Strange electrical problem 206

Hi All ,

My girlfriend has a 51 reg diesel 206 which has developed a strange
electrical problem , she mentioned to me last week it has seemed
sluggish to turn over when starting from hot or cold and I'd made a
mental note to check for a lose wire or something . When she got home
from work tonight she turned the car off then tried to start it again
to move to a different parking spot but it would hardly turn over , as
though it had a flat battery . I went out and checked the battery
leads which were all nice and tight then tried to start it myself ,
she was standing in front of the car and said when I turned the engine
over the headlights flickered , I had a look myself and sure enough
they were glowing dim-bright-dim-bright as the engine tried to turn
over .

I know very little about auto electrics , do you think it sounds like
a bad earth or loose connection somewhere ? , anybody have any ideas
where to start looking ?.

T.I.A.
Cheers,
Ron

 

In the 'good old days' this problem was quite often a poor connection in
the earthing strap between body and the engine ( sometimes to the
gearbox) however most modern cars have the negative terminal of the
battery connected direct to the engine. So no 1, check this is tight at
both ends.
If you have a voltmeter, put this direct onto the lead (metal not the
wire!) parts of the battery and see if the voltage is dropping severely
during cranking. If so the fault is in the battery. I have had a bad
connection inside a battery once.
If this is OK measure the voltage drop in both battery leads.
I think your test with dimming lights would suggest that the starter
motor is probably OK.

Good Luck

Bob

 

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your response , I'll try a voltmeter tomorrow .
I've just been out to the car now and tried to start it , first go it
wouldn't hardly turn over , switched ignition off and tried again and
it turned over normally and the engine burst into life ! .

I didn't test for lights dimming with the lights switched on , the
lights were switched off but flickered dim-bright-dim-bright as the
engine turned over when trying to start it , weird eh .

Ron

 

Unusual interaction between un related electrical systems on cars is
often a strange mix of dodgy earthing and sometimes blown fuse.
When also the problem is intermittent, it can be a real bu88er to locate.
Good Luck
Bob

 

Hi,

It may be a bad earthing as said above, or a more vicious cause, like
intermittent engine earthing (unbolted ground tape), or a broken battery
cable (this giving an intermittent bad wire, with symptoms very similar to a
flat battery).

The flat battery is the first thing that comes to mind (even if they tend to
fail during winter, it may not be impossible), but it doesn't match with the
intermittent good start.

HTH,