Dead Dedra

[toby2449]

well since the Dedra has been sitting around for a long time doing nothing, its now decided it doesn't wanna play, & despite me trying to fee up the starter motor & having checked all the leads i could see, she still refuses to do anything. I turn the key & nothing, absolutely nothing. I've replaced the battery & she has brand new spark plugs in her.

any suggestions on what i could try, i will be the first to say i know very little about starter motors, or how to take them out, out them in, etc...

[chugga boom]

does the starter clunk at all or is it totally dead, if its totally dead it may be worth cleaning the battery terminals on the battery and leads, another possibility is lack of earth to engine so connect aa jump lead from the battery earth to the engine itself, also you could try shorting the main battery connection on the starter to the solenoid connection incase the ignition switch or wiring is faulty, if the starter has stuck a good smack with a hammer shaft will normally free the brushes to get it to work on a temporary measure, good luck and hope 1 of these works for you jp

[toby2449]

its totally dead. I only remembered this today, but i had a problem with the car not doing anything before, & i smacked the starter with a hammer, & that worked, but that "remedy" doesn't work now, wonder is the starter motor knackered. any way i can check if its the starter motor (as i say i know sod all about them!)

[murf]

I don't know if this of any help but I had almost identical symptoms with my Thema last year. After a number of false starts the problem was finally tracked down to a badly corroded wiring multiblock situated  behind the carpet in the passenger footwell below the fuses housing. By cutting out the terminal  block and hard wiring all the cabling I have had no further problems in that department. Might be worth a look. Rgds., Murf.

[toby2449]

thanks Murf, i'm willing to try anything!

[Neil Lewis]

The Marelli starter motors used by Lancia on the twin cam engines exhibit this problem and usually a bar placed on top of the starter and clouted with a hammer does the trick.  The problem is in the briushes and commutator inside the motor; if there's no connection throughthe commutator, the solenoid won't get any electricity so the whole thing just stops working.  Clouting the motor moves the commutator enough to make a connection and bob's your uncle.

My solution is to fit an aftermarket Bosch starter motor (tricky on the two integrales I've had) but relatively easy on a 2wd car.  The Bosch motor is completely different to the Marelli one (and the reconditioned motors that motor factors sell) in that it has a much smaller motor which uses less electricity and spins somewhat faster.

Of course that all assumes that the wiring is OK.  The most common wiring fault is that the brown? wire to the solenoid falls off because it's not supported and just hangs down to the starter.  Have a feel around and check it.  The other problem (again caused by unsorted wires) is that the ring connector on the wire to the alternator can snap due to fatigue.  Again have a feel aroudn and see if it's come off.  A new wire is easy to buy and should have an 8mm ring on the starter end and (I think) a 6mm ring on the alternator end.

Neil

[toby2449]

thanks for all your replys guys, i had intended to try & get it sorted today, but i've been tiling our kitchen & ran out of time, weekend job i think now!