Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing 20011 plus 4 won't start

Went out to fire up the car......chatter, chatter, chatter....that flat battery sound. Put her on charge overnight (C-tek charger in re-con mode) , fully charged in the morning, stlll chatter, chatter, chatter. Its Sunday evening now, on 2nd glass of Beaujolias, it'll have to wait. Simple checks seem to tell me battery voltage is ok all ele trics functioning with gusto but chatter it will. Battery is Halfords best 2019 with 5 year warrenty. I'm now suspecting some corrosion or the likes at that hefty 70Amp fuse in the battery lead or at the terminals. Bloody battery location, behing passeger seat, carpet out, cover to remove. I did enclose the fuse and carrier in a polybag, wonder if ive caused condensation! Will report back, meanwhile is there anything i've overlooked gents.

Hi Lowflyer,
I had a similar problem earlier this year, I was all set to buy a new battery when Keith from BHM called me and suggested cleaning/tightening the earth from the gear box to the chassis.
This cured the problem and saved me the cost of a new battery.

On my car the earth is found under the bonnet on the near side and runs from the bell housing to the bulkhead and is very easy to reach..

Good luck and hope this helps.


Rob...

Yes I had the same. The earth from the engine to the chassis. It will look ok on the outside but can be badly corroded on the contact areas. If you have jump leads try a lead from the engine to the chassis to see if that solves it then you know it is the earth.

Gents, great input, even with considerable electrical knowledge seeing clean good looking connection on visual inspection would have diverted me elsewhere.....tomorrow's job, will report back

Also the negative lead from battery to chassis, not easy to get at without a lift!

The earths are a regular problem area. A simple test is to bypass the battery to starter mounting with a jump lead or good cable. If that works then it is a simple job to clean, remake, protect all the earth connections. Battery to chassis then others along the circuit. Morgans tend to have electrics that are in exposed areas and with age they deteriorate.
“They all do that,sir”

It's odd that the earth to the engine or gearbox can be a hair trigger on/off situation. I can recall having earth problems, and having removed the cable and cleaned both surfaces, even then, a quarter turn on the nut could make the difference.

I once also chased a similar starting problem without checking the basics first, and even a new battery, starter motor and solenoid didn't fix it.

That turned out to be a hairline crack in the battery positive cable, so although it appeared to be tight, wasn't. That was my most frustrating overkill fix.

Dave

At the Volvo U.K. training centre we used to induce faults into cars for the diagnostics courses. Favourite was a dummy earth, terminals crimped only to the wire insulation etc. It was amazing how many experienced technicians forgot the ‘basics first’ lesson.

Visual inspection is not enough.

Cheers
Colin

It's a tough lesson to learn Colin, but it sticks!!