'86 Spider starting difficult (ies)

[JustABloke]

Hi Guy's

I hope that as you all come from such a hot ( in places ) country you'll be able to help me out.

I have 2 seperate no start scenerios any help is appreciated.

1) Drive the car a long distance without any problems ( say 50 miles + ). Park the car in the hot sun, leave for 25 minutes or so and then try to start the engine. The car doesn't even turn over or attemtp to start. Leave for another 25 minutes or so. The car starts normally.

2) Drive the car a long distance not using any electrical accessories. The volt meter in the dash shows a steady output at about 12volts (ish... it could be 13 I'm not too sure) Stop the car, leave for 20 mins or so starts fine. Leave overnight, nothing. The battery shows over 12 volts on a meter but the car will only start with the use of booster cables or a jumppack.

Neither of the above scenerios are consistant, that is to say they don't always happen. The only consistant thing is it's after a long journey.

TIA

MarK

[Duke58]

Sounds like a intermittent short to ground. Check all your grounds, starting from your negative side battery cable. Check that the battery cables are not loose. Also check your engine to chassis ground. It sounds like one of these is moving. It may take some troubleshooting time, and these problems can be frustrating.

[JustABloke]

what a marvelous way to spend the winter..... checking the earthing points on my spider...

Oh well... cheers for the heads up

MarK

[Jr. Z]

I had the same problem with hot starting & it was a bad solenoid. Take your starter assy. off as a unit & take to your local starter restoration house, NOT the local cheapo rebuilder, have them test everything & rebuild. Replace the solenoid no matter what, even if it tests OK. I had a supposedly good rebuilder do my starter & solenoid & the rebuild was sloppy w/ grease & gunk everywhere & they didn't replace the solenoid. Had to pull the starter & have it done all over again. Clean all the grounds you can find , reinstall & see if that does it. Bruce

[MrT]

Use long crowbar to bump the solenoid when someone tries starting the car. If it starts after bumping it, it is either the solenoid sticking or a wiring problem. Try hot-wiring around the ignition switch to see whether the ignition contacts in the switch are poor. For the overnight no-start problem, my '86 had a similar woe due to resistive switched power connections. Clean all you can. Look for P.O. induced poor splices in the ignition lines. If this is the problem, you should still be able to push-start the car, but the voltage at the ECU will be too low for it to power the ignition spark system while turning the starter. Even a few motor revs from gliding down hill should start the car if this is the problem. I still have problems to fix on ours. If I turn on the AC, it won't start even though the starter spins the motor just fine. Turn off the AC, and it will start just fine. Turn on the AC and defroster/heater fan and listen to the motor try to stall as the voltmeter sags below 10 V indicated. Seems purely to be an electrical problem in switched power, as the alternator output stays constant at 13-1/2 to 13-3/4 volts.

Michael

[Davy13]

I know it sounds sophmoric, but start wiht the battery cables... Where I am here in Seaville, salt air and moisture tend to get into everything. I had great luck pulling my battery cables, and sanding the battery posts, as well as the inside portion of the cables. I di-electric greased 'em, and the car starts every time... now. I actually had the same problem with a Jeep Cherokee, as well as my former '86 Spider. Basically, I am 3 for 3 on the battery post sanding solution.

-Dave.

[JustABloke]

Thanks Guy's

some very usefull pointers in there.

Mark