My car was sat on my parents' driveway for the past week what with Christmas, the New Year etc. and I hadn't moved it. It's been cold and wet pretty much the whole time it was parked up. I packed it up last night to head back home, went to turn it over and nothing happened. All the usual lights came on, but it just wouldn't turn over. It wouldn't even try. Tried a few variations of ignition on, off, key out, getting out of the car, locking and unlocking etc. just to see if any of those things fixed it, but nothing.
I've mentioned on 'what have you done to your car...' several months back that I'd had some issues with starting the car, and thought it was the starter motor, but after a couple of goes, the car would start. This time, nothing was happening at all. Battery is good, replaced that at the start of the year, and no other real issues to speak of, outside of the usual 165k kinds of stuff.
What got it started in the end was that I put it in first gear and tried to push it to see if that loosened or cracked anything off that was holding things up. It didn't move, even on the flat. I put it in neutral and it moved fine, so decided to push it, jump in the driver's seat, put it in first gear and then drop the clutch. It stopped dead when I did it, but after that, I was able to turn the engine over. It laboured a bit, but it worked and got me home. When I dropped some things off at my girlfriend's place after driving it for two hours, it started again without any issues.
Ordinarily, I'd think it needs a new starter, but given the starter isn't always in contact with the flywheel (I think?), I shouldn't have had to do the whole thing putting it into first gear etc. and essentially bump starting it, so I'm wondering if the engine is actually seizing. Even when it starts normally, there's often smoke and smells from the exhaust and I sometimes have to give the engine a good rev, otherwise it feels like it's not got as much power at higher revs.
It's a diesel, and I have had the usual issues with the EGR etc. being dirty (but not clogged) and I've been talking about cleaning the intake manifold for years now. I haven't used any fuel additives for a while now and am starting to wonder if that's causing any issues too.
Long and the short of it is that while I love this car and have put so much work into it over the years, I'm getting a bit fed up with it now and I'm not wanting to put more money into it unless I know what I do is going to fix the problem. It's also the time of year when I service the car, so if it involves using a different oil or a different grade that'll adhere to the cylinders better, I can do that too. Or it could just be the starter...
I've mentioned on 'what have you done to your car...' several months back that I'd had some issues with starting the car, and thought it was the starter motor, but after a couple of goes, the car would start. This time, nothing was happening at all. Battery is good, replaced that at the start of the year, and no other real issues to speak of, outside of the usual 165k kinds of stuff.
What got it started in the end was that I put it in first gear and tried to push it to see if that loosened or cracked anything off that was holding things up. It didn't move, even on the flat. I put it in neutral and it moved fine, so decided to push it, jump in the driver's seat, put it in first gear and then drop the clutch. It stopped dead when I did it, but after that, I was able to turn the engine over. It laboured a bit, but it worked and got me home. When I dropped some things off at my girlfriend's place after driving it for two hours, it started again without any issues.
Ordinarily, I'd think it needs a new starter, but given the starter isn't always in contact with the flywheel (I think?), I shouldn't have had to do the whole thing putting it into first gear etc. and essentially bump starting it, so I'm wondering if the engine is actually seizing. Even when it starts normally, there's often smoke and smells from the exhaust and I sometimes have to give the engine a good rev, otherwise it feels like it's not got as much power at higher revs.
It's a diesel, and I have had the usual issues with the EGR etc. being dirty (but not clogged) and I've been talking about cleaning the intake manifold for years now. I haven't used any fuel additives for a while now and am starting to wonder if that's causing any issues too.
Long and the short of it is that while I love this car and have put so much work into it over the years, I'm getting a bit fed up with it now and I'm not wanting to put more money into it unless I know what I do is going to fix the problem. It's also the time of year when I service the car, so if it involves using a different oil or a different grade that'll adhere to the cylinders better, I can do that too. Or it could just be the starter...
