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Hi. I've got an '08 GL320 that I just replaced the battery with the proper Bosch unit and replaced the aux park battery. A couple times a week the car will not start it engage the starter once but not have enough juice to crank the motor. If I put the battery charger on the battery for as little as 5 minutes it cranks fine and will go the rest of the day ok. I had the battery load tested and it tests fine. I checked the voltage at the battery when running and it was in the 14V+ range indicating that the alternator is working right?
Good idea. I'll hit them with a wire brush but they are definitely tight. Why would adding the battery charger to the equation improve the condition if the terminals were dirty? Just adding more voltage?
Terminals are all cleaned and tight. My wife has discovered that if she does not wait for the glow plug light to shut off and just cranks it straight over it starts. It is when she waits for the glow plug light to shut off that it doesn't start. Temperature wise it is in the garage that stays around 35F.
The battery is 850 CCA, which is what PepBoys recommended.
As far as the sequence for turning the key, when I turn it to the first detent all of the dash lights come on and the glow plug light stays illuminated for a few seconds then goes off, all of the other lights stay illuminated. When I then turn to the next detent then the car cranks to start or in this case often just gives one click.
It has been observed if I just quickly go from off to start without pausing at the first detent for the few seconds for the glow plug light to go out it cranks and fires up.
intermittent Starters are usually diagnosed by replacement (unfortunately).
I know so many people who have spent a whole lot of time replacing and checking everything else, finally to replace the starter and have the problem resolved.
Back when starters were $50 and easy to change, no one would give it a second though to do as the first or second thing.
Now that they are a few hundred and more difficult, people will spend many time more effort to avoid changing them.
We got the car in July and around Dec the white battery light came on. Not being a member of the forum yet or doing any research I pulled the main battery out and took it to be tested where of course in hindsight PepBoys said it had a bad cell and needed to be replaced. Needless to say a few days later the white battery light comes on and then I do my homework to find out it is the aux park battery which is the culprit.
Thats been replaced now and at least a month went by with the new main battery in before this odd starting behaviour started. I suspected a bad new battery but it tests fine. Just doing a quick search on "remanned" starters I can get one for about $200 from my parts store so if they'll take it back if that isn't the problem I'll try replacing that first.
That or ditch the car as it has the dreaded oil cooler leak which I am very reluctant to invest 2k to fix.
If you are having trouble with battery power u will need to carry out a battery drain test, to make sure there is no controls units still on and using power. Do you get ignition lights when trying to start vehicle
The car has full electrical power when it won't start. The radio works, the seats even have enough power to operate and all of the other stuff works. I have not checked the battery voltage yet at the moment that it won't start, that is on the list also. For the last couple of days it was been starting ok. When it happens again I'll check the voltage and tap the starter solenoid with a screw driver to see if that helps to diagnose it.
They have problems with the ignition switch on them if you turn the key and the lights dont come on then needs new switch, everything on car will still work because you dont need ignition on for them to work
The car has full electrical power when it won't start. The radio works, the seats even have enough power to operate and all of the other stuff works. I have not checked the battery voltage yet at the moment that it won't start, that is on the list also. For the last couple of days it was been starting ok. When it happens again I'll check the voltage and tap the starter solenoid with a screw driver to see if that helps to diagnose it.
you can have enough amps to run all of the above, but not enough power to crank the high compression diesel engine.
if you cleaned your terminals - i think you are done.
When it "clicks" it does not appear to be pulling any juice. None of the dash lights dim and the starter does not engage something just gives a single "click" but it isn't with enough force to be the starter bendix engaging the flywheel.
As for the car it has 62k on it and the oil leak is noticeable to the point there are a few drops on the floor every night. Over the course of 2k miles maybe a 1/4 of a quart has been consumed/leaked out.
Fried positive cable ends melting the separator...hoping this finally solves this problem...many hours of labor, hope this helps someone. Have your mechanics check the positive cable all the way under front passenger carpet (forward of the battery about 2-3 feet)
I will most defiantly have my mechanic check this out, its got to be cheaper then new turbo and/or transmission based on the two different dealerships that have evaluated these same symptoms. I will keep everyone up to date.
02-11-2014, 07:05 PM
