Starting Problems

[swanseajack]

Newbie here with first post.

I have recharged my Battery on a 1998 LS400, and I am experiencing the following problem. The majority of the time the car will start first time, I will let the car run for a few minutes and it seems as if everthing is ok. When I turn the ignition off I can't restart car, the car is turning but not firing up, I try to start throughout day and it will not start, leave overnight and usually start first time next morning.

Any ideas or pointers much appreciated, or any recommendations for a garage in the Swansea/South Wales area.

Thanks

Simon

[Scribe]

Hello Simon and welcome to the Club.

Did you have this problem before charging the Battery? If you didn't, someone else on here may have an answer, but intermittent starting problems often point towards the starter motor beginning to fail - I had this problem last year, and wondered at first whether it was due to a poor connection somewhere. Unfortunately it wasn't.

[swanseajack]

Hello Simon and welcome to the Club.

Did you have this problem before charging the battery? If you didn't, someone else on here may have an answer, but intermittent starting problems often point towards the starter motor beginning to fail - I had this problem last year, and wondered at first whether it was due to a poor connection somewhere. Unfortunately it wasn't.

Hi Scribe, thanks for the reply. No starting issues before I charged the Battery.

[Scribe]

That's probably good news then, because repairing/replacing a starter motor isn't cheap. Hopefully it's just a battery/electrical problem.

[SteveLS400]

Hi and welcome.

Even when my starter was at deaths door, it would eventually eventually engage. If yours is turning over normally it is unlikely to be the starter motor.

Why did you have to recharge the Battery? It is likely that whatever LED to the need to recharge the Battery is the root cause of the problem now.

It will be worthwhile checking the diagnostics before involving yourself in costs. Familiarize yourself with the search facility whilst waiting for a more detailed response.

[SteveLS400]

Ive just spent a while searching both here and on the Engine & Transmission sub forum. There's a ton of stuff on the latter and I only searched "start." There's too much to provide a useful link in this post without more info regarding the car before the Battery charging.

[sir john]

You say that after switching the ignition off the car turns but will not fire up.

I havent had the dredded starter motor issue yet but when i starter motor spins but fails to engage you can usually tell by the "Wizzing" noise it makes.

If its turning the engine but not firing, id say it could only be 1 of 2 things.

1; poor fuel delivery.

2; no spark.

Id look at fuel first as a week spark would normally show up as a car trying to start/fire.

[bazgtr]

Newbie here with first post.

I have recharged my battery on a 1998 LS400, and I am experiencing the following problem. The majority of the time the car will start first time, I will let the car run for a few minutes and it seems as if everthing is ok. When I turn the ignition off I can't restart car, the car is turning but not firing up, I try to start throughout day and it will not start, leave overnight and usually start first time next morning.

Any ideas or pointers much appreciated, or any recommendations for a garage in the Swansea/South Wales area.

Thanks

Simon

Seems like you've had a total flat Battery and when recharging it the Battery has dropped a cell, So in turn not getting the full cranking power for the starter motor turn over power.

[steve2006]

Hi,

I take it you have no fault codes logged?

You need to determine as others have said if the cause is fuel or ignition related.

If you have a fuel pressure gauge ( either borrow one or buy a cheap one) you could measure the fuel pressure when the fault is present and either confirm or eliminate this as the cause.

If the fuel pressure is OK then you are looking at an ignition related fault and you need to establish whether a spark is present at the plugs when the fault occurs.

A common cause of no spark these days is an intermittent crank position sensor and they become temperature sensitive and can fail when warm although normally if the sensor fails to provide the correct signal when the engine is running the car will go into limp home mode with a reduced rev range/performance and the engine management light would come on.