Broke down today :-( Starter motor???

[Dizeee]

Never thought I would post this.

My 2011 IQ2 (45k on clock) failed today. I had been out to a few places, zipped to shops etc, and went out this afternoon to get some fuel. Put a tenner in, left the forecourt and on the way back thought I would pull into a tyre place to get my tyres checked. Did all that, got back in, car wouldn't start. Clutch down, pushed the push button, and despite all the lights and usual dashboard action, no attempt to start. Silence, not even a click. Repeated this around 15 times before finally realizing that it really was broken.

Waited over 2 hours for recovery, truck arrived and mechanic could not resolve it either. Battery is new and perfect, starter motor was banged / tapped / massaged but refused to work. He took the fuse out and replaced, nothing.

I suggested we bump start it as a last resort prior to arranging recovery, he agreed, so got in to do it. As I got in I must of by habit pressed start again. It started - no ides how or why. It would have been around attempt 30. I then turned it off, and on again a few times, and all seemed as normal.

Nobody has a clue why. Just been out to start it and it is still working as normal. I need to drive into London tomorrow for an 18 hour shift so  it will be interesting to see what happens. If it fails when I come home at midnight it will cause me a huge amount of issues.

Anyone else had this?

 

 

[Cyker]

It may have been the clutch button thing being a bit squiffy - I've heard of cases where it's gone intermittent, so the car doesn't know you're pressing the clutch when you press the start button, so it just turns on the main computers but doesn't crank the engine.

If it's like the ones I've seen before, if you look at the clutch pedal, there's a button/switch that gets pressed when you push it down.

 

[Barkley]

What colour was the Start button LED?   I had an instance where the steering wheel lock did not properly engage and as a result the engine would not turn over.  There's a sweet-spot that causes an issue, and it only happened to me once. The solution was to rock the steering wheel slightly.

Once done, there was a click, and the LED went to its usual green and started on pressing.

[Dizeee]

Sorry, went on holiday but back now.

Thanks for replies, the car has behaved ever since so this is odd. I had not seen the button, but will have a look. Steering lock was off as far as I know but possibly may have been caught.

The LED light - was it green? I can't remember now. I want to say no LED light was showing... in fact - I think it was showing orange and flashing orange.... then after depression there was no light....

 

 

[Barkley]

Bingo!  next time it happens, (If at all) gently rock the steering wheel so the lock can engage.   That's all you need to do!

[Dizeee]

Right - steering lock eh? How bizarre - if that is the case what a waste of 3 hours! But thanks for the heads up!

[Barkley]

I beat you by an hour - but the solution was a total accident as I accidentally turned the steering whilst heading out to lift the bonnet.   Since nothing was 'live' hearing the lock shoot home made me realise it was in its in-between states, so the orange LED changed to green when I pressed the clutch, so I knew that was the issue.  It's never happened to me again!

[Dizeee]

Interesting. My mechanic had done everything and when I suggested we try "bump start" I instinctively must have yanked the wheel and pressed the starter button - I didn't even know I had done it until it started up and we looked at each other in shock. Quite worrying really as he too had tried to start it from the drivers seat and he is a trained mechanic - but it is has been fine ever since. I never noticed the differently coloured LED light in the push button.

[Barkley]

Well, at least that’s a good bit cheaper than a new Starter Motor! 😇

[J0nny]

My thought when buying the IQ was with such a small manual car, if ever the starter or battery  failed, I should hopefully be able to bump start it on my own. 

For those who haven't bump started, procedure is :- Ignition on, in neutral, handbrake off push as fast as you can ( stand in the doorway and push the roof pillar with the door pen )  - preferably a light jogging speed then  jump in clutch down, shove it in second and let the clutch up. If your lucky it should fire up. If there are two of you then driver stays in the car and the others push. If its a slope then stay in the car and let it role on its own. Never push a car on a slope. 

I'm not sure how the stop start will affect this but I am told it should still work. I used to do it a lot in the 80s when all my cars were old and knackered !