1.1 Desire starting problems... Please help?

24th July 2014, 10:02

Hey there, i posted once or twice before about my saxo and its battery problems....

I have a Citroen Saxo 1.1 Desire, 2000.

Basically i've been having problems with it starting up, at first we thought it was the battery so we got a new battery which i found using some online tool going through the make and model of my car. When it came i noticed the battery was smaller than my previous one, so obviously i assumed that i had the wrong battery which was why i was having problems. So we started to fit it and found that my battery terminals were almost broken... So we replaced the terminals aswell... All was going well for about 3 weeks to a month. Then the problems started again and to get my car going, i had to jump it so we assumed again that the reason why there was a large battery in it before was because the car needed the extra *Umphhhhh* to get it started, which made sense to me (or the online tool just suggested the wrong battery for me). So we switched the "new battery" with the original battery again. The car seemed to work A LOT better, i had no problems for a good 2 months.

Now this week i've started having problems again.... I need to jump it to get it started unless i run it every few hours.... Now and again whilst running the car the battery light will flick on for half a second and does this at random. There is no timing to it as today when driving to work it didn't happen at all but it probably will do one or two times on my way home tonight.

I've had about 5 people suggest different things to me... Parasitic drain. Alternator. Starter Motor. Faulty Earth..... I want to know what it is as i'm an apprentice and don't make a lot of money at all and i don't want to go to a garage for them to say "Oh you need this this this and this replacing and that'll cost £500".

I'd rather know what it is MOST LIKELY to be so i can get them to look at that mainly and not waste time and money.

Much appreciate it if you could help me with this, hopefully someone has had a similar issue.

24th July 2014, 10:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gillfeesh

Hey there, i posted once or twice before about my saxo and its battery problems....

I have a Citroen Saxo 1.1 Desire, 2000.

Basically i've been having problems with it starting up, at first we thought it was the battery so we got a new battery which i found using some online tool going through the make and model of my car. When it came i noticed the battery was smaller than my previous one, so obviously i assumed that i had the wrong battery which was why i was having problems. So we started to fit it and found that my battery terminals were almost broken... So we replaced the terminals aswell... All was going well for about 3 weeks to a month. Then the problems started again and to get my car going, i had to jump it so we assumed again that the reason why there was a large battery in it before was because the car needed the extra *Umphhhhh* to get it started, which made sense to me (or the online tool just suggested the wrong battery for me). So we switched the "new battery" with the original battery again. The car seemed to work A LOT better, i had no problems for a good 2 months.

Now this week i've started having problems again.... I need to jump it to get it started unless i run it every few hours.... Now and again whilst running the car the battery light will flick on for half a second and does this at random. There is no timing to it as today when driving to work it didn't happen at all but it probably will do one or two times on my way home tonight.

I've had about 5 people suggest different things to me... Parasitic drain. Alternator. Starter Motor. Faulty Earth..... I want to know what it is as i'm an apprentice and don't make a lot of money at all and i don't want to go to a garage for them to say "Oh you need this this this and this replacing and that'll cost £500".

I'd rather know what it is MOST LIKELY to be so i can get them to look at that mainly and not waste time and money.

Much appreciate it if you could help me with this, hopefully someone has had a similar issue.

If your battery light is flickering while driving it suggests the alternator is not doing it's job correctly. Given that you've already replaced the battery twice, and battery terminals and cables, I'd say it's a fairly safe bet that replacing the alternator should sort you out. A used replacement should do the job fine. Is it the type with a V pulley? I have a spare from a 40k car if you get stuck.

Don't take this as patronising as I don't know your level of mechanical competence, but do you have any squealing noises, could the alternator belt be loose and slipping?

Replacing the alternator is a simple DIY job you can do at home easily without a garage getting involved

Finally, until you've resolved the problem causing the battery light to flicker on, I wouldn't worry about a battery drain somewhere, the battery lamp is an indication of a fault somewhere. Try turning some electrical items on in the car while it's running and see if the battery lamp lights up brighter, radio, wipers, lights, main beam, rear window heater etc.

24th July 2014, 10:17

Thanks man! Well this weekend i'll get looking, i think me and the step-dad are going to take a trip to the scrappy to see if theres an alternator thats usable.

And don't worry about sounding patronising. I'm a computer person, not a car person haha. But no, i don't really hear squealing i dont think other than when im braking coming towards a junction, but thats just my brakes being shit (also probably need replacing lol)

29th July 2014, 09:18

Hey guys, sorry for the double post, just an update on it.

We went to the scrappy and got an alternator, the battery light doesn't come on anymore which is good but still having problems turning over without a jump.

We tested the battery with a voltmeter and it says 12v so its not that...

I'm still completely puzzled by it. Any other suggestions are appreciated!

29th July 2014, 09:37

I'd change the battery, it can read 12v all day long but if it isn't delivering enough amps to turn the car over that'll be your issue

29th July 2014, 14:21

Hmmmmm, i asked a mechanic and he said to change the battery aswell. The problem is, when i use a search tool that shows the battery specifically for my car it shows a smaller battery to mine which doesn't work well with it.....