Starting gremlins in the hot weather - sometimes!!!

[drooby]

Hey all, I have just found my way back here after a hiatus involving too much work and not enough play.

Our '97 Tdi is usually a faultless performer but every now and then on a hot day the bugger will not crank over. All other lights and instruments work but the starter will not engage. No clicking or any other noise. If I walk off in a huff and come back in half an hour or so, she fires up straight away as if nothing was ever wrong. It never repeats the episode immediately either so it is not like I can take it somewhere to have it diagnosed.

Has anyone here got any insights on this or had it happen to them?
It is stopping me from going 4x4ing 'cos I don't want to get stranded by a Tdi that won't start for some inexplicable reason!

As usual, any input or insight will be most appreciated. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

[LandyAndy]

Hi Drooby
Sounds like a voltage drop.Next time it happens try shorting the posative lead on the starter and the solenoid trigger MAKE SURE VEHICLE IS IN NEUTRAL!!!!!!!! If it starts no probs you are not getting enough power to activate the solenoid,either due to a voltage drop or weak solenoid.
Earlier fords were notorious,the easy fix was a heavier trigger wire for the solenoid trigger.
Goodluck
Andrew

[spudboy]

I get this too on my 1997 Disco 300Tdi.

Can't say it's a pattern with the weather or anything, but 3 or 4 times a year (randomly) it will not turn over. Wait for 2 or 3 minutes, and it starts like normal, and continues to behave for the next 2 or 3 months, before it has another funny turn. It's been doing this for several years and doesn't seem to be getting any worse or more frequent.

Weird.

[Pavo]

My 1998 300tdi suffers from the same thing. I just turn the starter key back and forth and it always starts within about 5 attempts. Has had this problem since I bought it in 2001 - and I had an auto electrician replace the starter solenoid (in 2003) and it didn't fix it.

And it only happens after a drive and the car has sat for a while - usually on hot days. I think the heat from the turbo doesn't help matters either.

As LandyAndy said about the voltage drop, I have been told by auto electricians that one solution might be to get a relay and use the current solenoid trigger wire to trigger the relay instead, and then you can have a nice, quality wire going straight from the battery, through the relay to the starter. Never bothered doing it because it has always started.

[MacMan]

Fix it Drewloo! We need to go bush!

BTW, are you around next weekend? We will be in Trentham one of the days, possibly overnight.

[drooby]

I think I will replace the trigger wire with battery cable and see how we go.
Hopefully that will supply the starter solenoid with all the juice it will ever need.
Mike, we should be around, wanna have a bit of a play up at wombat and a bbq or something?

Thanks for the input guys, it is muchly appreciated!

[sclarke]

where is our invite????