Ah the damn click problem has hit. Even sometimes no click at all. When it does make a noise it sounds like its hitting the flywheel cause it makes a bell sound.

So i took the starter off today and gave it a good clean, checked the brushes, the solenoid and re-greased the gears. I cleaned all the terminals with some sand paper and a wire brush.

After reinstalling it, it did crank on the first try but it went back to making the sound a few tries later. It takes a few turns of the key to get it to crank still, but atleast its not like it was.

I suspect my battery is going bad, wont hold a full charge for long and reads at around 9.8-10 on the safc when cranking. Could be the problem...

What should i look for next?

 

The ignition switch itself is sometimes a cause for problems as it won't give the solenoid power. I've temporarily ran a wire from the solenoid and just tried starting the car directly to the battery a couple times just to verify that the starter was fine and it was the ignition's fault.

 

The volts dropping down to 8-9 vdc WHILE cranking the starter is normal as can be.

What year car is one question and the second question is....does it have factory theft protection? Third question is....if it's a series four without theft protection, can you undo the three nuts that hold the TRAIL COIL ASSY down, and it up and to the side, then see if you see a bright BLUE elect connector? Three questions and we need three answers.

 

How did you check the solenoid? I used to hit it with a stick, until I replaced it and wondered why I didn't do that earlier.

 

Its s5 turbo on a s5 n/a chassis and it does have factory anti theft thats been acting strange lately. Ive had to disconnect the horn, it would go off randomly in the middle of the night and when im driving sometimes.

yea i would just tap it a few times and it would work. When i disassembled the solenoid there was some buildup inside where the spring is.

 

I'd pull the plug off the Theft relay (starter cut relay). That plug has four wires. One is a LARGE black/green wire. Another is a small black/green wire. Another is black/blue. Another is light green/yellow.

So get a piece of wire that will reach from the batterys positive post to that plug. Bare both ends of that new wire. Put one into the socket on the elect plug where the large black/green is. Then by whatever method you want, attach the other end of that wire to the battery positve post. USe vice grips if you want.

Now turn the key to Start and depress the clutch pedal. Starter should turn over without clicking. Try that at least ten/fifteen times. IF it starts each time and never clicks, I'd say the problem is probably with the contacts inside the ignition switch itself.

 

thanks