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MG MGF Technical - Its a non starter

Now then, obviously due to the fact that my 'new' manta was parked next to it my F didn't feel obliged to start very easily at the weekend.

Turn the key and all you got was a click from behind your head, nothing turning, nothing du=oing anything after the initial click. maybe up to 10 attempts later she fires into life not a problem. I am guess an electrical problem - thats not particularly accurate, anybody else got any more detailed posibilities

Cheers
Matt

Sticky Starter Motor???

Just an uneducated guess..

Steve.
Steve Childs

Quick response steve, good to see you have returned from holiday in fine form. I think however the starter motor is mechanically fine, but it could be a dodgy connection, its very much a case of it doesn't work at all, or it works completly fine, no inbetween
Matt

Flat battery. When was the last time the car was started Matt? Were all the other electrical items working as per normal or dim/slow?

There was a couple of months over the winter period (work and a break in Asia) when the car wasn't started. Got exactly the same thing, but the door locks were slow to open, and the fuel pump sounded different (lower pitch). A nice man from the AA sorted it- one jump start and away!!!
Rob Bell

Another, i don't think so , i'm afriad. Everything else seemed to work fine, lights, locking, stereo etc etc . and after i gave the car a good long hard run out the problem was still there when the battery would have been charged for sure. The problem was there regardless of if the car was hot or cold aswell.

next...

(no such trouble with the trusty manta - always buy german thats what i say :o)
Matt

Have had a similar starting problem with my 1998 F. Everything else appeared to be working fine but no response from the engine other than a 'click'. After trying for a number of times the car would eventually start. This seemed to happen randomly (whether the engine was hot or cold).

Managed to track the problem down (eventually) to a dodgy connection on the starter motor (the spade connection which can easily be reached by removing the grill in the boot). Now that this has been cleaned / tightened have had no problems (famous last words).

Hope this helps.

Simon
L7 SDD

Simon

Similar problems happened to my MGF. Only a clicking from the relay under the dash and forty miles from home. A good thump with a stick on the starter motor brought it back to life but eventually a week or so later the starter packed up altogether. Cost me near £300 quid to have a new one fitted by Quicks. A month later and fifty miles from home the same thing again. This time I reached down and touched all the wires connected to the starter because it had been showing signs of sporadic starting for a week previously. It would sort of hesitantly start, just the symptoms for a loose connection. It started and we got home OK. I checked the connections and found the spade connector to the solenoid was loose. I squeezed it up gently with a pair of pliers and have had no symptoms since. Hope this supports the thery of a loose connection!
Bruce Caldwell

I like this loose connection theory, mainly because it doesn't cost anything. i will check and also get the battery health checked.

Thanks for all your help guys on this thread and the EPAS thread
Matt

This thread was discussed between 04/06/2001 and 05/06/2001

MG MGF Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGF Technical BBS is active now.