Brains trust.

BA Falcon fun..

Car wouldn't start. Checked battery. Battery is green/red, which is apparently fully charged. Thought I'd try and jump start her anyway. Car starts. Took for a fang along the motor way. Turn car off, car won't start again.

In my non mechanical opinion, I'm thinking alternator. How can I check this? And is this something I could attempt myself?

Test with a multi meter on voltage settings should be around 14with car running.
But it should have an indicator light in dash that tells you if it's not charging.
You could also test the voltage of the battery whilst cranking it over probably drops to next to nothing & the battery is just holding a surface charge of 12volts & in reality is stuffed .
The fact it jump started & continued to run indicates to me that the alternator is working and it's the battery that has died .
Would be my guess

Mrknownothing said..
Brains trust.

BA Falcon fun..

Car wouldn't start. Checked battery. Battery is green/red, which is apparently fully charged. Thought I'd try and jump start her anyway. Car starts. Took for a fang along the motor way. Turn car off, car won't start again.

In my non mechanical opinion, I'm thinking alternator. How can I check this? And is this something I could attempt myself?

Sure, you could attempt an alternator change yourself. Your results would depend on your experience and skills.. just like everything They come out from under the car, and you need to remove a bracket, so its not trivial. The access to the belts is not easy either as you probably need to remove the fan/shrouds as well.

The good news is that the BA doesn't have a smart alternator, so they will be producing the same voltage all the time, unlike the BF and FG where the alternator output is controlled by the ECU.

What you describe seems to suggest the battery though. If it won't start with the battery 'fully charged' but starts with a jump start, that tells you something. If it then won't restart, it is either the alternator or the battery, but you cannot tell without knowing if the battery is good or if the alternator is charging. You would have to charge the battery with a battery charger or from a known good car to then see what the behavior is.

These days I treat batteries as consumables. If it has more than 4 years on it, replace it, they are cheap and easy to swap. If the battery fails to charge, it is then the alternator, but you know you now have a good battery for another 4 years.

Falcons do have a known issue though where powersteering fluid drips down into the alternator and ruins it. I think it gums up the brushes.

join another forum www.fordforums.com.au/

they have a dedicated B series section, what they dont know there is impossible.
seriously good forum, no bitching or back stabbing.

Ok. So I picked up a voltage meter thingy majiggy. Both the battery and alternator are apparently good.

One terminal has some significant corrosion on it. So I'll try an tidy that up and see how I go.

after jump starting and going for a drive, when you tried to start it again and it wouldn't, was it turning the motor over at least slowly, or no starter motor noise at all? Any clicking while trying to start?

I've got a car with a starter motor that has a fault, possibly the windings, and it sucks the guts out of the battery when starting. If the battery isn't close to fully charged it wont start the car. The cars not in good condition so I live with it

If the battery terminal has a poor contact, it'll generally get quite warm under starting load, and create the white powdery stuff over time. You can put some Vaseline on the terminals.

A sticky starter motor solenoid contactor can be a good candidate. Locate it and give it a good whump with a hammer while someone is turning the key. On some older cars, both terminals are exposed, so you can just short across with a couple of large spanners or screwdrivers.

It's gotten me out of some tricky situations a couple of times but then you do need to get it fixed.

I wouldn't do or buy anything until both battery terminals and clamps are scraped clean.

Remove both the battery terminal clamps. Scrape clean the inside of both the positive and negative clamps with steel wool. Not a quick once over. Spend a good five minutes doing this on each clamp until the inside of the clamps are shiny metal.

Then before re-installing the clamps use the steel wool on both battery the terminals. Get them shiny too.

Also check the earth strap on the drivers side this can be eliminated by placing a jump lead from the negative terminal of the battery to the engine lifting hook. I have replaced a few of this in my time

Also the ignitions are pieces of **** in the ba bf falcons / Territory's

Loud ticking noise could still be the battery, did you try the head lights on option to see if they are bright?

Anyhoo a horse can be led to water, but sometimes drowning the ****ing thing is best.

The starter motor will make a loud clicking noise if it's spinning, but not tuning the engine because it hasn't got enough power to fully engage the engine. This could easily be a sign of a weak battery. As kk says, if the headlights are bright while this is happening, that points to the starter motor, if headlights go dim, that's either battery or battery connection. What did the volt meter show???? before trying to start and while trying to start. Also is there a difference when connected directly to battery or the battery leads

Mrknownothing said..
Got out in the shed this afternoon. Popped the bonnet, and pretended like I actually knew what I was looking at.

I reckon it is actually the starter motor now. With the bonnet up it makes quite a loud ticking noise.

That's a job for the mechanic I think..

Cheers all!

Everyone else has already told you now that it's the battery, which is the most likely based on what you have said.

The starter motor draws a ridiculous amount of current when cranking the engine. If you start it okay with jumper leads, its unlikely to be the starter motor that is the problem.

As someone has said, a single cell in the battery could have failed.

With falcons I would put the battery first, alternator second, and the starter motor way at the back of the list of likely failures.

Sure you're onto it by now but my one tip- if you do need a starter or alternator, NOT Repco etc. My alternator died so helpful FIL said he would go grab me one while I was at work. Lucky he rang me whilst there - $600
Fark me! I got on eBay and had genuine Bosch delivered at $260.

i bet its the safety switch on the gearbox. try cycling through all gears with the auto. sometimes it will work. replacement part is about $40.
I and many friends had same issues with Falcons over the years.

Bertie said..
i bet its the safety switch on the gearbox. try cycling through all gears with the auto. sometimes it will work. replacement part is about $40.
I and many friends had same issues with Falcons over the years.

How would this explain if it was jump started and it worked, versus not starting on the battery?