Car no van a big one.

Steve Lees

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Vito 2003 diesel
Hi I'm Steve. Had a 320clk coupe for a number of years with no problem so when I decided to buy a camper bought a Vito based one. Think I am starting to regret it. Left it for 2 weeks can not get a cough out of it. Charged battery as I thought it may be flat as just a clicking sound could be heard so thought not enough power to turn engine over but no. With battery fully charged nothing except ignition lights go out and Speedo sometimes goes up to 30. Tried jump leads direct with no battery connected still same. Thought starter motor may be stuck on but why would it. Wondering if alarm could cause this. Any ideas guys?
Thanks in anticipation
Steve
 

M80

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2014 639 Viano- 651, 5sp Auto. 2009 S211- 646, 5sp Auto.
Sounds like a low voltage issue to me.
My steps would be to check battery voltage to eliminate it being kernackered. Anything in the 12 volt area should be ok for it to start. But a battery voltage will be pulled down during an attempted start and if the battery isn't so good might well be incapable of giving out enough power.

Check the battery connections are good, and the battery earth points while there.

I would then be checking battery voltage during the start attempt and comparing that to the voltage at say the fuse box. If there is a significant difference there is a bad connection somewhere.
 

M80

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BTW the jump leads would have to be very heavy duty to reduce the volt drop during the 'start' to actually do as you are hoping for.
Even when I connect my heavy duty jump leads to a low battery I'll leave it a while to transfer enough charge to be able to start the motor.
 

Srdl

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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum from another Steve. Sorry, I’m not technical enough to give any advice on your problem but I hope you get it sorted soon.
 
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Steve Lees

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Hi Steve and welcome to the forum from another Steve. Sorry, I’m not technical enough to give any advice on your problem but I hope you get it sorted soon.
Thanks it's not getting any better. New battery on and central locking stopped working now. Oh well back to the drawing board.
 
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Steve Lees

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Well fitted new battery to eliminate that problem still the same. Central locking has now stopped working and when I turn on the ignition all the dashboard lights go out. Think it is an alarm or immobiliser problem.
 

LostKiwi

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'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
Hi Steve and welcome.

As Martin suggested this does sound like a low voltage issue. The clue here being the lights all go out and the clicking.
Check the earth connection from battery to engine. You can temporarily put a heavy duty jump lead from the battery earth to the engine block for this. Also check the connection of the battery to the chassis. The point where the cable bolts to the earth point can become corroded and develop a high resistance. This will normally be ok when there is a low current draw but high current across the high resistance will drop the voltage like a stone.
 
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Steve Lees

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Hi Steve and welcome.

As Martin suggested this does sound like a low voltage issue. The clue here being the lights all go out and the clicking.
Check the earth connection from battery to engine. You can temporarily put a heavy duty jump lead from the battery earth to the engine block for this. Also check the connection of the battery to the chassis. The point where the cable bolts to the earth point can become corroded and develop a high resistance. This will normally be ok when there is a low current draw but high current across the high resistance will drop the voltage like a stone.
Thanks will try this weekend
 

Craiglxviii

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970 Panamera Turbo; W221 S500L AMG Line, C215 CL500, W251 R350L AMG Line, plus several more now gone
Hi Steve and welcome.

As Martin suggested this does sound like a low voltage issue. The clue here being the lights all go out and the clicking.
Check the earth connection from battery to engine. You can temporarily put a heavy duty jump lead from the battery earth to the engine block for this. Also check the connection of the battery to the chassis. The point where the cable bolts to the earth point can become corroded and develop a high resistance. This will normally be ok when there is a low current draw but high current across the high resistance will drop the voltage like a stone.
+1. A broken earth strap (sure we have seen this on Vitos here before..?) or a corroded earth point will induce a massive number of low voltage errors. These can in turn cause cascade failures of other systems.
 


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