Hello guys, Have a bit of an issue as my 225 is currently sat dead on my drive. When I preas to start all the lights flick about and you can hear it clicking. It was doing this a few weeks back and the RAC came out and said my battery life was critical. I changed with a brand new battery. Tonight I hop in and again its dead?!?! Is this likely to be the alternator? Is it likely to anything else and is it an easy fix? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Mark
It might be the earth from the gearbox to chassis. Mine snapped recently. Put a jump lead from the lifting hook on the engine to the chassis and try it then to see if it starts. A new wire was about 8 quid. If your battery is new I'd bet it's that Earth or the starter motor.
Does the clicking sound come from the engine bay? If so, it sounds to me like the starter motor solenoid may be stuck. That said, it could be relays clicking due to low battery - have you got a multimeter to check the voltage?
Thanks for the replys guys. The clicking noise sounds like its coming from the glove box. All the headlights flash etc and the car kind of has a fit! I'm not sure where the earth to the chassis can be found? Or live cable to the starter??
You need to remove the battery, ecu and battery tray to get to the earth. It goes from the negative terminal on the battery down to the gearbox.
if there is lights flickering that shouldn't and general strange behavior, it sounds like a dodgy earth..
It sounds like starter motor mate! I had this happen a couple of weeks back (same symptoms) including breakdown out. My battery had good bill of health though. Starter was knackered, new one fixed it.
Thanks for all the replies guys. Car was so dead I had to open the door with the manual key. Went to get the battery out to check the earth and noticed there was quite abit of green corrosion around the negative terminal. Took it off and cleaned it all up and made sure everything was nice and tight. Started first time and has been for the last two days!
