[RESOLVED] please help, starter trouble

[ripa]

hello i am new to the forum and have a question about trouble i am having starting my 1g talon tsi. I recently bought this car thinking it just needed a new battery but turns out its much more. ever since i had bought the car it has always started very slowly so i changed the battery. This worked for about 15 minutes. After shutting off the car and trying to restart it would not start again. I then replaced the alternator thinking it was not charging the battery properly, returned the first battery i bought and got another new one and the car continued to start very slowly but worked better then the first time. Today i took the car on a 30 minute drive and after turning it off and trying to restart it it would not start at all just cranked very slowly but would not kick over. Do you think this is a problem with the starter?? what am i missing here i cleaned all of the terminals on the battery. please help i am gettin very frustrated thank you!

 

[iwannagofast89]

Could be a bad ground

 

[ripa]

what grounds should i check? can i run a ground directly from the starter to the chassis? why would the car start slower after just driving it for a half hour? any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Stainbox12]

This may sound weird, but do you hear any kind of knock? like rod knock? because i know that when engines, are about to seize, they turn very very slowly. Take out the starter and take it for a check. Starters can be repaired and its pretty easy and relatively cheap. You can also have a short or something, where the battery is being drained very fast, but i highly doubt that it would be a 15 min issue with a new battery. Check what i stated and post back.

 

[ripa]

the motor turns perfect, ill pull the starter tommorow and check it. i dont think i have a short because after cranking the car a few times trying to start it the voltage is still around 12.5. is cranking slowly a sign that the starter is shot?

the best way to describe the way the starter is turning is it has extra load on it. when i first start it it turns about half as slow as a normal car would, after driving for 20 mins or so it it turns about a quarter as fast as it should until it eventually just clicks like the battery is dead but the battery isnt dead.

thanks for all the help thus far

 

[hpexperts]

i would take a volt meter and check how much voltage the altenator is putting out at about 1500 rpms it should be around 14 volts. the starter you got could of been bad. check all the wiring from altenator to battery, from battery to the starter and grounds battery terminals check for broken wires grounds. and than do a parasitic draw test, i believe you diconect the ground and you hook up your meter between the ground form battery to the ground cable if you get any voltage you have to go dig out what sucking the voltage. it can be the radio memory, glove box light etc. if not check your belts pulleys they sometimes the a/c compressor can get stuck and cause more stress in the starter for it to start the engine, if not and all is good i would go ahead and i would replace the starter.

 

[ripa]

i have not changed the starter yet, but i have changed the alternator and battery twice, added new termials and cleaned the battery wire connections, i do not think they are the problem. there is not much in the car it is basically stripped for drag racing( no ac/ps no interior lights, no radio ect. ) the alternator belt is very tight. the battery is was relocated to the trunk with very large wire recently but I was getting this same problem before i relocated it.

 

[wret]

I agree it sounds more like the starter itself. There are several diagnostic tests you can do but before you spend a couple hours doing them, just take the starter out and have it bench tested. Most likely this will identify the problem. If not, it will eliminate at least one possible cause.

 

[ripa]

ill try to start the car tomorrow and check the alternator voltage. if its good ill pull the starter and have it checked and ill run some new ground wires and see if it gets rid of the problem

finally fixed this problem thanks to all your help. i took the starter out today and when it was out i noticed the larger part of the starter was loose so i tightened the 2 very long screws that conect it all together and cleaned all the terminals again. i also found that the ground wire was corroded down the inside of the wire about a foot so i replaced that as well and sure enough it cranked over like a new car! thanks again for all your help!