SD33T MK won't start

It's been sitting for a few months so I charged the battery and it's showing 12.5v, more than enough to start it I would think.

Since I've had it, it has always been finicky to start, often requiring the ignition key to be turned off and on 4 or 5 times, always accompanied by clicking relays.

I'm hopeless at anything electrical so I'll ask some dumb questions.

There is a relay under the dash near the fuses, blue in colour. I'm assuming it's the ignition relay.

There is another one mounted on the guard near the firewall, bigger than the one inside.

Then there is a whole bunch of stuff under a cover mounted about halfway along the drivers side mudguard.

OK, am I looking for a starter relay.

Oh, and all 3 relay locations click when I turn on the starter.

Help..................... please !

Hi mate

You mention clicking when trying to start. This sounds like low battery or bad connections. Check all main battery connections and also check the connections onto the starter motor as they can give problems.

In saying that, 12.5V is not flash, A good charge should show around 13V - 13.5V. Try another battery jumpered in parallel to give more starting power.

My bet is a dirty or loose connection.

Cheers Ric.

x2 with all the connections. Clean the battery terminals and connectors, check your earth and look at the battery voltage when cranking the engine. If it drops too much, replace the battery. Spray the battery connectors with battery terminal protectant.

Thanks for the replies.

I've cleaned all the connections and have the battery on a recondition charge at present. If no joy I'll try a jump start and that will help determine where the problem may lie.

When I try to start it I can hear relays clicking but no sound from the solenoid.

Tried to jump start it today and it did turn the motor VERY slowly, fan only went around less than 1 revolution.
And I could hear the starter solenoid clicking.

Put a multi meter across the battery terminals while you try to start it. (Might need a mate to hold the meter probes firmly into the battery posts) and see what voltage it drops down to while you are trying to crank it. Anything lower than 10 volts and the battery is stuffed.
If all connections have been cleaned up and are tight, (Make sure you check the earth onto the body as well) then it may well be the Starter is the problem.

The old sd33 does need a good battery to turn them over but I have jump started mine when its dead flat off my falcon which has a pretty standard 450 or 520CCA battery

Cheers Ric

Are you using decent jumper leads? Many on the market are woeful, with very thick insulation and only thin copper conductors. After trying to start, feel the heavy cables for heat, as this can indicate where your problem lies. Does the engine turn freely by hand?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mudnut

Are you using decent jumper leads? Many on the market are woeful, with very thick insulation and only thin copper conductors. After trying to start, feel the heavy cables for heat, as this can indicate where your problem lies. Does the engine turn freely by hand?

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OK, they are supposedly 'heavy duty' jumpers, but I did notice when I tried to start the old bitch that the earth lead was quite warm. Haven't tried to turn it by hand, will give it a go when it stops bloody drizzling.

Hey Trublu,

How did you go? Did you get her started.

One other thing I forgot to mention and I shoulda remembered because I had it cause me grief once. Check the main Positive connection onto the Starter Motor.

Ric

Hi Trublu,
I have an '84 mq sd33 and I had the same finiky starting problems. the problem for me was an engine temp sender for the glowplugs. It's resistances were wrong with temp and weren't allowing the plugs enough time to heat. so let's get a new one? Huh! When I discovered that a new one was going to cost $108, I opted for a different approach.
Reading "the book" it turns out that with a cold engine the plugs might be on as long as 25 secs (mine stayed on for less than seven), I discovered by careful experiment that if I turned the key VERY carfully between, on and start, I could get the plugs to turn on for any amount of time I chose to count. The result is that it starts over the first or second compression every time,.........cost? zero!
All that said, I do agree with the electrical responses. In that vein, you might want to check the earth strap between the chassis and the engine, I had that cause untold grief before too.

good hunting,

grumpy.

G'day Old grumpy
When you say your plugs were only glowing for about 7 seconds is that how long the Glow light stayed on for or was that until you heard the glow relay drop out?

In my MK the light goes out after about 6 seconds but the relay does not drop out until around 11 or 12 seconds. If I need more like on cold mornings I do the old trick with the ignition half on.

Sounds like it could be a faulty battery or a starter motor drawing too much current. If you have a current detector you can see what it's drawing.

will try that too. never really knew how long to press the button for.
thanks