VT Starting issues - Urgent

[Tom75]

Hi guys...

I have a starting problem. I had what sounded like a flat battery two days ago. I've replaced the battery and the problem went away. The car isn't starting again. Still has all working dash lights and it's turning over however it won't kick into life. It hasn't had any warning lights come on while it was running. The problem happens when the engine is hot and cold however it sometimes will kick on if its left for a long time.

We are a one car family and urgently need to repair this problem.

Any ideas what the problem is?

Thanks all...

 

[mpower]

kind of sounds like a starter motor - I could be wrong but yeah I replaced a starter in my VT many moons ago as the car would crank very slowly (kind of sounded like a flat battery but wasn't).

It's always the German bits that break in our cars!

Changing a starter is a one man 30 minute job on a VT as well, I did it from underneath.

 

[tsommerville]

Does it sound like a flat battery again? And by that I mean is it very slow to turn over and sounds as if it is struggling?

If not there are a whole plethora of issues that can cause a Crank-NoStart condition. Things I would be checking are Spark (see if the engine is even firing when you crank it over), Fuel (does it have any? is the fuel pump working? are the injectors working?), and if it is neither of these, then the possible problems list just expands to something huge really...

Hope this helps

 

[wortus]

If it cranks I doubt it's the actual starter motor. It's more than likely going to be a faulty crank angle sensor. It is mounted on the front passengers side of the engine just behind the harmonic balancer and is covered by a plastic cover. Next time it won't start spray some cold water on this sensor and then try to start the engine. If it starts then you need to replace this sensor. From what I have heard always use a genuine one they are more reliable. I had one replaced on a VN a while back. It doesn't involve much labour and is probably best left to a mechanic who can easily get the balancer off with a rattle gun as the bolt on the front is done up fairly tight. From memory the proper way to remove it is to first take out the starter motor and put a tool in to stop the flywheel from turning.