Vauxhall Zafira starter motor clicks but doesn't turn over

M4rt

Hi all

Could do with a little advice from any mechanics out there.. I have a 2010 Zafira that recently went dead. Only sound when turning the ingnition key is a click. Ah, it's the starter motor I hear you say... Well I've had this changed twice and had a new battery installed and each time the car runs for a bit then I'm back to the same place. Most recently when the battery was change the car ran for about a month without an issue. The mechanic who has done the work to date said he checked for any tell tell signs of iron filings so rulled out the dual mass fly wheel (I am very much out of my depth here so apologies for any incorrect description). I've tested things like keys, rocking the car back and forth, all the stuff that someone with no knowledge can do but no luck. I'd really appreciate and thoughts on this as my current mechanic is less than reliable and before I go somewhere else I thought I'd try to get a clear picture of what the problem could be. Thanks all

greyteam1959

Sounds to me like the alternator is not charging the battery.
I would be getting that tested.

chrisw

Does sound battery related. Do the lights dim significantly when you try to start it? Could be something staying on when the car is turned off and draining the battery.

Or a bad earth somewhere.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Go to an auto-electrician and get them to test the alternator.

But it could be something very simple, like leaving a boot light or glove box light on all the time, or a poor earth on the battery.

System

M4rt wrote: »

Most recently when the battery was change the car ran for about a month without an issue.

What kind of journeys do you do? If you're doing short journeys or lots of journeys with multiple stop/starts of the engine such as say a parcel delivery driver would you may not be replacing the charge the starter motor uses because the journey is too short. What that would mean is that over a period of time a battery would eventually get to the point where there wasn't enough power to start the car. Certainly if changing the battery "fixed" it for a month it suggests this.

I would get a battery charger, charge up the battery and then once a week try to do a journey of at least 30 minutes to an hour. If you don't get a repeat of the problem then what I posted was the issue.

M4rt

Thanks for coming back to me folks. The RAC came out yesterday and tested the battery and said it was fine. I did do the headlight test and the lights didn't dim at all. As mentioned, it is a new battery and a actually had the altenator replaces about a year or so ago.

M4rt

@Tarambor my daily commute is about 35 mins so would hope that would be enough to charge the battery but will try a slow charge to see if things turn over

System

35 mins would be fine so it isn't that then.

System

stick a volt meter across battery without engine should be around 12v then start engine it should go to 14 v plus abit if not the alternator is duffed and could also be draining the battery

worried_jim

Nikond4 wrote: »

stick a volt meter across battery without engine should be around 12v then start engine it should go to 14 v plus abit if not the alternator is duffed and could also be draining the battery

I'm hoping the RAC did this in post #6.

TheMoonandBack

M4rt wrote: »

Thanks for coming back to me folks. The RAC came out yesterday and tested the battery and said it was fine. I did do the headlight test and the lights didn't dim at all. As mentioned, it is a new battery and a actually had the altenator replaces about a year or so ago.

Surely, if the RAC came out, you now know what the problem is ?