Hello,

Got out to my car this morning, started it, everything was fine. Drove to my friends house, turned off the car, went in for a bit.

Came out, when I tried to start my car this time. When i pressed the start button, the dash kept blinking really quickly, but between blinks, the starter motor would try and turn over.

Its like if the starter motor was turning over, the dash was off, and if the dash was on the starter motor was off!

Really strange.

But then I tried 5 minutes later and it was all good, started first time!

Ive checked the battery terminals and they seem fine, any ideas?

I was going to replace the battery and get new terminals as there a bit corroded, but the cars starting first time now so im wondering if it was a one off!?!?!

 

This sounds to me like corrosion on the battery posts or a loose wire going to the primary power bus for the car. I would check the posts for a white powdery substance which can be cleaned up by removing the cables from the battery and washing them with a solution of baking soda and water.

If you don't find corrosion on the posts try wiggling the wires running from the battery to the chassis and to the fuse box - you are trying to recreate the conditions that might arise from vibrations while driving. If you notice that things start blinking while doing that you've found your loose wire. You could also start testing the voltage drop across circuits while under load to help isolate out electrical problems.

I've had issues like this on another make of automobile, it turned out to be a loose ground in the dashboard. Electrical gremlins can be rather tricky to find.

Good luck!

Tyler

 

Cheers mate, Ill give it a wiggle tonight and see if I can re-create the problem.

Now that you mention it, there were alot of speed bumps on the way to my friends house, they could have been enough to loosen the wire.

There is no white dust on my terminals, instead there is a tonne of grease, so much in fact that i can do the terminal up as tight as it will go, then simply slide the connection off without much effort.

 

I would remove all the grease on the terminals, esnure they are clean and apply a very, very thin coat of copper crest (vaseline may be ok as a substitute but breaks down at high temperatures).

Check the earth strap on the back of your engine is in good nick too.

HTH

Matt