//// Starter clicking ?? ////

Hi All,

I had not use my car in a few weeks and when I went to start it I came to find that my car was totally dead.

I figured it was the dash cam that killed it so I put the car on charge...

I was able to use the car that day figuring my driving would charge the battery up from the 80% charge the battery charger says the battery had.

Anyways the next day when I went to use the car the car acted as though it were totally dead ... just a faint clicking noise from under the car.... I assume the clicking noise to be a starter solenoid but the starter motor itself never turned the engine

With that I put the charge on the battery again until the charger read that the battery was fully charged.

I tried to start the car again this time noticing a very strong clicking sound but not only that but the dash lights were flashing...

Normally I would have associate the clicking sound with a bad solenoid but I've never noticed dash lights ever flashing along with the noise...

I haven't checked to see the state of charge of the battery yet but what do you think this could be? ... are there any funny relays that a Volkswagen has that could be causing this noise?

My battery is only a year-and-a-half old but the starter as far as I know is original...

For what it's worth I've never had problems with the battery or the starter until the other day.

As a side note I have a scan gauge in the car and disappointingly the charging voltage seems to be around 13.1 or 13.2 volts ( it used to read is high is 14.4 volts but gradually over the two years he alternator has been on the car it's steadily going down).... I did hook a multimeter to it while the car was running and the voltage the multimeter reads is about two or three tenths of a volt higher then what the scan gauge reads..

But despite all that the battery charger says the battery is fully charged...

I hate to buy a brand new starter if it's not necessary so maybe it's something else on a Volkswagen that could cause th e clicking and no start issue?

Could it be a failing clutch pedal safety switch not allowing full voltage to the starter solenoid or some other obscure relay?

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

Andrew

I’d be checking the grounds and the connection to the starter.
Especially the big ground going to the engine block.
Then check the copper braid on the starter itself.
If you tap the starter while someone tries to start it will it engage then?
If so then maybe the starter is gunned up and either needs a cleaning or replacement...

A: time to consider rebuilding the alternator. not a difficult task but if the stator is worn down (usually means higher volts, i think) its time to replace.
B: if your charging at 13.ish volts, the battery should do fine, it wont be great for it and over time in the last year or so it could be killing the battery.

A really easy way to test the batteries (capacity) is to use a volt meter. go ahead and charge it up 100%. turn your lights on for about 1 minute then back off, this helps get a more true reading. pull the 109 relay out so you can just crank it. have someone or prop the meter so you can see it, and crank away for 5 seconds and record the volts. If you see anything less than 10.5ish volts, the battery is on its way out. 10.9 is ideally the lowest you should see on a reasonably healthy battery.

I would go over all your grounding points make sure they are good and healthy. take them apart and clean them. all of them. this could help with the charging issue possibly as well.

I'd be looking at your alternator, 13.1 is not enough to power your car and charge the battery. As you've already mentioned it should be around 14.

Hi

Thanks for the quick advice...

A few extra details ....

As of midnight the battery charger said my battery was fully charged

When I try to start the car this morning at 11 am the clicking happened and the starter did not turn over.

My helper was here so I had him to look at the headlights

She said the headlights looked okay which I also confirmed later on ... I was doing that mainly to see if the battery had a reasonable amount of power.

Anyways I decided to hook the battery charger back to the battery and to my surprise it said the battery was 95% charged so somehow I lost 5% of the battery charge overnight... I don't know if that's normal or not but it seems to be a fairly high percentage because if you lose 5% per day in 20 days battery would be dead... actually it may not be able to start the car sooner than then tho..

In any event the clicking is still happening I have the car on charge and I guess I'll try some of the suggestions here after a quick lunch...

Thanks for the input so far and if anybody else can think of anything else that would be great too

Andrew

Load test your batt.

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