wouldn't restart in the morning and had been sat for the day), to my surprise it did straight away, but it did the same as before, it wouldn't restart.

Ive gone over all the wiring for the starter and alternator, and all seems good. The alternator is putting out charge as when the engine is running the multimeter reads around 14.1V from the battery.

Cheers,
Dave

 

[87RB30VL]

Do your dash lights turn off when you turn the key or go dim? It sounds to me like a bad ground somewhere. Do a super uber no shortcuts check of everything, and also check your fuses. I know you said you checked your wires, but you really need to get in there and fully suss every inch out since you say everything seems fine when it's running, so it's clearly not a parts issue i.e. starter, alternator etc.

 

[dj_gardner007]

I haven't tried starting with any lights on so I'm not sure if the dash dims or not. Only thing on the dash i notice is the volt meter sits roughly around the 13-14V mark with the key switched to ON, then it will dip all they way down to 8 when trying to restart and i get the 'dead battery click'.
I will check over all the wiring when i get home tonight.

 

[87RB30VL]

Does the ignition like, click once and then stop, until you go to turn it over again and hear another click? Or is it like, the starter clicking constantly while turning the key? If it's the latter (constant clicking from starter) then I'd say lack of voltage to the starter due to poor grounding to the starter, or a faulty starter all together, but yeah check the wiring again when you get the chance because someone on a Honda forum had the same problem and a lot of people were suggesting that it could be the ground somewhere along the battery cables.

If you know where all the cables are grounded to, and you wanted to be super sure before doing anything drastic like replacing parts, unbolt the ground cables from the body etc and sand the bolt holes, then rebolt them so you know 100% it'll be a good grounding point. Also check for corrosion etc on the ends of the cables.

 

[dj_gardner007]

Its just a single click, sounds like the solenoid making the starter gear engage and disengage, but only the one click until i key off and try again, but still only one click each time.

Yeah, I'll go over all the cables and clean up the connections when i get home. I'll let you know how i go

 

[87RB30VL]

Yeah too easy, my old Nissan S13 Silvia did that occasionally, and I had to pop the hood and wiggle the negative battery terminal around a bit and clean it with my finger, put it back on and it would be fine, except it reset all my stereo settings every time haha. I eventually sanded my terminals to make sure they were clean and it helped a bit.

 

[detox_nath83]

its your battery man try another one... check all your grounds as well..
but for sh*ts and giggles try another

 

[DAVO84]

sounds like your starter is gone hit it with a bit of pipe while cranking it over and it should start (maybe a 2 person job) if not that id guess your battery is dead

 

[dj_gardner007]

I checked over all the connection points, earths, alternator charge wire and starter terminal - all are good. Put new battery terminals on and cleaned up the posts.
Didn't make a difference.
I'll try a known good battery (from the SS) when I get home this arvo.

 

[87RB30VL]

Sussed it out yet bloke?