Starting issue: 4agze aw11 mr2

[X kyle X]

Okay been having a problem for a while now (2 months ish) I will try and do my best to explain what happens and the conditions it happens under.

Car is a aw11 with 4agze motor with the battery relocated to the front the layout is as follows

Original power cables (starter and alternator) to circuit breaker to isolation switch to positive side of the battery (circuit breaker is 120amp fuse)

Original negative earthed to the rear strut tower new negative earthed to the chassis in the front.

Ok so it doesn't get driven much and I turn the isolation switch off during it's days of non use.

Turn it on and it starts fine (bit of a splutter then cold start idles at about 1500)

Drive it to wherever I'm going turn it off (this can sometimes be in excess of 45 min drive. Go to start the car and I get no lights or power ( no reds even) the turning of the key does absolutly nothing.

I then proceed to scratch my head open the bonnet make sure the iso switch hasn't moved and that the inline breaker hasn't popped and subsequently try re starting. Some times I have success and other times I'll get all the dash lights on but it will crank tremendously slow until it simply won't start. Other times it will fire almost instantly.

I would really love to know what is happening as I really need to have this reliable as it is now tuning daily.

In summary.
1. Car normally starts easy after a week or so with the iso switch on
2. Drive and stop and car will sometimes not start
3. No dash lights at all sometimes and thus noncranking
4. Sometimes dash lights but a really slow crank
5. Sometimes a completly normal start fast crank and fire.

Any ideas

[Casey-G]

Dodgy earth maybe? The crimps on the Power cables/earths been done properly? if they arent it will cause problems.


I know i ran a 0 gauge pos and neg cable to the engine bay just for good measure and as it was recommended to me, something to do with ECU's not liking reading the voltage through the chassis of the car.. or something

Have you tried rigging the battery back up in the bay and driving it for a few days and seeing if the problem resides?

[X kyle X]

I moved a earth to a better spot in the front this morning.

Checked the two power cable connections (starter and alternator) and they look very strong.

If nothing comes to play from this thread I'm going to move the battery back to the rear and see what happens.

[Casey-G]

Checked them with an ohm meter?

[Cuzzo]

Remove the circuit breaker.

Bolt the two points together with a bolt and tape it up good so it doesnt earth.

Like these? http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/0/3...3085667_tp.jpg

[X kyle X]

Pretty similar cuzzo mine has the on switch then a led voltage display that has never worked.

Casey G don't have a ohm meter. Gotta get my mate to pop round with his multi meter. I'll get some cable lugs aswell to join the 2 to bypass the circuit breaker

[Duk]

When I put my battery in the front I bolted the new positive to the old battery terminal and put it inside a piece of rubber hose and wrapped the lot with electrical tape.
The negative bolts to the old battery tray and so do a few other earth points from other things. There is also an extra earth strap from the engine to the chassis near the rear torque mount.
Battery negative attaches to the drivers side strut top and there are a 2 other smaller earths that attach to other parts in the front boot (tho probably not needed).
All eyelets are soldered and battery terminals clamp to the cable. No circuit breaker or fuse is used, but I will probably add 1.

It has been perfectly reliable.

[MR22ZZ]

The other thing you could do Kyle is to replace the copper contacts in the starter motor using a rebuild kit.

I'm needing to do the same to mine, as it's been showing these same symptoms for ages I've just never been bothered to change it since I hardly drive the car.

I can buy 2 kits if you want and show you how to disasemble the thing. It's pretty easy. I did it once already and just gave the guts a clean which solved the issues for a couple of months but the contacts need to be replaced. Works out way cheaper as the contacts cost bugger all.

[X kyle X]

Are the rebuild kits the same between GE AND ZE???

That might be worth the go as it seems in the aw11 thread they have concluded irbid starter

[MR22ZZ]

nope, I don't know, but I'll talk to some people and see what I can get

EDIT: something like this Kyle... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT

[X kyle X]

There cheap but you have to do brushes aswell??? Would like to know ifthey will work on a gze.

I'm going to give rep to all soon

[Muzza]

it should not be the starter if ur not getting any reds on??
might seem like your having a bad earth of the ecu.

[feral4mr2]

do your wiring correctly like i posted in the other thread.

[X kyle X]

Will deffs do the wiring before doing the starter see if anything changes

[allencr]

[QUOTE=X kyle X;1197432Go to start the car and I get no lights or power ( no reds even) the turning of the key does absolutly nothing. [/QUOTE]

Turn on the headlights, then wiggle twist pull tug shove & shake every connection until you see the lights come on, then fix what touched last & made it light up.