The car had been in the garage to 2 weeks, was starting fine beforehand. When I came to start it, it would only turn over slowly, too slow to start. It's a 1275 ex Marina block with HC pistons and big valve head, it's not possible to hand start it (well I've never succeeded anyway, but maybe I'm not big & strong enough).
I thought it was simply a less than fully charged battery, but no. The battery has been fully charged, which made no difference, and when I took it back to the shop for a refund, was tested and found to be delivering 460A. So I'm ruling the battery out (for now).
The starter was stripped and I found that the plastic brush cage had partly melted, due to getting hot after my repeated attempts at starting. This meant the brushes were not sliding freely. I cleaned it all up so that the brushes were able to slide freely, and reassembled. Same as before, slow turnover, not fast enough to start the engine.
I tried a good second hand starter from a member of the local branch, same result-slow turnover. Since then I have tried:-
- A spare solenoid
- A spare battery to solenoid cable (the one fitted was only a year old though)
- Checked the earth strap for tightness and integrity, then actually moved it to earth the block directly rather than the gearbox
- Used a jump lead to earth the starter body to the battery -ve terminal
Here's a short video of what is happening:-
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AdwwM51Q5LmorfED7
Any ideas please?