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MG MGB Technical - Won't start - just clicking

Hi folks,

I haven't posted here in a while - largely down to trouble free MG motoring for the past 6 months!

My prob is this - the BGT won't start. Initially I thought the battery was flat. Classic signs - slow turnover, eventually no turnover at all. I checked the battery terminal connections - turns out they were loose. I charged the battery, cleaned the terminals & tightened them up.

Now when I turn the key, I just get a fast clicking noise from the engine bay. No turnover at all. I'm not very technical, so not sure where to start.

FWIW, I'm in Ireland, so the weather is pretty cold these past few days (just above 0 degrees Centigrade) so I've had the heater, lights & wipers on quite abit over the past few days. Not sure if that's got anythng to do with it?

Any ideas?
Mark 73BGT

the starter may have stuck
either jack up and give it a tap or put it in first gear and push it back and forwards to see if it will unstick
the starter cable my be loose or furred up may need cleaning
Ste Brown

Mark - It sound like you have checked and cleaned the connectin at the battery, now do the same for the other end of the cables. If your alternator is up to it's job, running with lights, wipers, heater, etc. on shouldn't flatten out the battery, but it is worth checking. The other possibility is a cable that has corrosion up under the insulation that is causing high resistance. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Don't forget to check the short ground wire running from engine to frame.
Dana Wilson

Once some of the plates in my battery collapsed.
All got was a fast chattering noise as the starter rapidly engaged and disengaged. There was enough power to engage the starter, however the moment it tried to turn the starter motor the battery was momentarliy drained, and the starter dissengaged. Once disengaged there was enough power to engaged the starter and start the process over, and over.
New battery perhaps?. Even if this is not the problem you can put the new battery away somewhere for later use.
P.N. Sherman

Yup I reckon Dana is correct. Check your earth lead!. I only know as I have welded my choke cable to to the outer as that was pretty much the only earth.
Stuart Robson

Mark - if the cables on the terminals were loose you may not have been charging at the normal rate. The Clicking is a classic low battery indication.

You may get some more out of the battery if you clean both ends of the earth cable but you might want to join the old lags brigade and attach another earth to the engine somewhere you can inspect it regularly.

Roger
RMW

Mark,
Seems very likely that the cold snap has killed off a weak batttery - it's the usual way. You recognised the early signs and now it isn't holding the charge after you've charged it up. The other checks are worth doing but I'd bet a pound to a penny a new battery will have everything back to normal.
Steve Postins

You might also check the ground from the negative cable where it attaches to the chassis. I had a similar problem and that was the cause.

Jim
JMcHugh

Thanks folks - lots of good comments there. Hopefully the rain will stay off tomorrow & I can go through the activities outlined. I suspect by Monday I'll have cleaned & tightened some connections and installed a new battery. I'll let you know how I get on.

Thanks again
Mark 73BGT

A rapid clicking from the solenoid (which is usually the source) indicates a bad connection between the battery 12v connection and the solenoid or the battery ground connection and the body of the starter. Can also be a bad or flat battery. In practice the bad connection it is usually in the 12v supply or the battery ground connection as there are multiple alternative paths for an engine ground which usually allow slow cranking, albeit at the expense of cooked accelerator, choke and heater cables.

Connect a voltmeter between the battery 12v *post* (not the connector) and the stud on the solenoid, and measure the voltage while cranking (coil disconnected to prevent it starting). Then do the same between the battery ground post and the starter body. If you have twin 6v batteries also do it on the battery posts that carry the interconnecting cable. In all cases you should only see a couple of tenths of a volt dropped, if you see more than 0.5v it is worth investigating further by measuring across various intermediate points and cleaning up the connections where a high voltage is noticed. I have seen as much as 3v lost in the circuit, and it still cranked albeit slowly.

If you don't see much lost voltage anywhere measure between the battery posts while cranking, and the solenoid battery cable stud and the starter body. You should see around 10v, if less than 9v on the battery posts the battery is knackered or discharged.
Paul Hunt 2

This thread was discussed between 23/11/2006 and 24/11/2006

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