1998 Mk2 Caddy Van Won't Start!

[Sammo]

Afternoon,

I've left my Mk2 Caddy van parked up for the last month or so. I went to move it last week and the battery was flat. I tried charging the battery but the moment I attached the leads it would pop the fuse in the charger. So I've bought a new battery, made sure it's fully charged and connected it up. All I then got was one loud click from the starter motor and nothing else. This starter had always been a bit lazy so I gave it a whack with a hammer but it was still no good. Today I replaced the starter with a brand new one and now I'm just getting a constant clicking when trying to start the van, like the battery is flat! The battery is fully charged and everything is connected up. Can anyone offer any ideas as I'm a little stuck as to what to try next.

Cheers,

Sammo

[taurus]

First thing - if a battery is totally flat and the voltage drops below 11v then most chargers won't charge it. The trick is to 'prime' the battery using a 400Ma gell cell charger. A couple of hours is all you need to bring the voltage back to 12v and then your usual charger can take over. I've revived many dead batteries that way.

Re. the Caddy, I'd suspect you've got a bad connection somewhere, first place I'd check is the earth. Use a good quality jump lead to make a temporary secondary earth connection and see how that goes.

[ejenner]

yeah, the symptoms sound like you've got a weak connection somewhere. Probably corrosion.

As recommended above... use a jump lead between the negative terminal on the battery and a solid metal part of the engine.

Try again... if it works then start looking at the engine earth straps and the condition of the negative battery lead.

If it's not the earth then look at the condition of the positive cable. You will have seen the condition of the cable where it connects to the starter motor as you've just changed that.

[Sammo]

I made sure the battery was fully charged today, removed and cleaned all the live and earth points, connected up the spare battery from my BMW with jump leads and still only getting clicking! I have absolutely no clue what's gone wrong here. It's only been sat for a month and it was fine when I parked it up!

[joem83]

Have you tried rocking the van in gear, that can unstick sticky starter motors.
Stick van in first on the flat, take handbrake off and rock it forward an back, I used to have to do that on my 205 when the starter was on it's way out.

[baggabones]

Sounds like a stuck starter to me, as said above.. car in gear and try rocking the car back and to a couple of times... normally frees them up

[Sammo]

Even though it's a brand new starter I've given this a go and still only getting clicking.

[BT]

Might sound retarded but have you tried bumping the car? I've had similar problems and bumping the vehicle has solved the problems. Started left to get to temp, switch it off and on again.

Reading caddy van I thought it would be a 109 relay but it's not in your case. I had a similar problem in my caddy and it was a poor connection.

In the mk2 caddy van you have the strange fuse box that connects to the positive terminal don't you? Is this connected correctly? Fuses good?

I had an Iveco once that was like this. Took the starter out, connected it to a jumper pack and started the thing up on the floor, bolted it back in and all was good.

Mk2 caddy vans suffer with dead ECU's due to their location, they fill with water or something but in your case I wouldn't say that was an area of concern. That licking I've only ever experienced with a battery with weak charge. Tried jumping it?

[joem83]

Jun 28, 2015 22:34:56 GMT BT said:

Mk2 caddy vans suffer with dead ECU's due to their location, they fill with water or something but in your case I wouldn't say that was an area of concern. That licking I've only ever experienced with a battery with weak charge. Tried jumping it?

Funny you should say that:


That flagged all sorts of errors, an hour with a toothbrush & PCB cleaner, cleared all faults in VAGCOM and worked fine.

It's well worth cleaning out the skuttle tray of dead leaves and give it a polish.

Before:




After: