Electrical Gremlin?

[thebrod]

Hi All

First up HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Secondly I'm looking for some advice. My ZD30 patrol has been having a few starting problems recently.

Here's what happens : The car has been left overnight and I go to start it in the morning. Turn key on, and wait 15 seconds or so for the glow plugs to warm up and then crank the motor. Cranks OK for a few seconds and then starts to slow down. Some times it starts, some times not.... Have a dual battery controller in the car with monitors. Starting battery says its at 100% when I begin, but drops below 50% when cranking with the glow plugs on. Thought the cells in the battery were starting to collapse so bought a new 810 cca battery. Same thing happens. If I connect the two batteries via the controller the car fires up straight away. Had the new battery load tested and they say it's fine. Any ideas? I thought that maybe the glow plugs were dying but I think that would produce less current draw than if they were working. Once the car has been started it restarts straight away and the starter spins quickly.

Cheers
Adam

[Turtle_au]

Starter motor. Had same symptoms on my BD30 Cabstar. Also did what you did and replaced the battery. I had only changed the starter brushes and cleaned up the commmutator about 12 months previously, so thought they should be ok. Turned out the springs for the brushes had lost tension causing them to overheat and wear too quickly.

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[mudski]

Sounds like the starter motor is on its way out to me.

[BillsGU]

As above or possibly the battery leads are not making proper connection either at the battery terminals or where they bolt onto the block (-ve) or starter motor (+ve). Take the leads off and give them a clean (cheap option) before you pull out the starter motor.

[threedogs]

Patrols are famous for earth problems, remove a few and
re do the contact patch so they are good to go again

[thebrod]

Thanks for the ideas. I've cleaned up all of the connections this morning. They weren't too bad but are all shiny and clean now so that shouldn't be a problem. I'll see how it goes in the morning otherwise I guess it's new starter motor time.

Cheers
Adam

[thebrod]

Turns out it was the starter motor. Have replaced with a new one and is 100% better than before. Yet to pull the old one apart to see what was wrong.......
Thanks for the advice :)