Thread: my d1 v8 starter just click's please help

Check your earth connections, at the battery, starter and chassis - even a good battery won't turn the starter if its not grounded properly.

...are you sure your battery isn't flat? When I've had flat batteries I turn the key and it just clicks away but does nothing else. Just hearing your description reminds me of that but if it's a different "click" then I apologize for sounding patronizing I'm just trying to help

I'm used to helping my Grandpa with his computer...nine times out of ten whatever problem he asks me about is just a power switch that's not turned on or a cable that's not actually plugged in. You know how old people are, god love 'em

Yep sounds like bad battery terminals or a dead battery. Try jump starting it.

When you turn the key it energises the solenoid (small cylinder) which moves down to make contact across two terminals inside and power up the motor (large cylinder). After a while the hammering against these terminals which are only brass can flatten them to the point that the solenoid no longer reliably contacts. Hence the click but no turn. A simple fix is to dismantle the solenoid and fit a thick shim to the moving part of the solenoid. Simly test for the motor side is to get your large elec tester (big yellow screwdriver) and short across the terminal which is connected to the battery and the one next to it which runs the power to the motor.

I had my main wire from the Battery Pos to the starter motor go high resistance when under load. It physically metered out ok but when cranking would go high resistance and the voltage at the starer motor would go to zero.

Use a multimeter and check the power at the starter motor when cranking. You can run some jumper leads from the battery Pos to the solenoid and see if it cranks. Check you earths, for a test run a jumper lead from the batter neg to the block.

Check the Battery voltage when cranking.

If all else fails check the starter motor.

Cheer, David.

thanks' for the help guy's the battery is fine i know it's the time old question yes it is charged yes i have checked it, spel1, clubagreenie and landover thank you for the help i will test it this weekend with the jumper leads, multimeter etc: and i will let you all know how i go.

Have you by chance been driving through any bog holes? Pull the thing out, test it with a set of jumper leads. If it still just clicks take the solenoid apart clean anything that looks dirty and do the jumper lead test again. If it still clicks during the second jumper lead test the magnets are prob buggered. Clicking when you turn the key back may point to a bad distributor chip but the starter should still go. If you replace this one replace it with a new bosch, mud and silty water doesn't bother them as much.

ok i finished work early today so i had a bit of a play with the old girl, first i earthed the starter straight to the battery no love, then i tried to give it power straight from the battery to the starter where the power connects to the terminal and no love, so i pulled it out after much arguing with the bottom bolt hooked it up to the battery (i just earthed it to the mount and connected the positive to the terminal on the starter side and bingo) so i reinstalled it not thinking to much and it was a no goer so i hooked up the jumper leads like i did when it was out of the car and the old girl came to life. so i didn't really archive anything except that my starter does work, what now do try to shim the solenoid it seems to me thats what's wrong.
i didn't check anything with a multimeter as when i got it out, it seems to be in as good of a working order as the disco.