Flat battery - won't jump start though!

[DavieH]

Hi...

Having a bit of trouble getting my BIS started. I think the battery may have gone flat (possible left the lights on).  The lights come on on the dash, but the starter motor really labours under cranking...manages one crank, then just clicks

So I connected up the battery to my other car as normal - still no luck. The hand book says to connect negative to earth as far away from the battery negative...where is best? Does it make a difference? Can I connect direct to the battery?

I have a spare starter motor, but dont want to change it if it is something as simple as an awkward auxillary battery start procedure.

Any ideas?

[Chris Lakin]

To me it does sound like its the starter, have you tried giving it a gentle taps with a hammer to see if it will free it up? Im no expert on this, best off waiting for an experts oppinion. You will probably find in a couple of days time it will free up itself after trying to start it, although the starter motor is propbably on its way out.

Hope ive helped a little, can anyone else help Dave here?

Chris

[slater]

Could be an earthing problem.

Try connecting the earth lead of your jump leads to the engine itself somewhere. To test the starter motor it may be possible to just touch the live lead of your jump leads onto the terminal on the motor and see if it works. Not sure if you can get to it very easly with a BIS tho.