Another intersting intermitant starting fault I've been having on the 3 at the moment is - - - - - - - - - the connetion onto the fuse box I think. It will not turn over on teh odd coasion a quick wiggle on the multi block and off she goes!! The feckin thing.

bloody annoying those multiplugs on the fuse box. Can cause all sorts of problems. First thing to check if you get funny electrical issues. Rotate all the fuses, and pull off all those multiplugs, contact cleaner and replace. Do it under the dash on the inside too.

I'll be having to take it all apart and clean it up. I'll also be putting a little greas around it to keep out any moisture at the same time.

Thanks for the (coincidental!) help.

Mine wasnt starting properly the other day due to a fuelling problem, the bigger problem is while trying to bump start it in Tescos the other day ive about knackered the starter motor

The 1st and 2nd times it worked then on a wet Friday night (luckily @ home) nothing, all the electrics worked but not even a click from the starter motor, saturday had the same trouble but this morning after a bit of a slow stutter it started fine and (so far!) it been working fine since.

Take it the 360 tips will work on the 340 (fuses etc) and i have just made a post on the offers page regarding the sale of the (wrong type ) replacement and an enquiry on how much a replacement would be for a 85 B14.4E engine, any ideas here

Thanks

Advice all tallys up apart from the connections to the starter are slightly different on a 340 and 360 cos they're on the other side.

Check all the connections. If necessary dismantle them and clean them all up properly. Particularly the big positive cable and also the earth strap.

Right Ta

Does the 360GLT have fuses inside under the dash? I can't see any on my 1986 GLT.

My starter motor did nothing a few times, but then worked again fine. Now it has shifted permanently into "do nothing" mode, no clunks or any noise at all. I disconnected both battery terminals and wiggled everything around and tightened them back up, also the end of the red cable on the starter motor, tightened that up again. All the fuses under the dash look fine, I gave them all a wiggle and also pulled out two cube-shaped boxes (about 1" square) and put them back in again. Under the two boxes there are some plugs with cables, they don't seem to want to come out in a hurry, is there a trick to getting them out? Squeeze the two thingies on either side that look like they are meant to retain the plug?

The intermittent no-go problem to me points to a bad connection somewhere. Could it be somewhere in the starter motor itself?

someone (pettaw?) said in 2006:

"bloody annoying those multiplugs on the fuse box. Can cause all sorts of problems. First thing to check if you get funny electrical issues. Rotate all the fuses, and pull off all those multiplugs, contact cleaner and replace. Do it under the dash on the inside too."

Yup, sounds like the multiplugs mate. 3off, white brown and black. Push the top and bottom lug as you describe, then wiggle the corrosion loose (I try and spray contact cleaner in to break it down a bit too). When they are free, liberal doseing of contact cleaner/IPA.

Thanks for getting back so soon.

I have unplugged the three multiplugs, also the red wire next to them. They all look fine, I plugged them in again, still no starter motor. I unplugged them again and plugged them back in again, still no starter. Everything else works fine.

I have not sprayed anything on the terminals, but they are not obviously corroded.

Is it time to pull the starter motor out? Or is there some other simpler thing to investigate first?

If you have a multimeter or a test lamp, pull the baby wire off the starter (blue with yellow stripe from memory... but don't take my work on that). Test there is 12V between that wire and ground when the key is turned.

If there is 12V, starer is knacked, if there isn't, follow that wire back until you find 12V, then you know where the problem lies.

My starter motor solenoid has two blue/yellow wires connected at two points.

One is a pair of blue/yellow wires, connected to an electrode closer to the engine. The other is connected to an electrode closer to the passenger side.

The blue/yellow wire connected closer to the passenger side reads about 6V when the key is turned.

The pair of blue/yellow wires do not give any reading, regardless of the key being turned or not.

***
I repeated the 6V reading several times, as I held the key in start position the voltage diminished to vanish completely. I think this is right, from memory.

Does this make any sense?

In the fuse box, there is one plug (closest to the engine) that has a blue/yellow wire, I gave that some extra attention, poking/scraping the inside of the female part with the pointy thing on a swiss army knife.

I should add the radio and lights are working fine, the battery reads 12V.

Also, the car runs fine when roll-started.

Until this mystery is solved, can I make an improvised Heath-Robinson solution:

Attach a wire to the solenoid (which terminal?), turn ignition on, and put other end of wire on +ve terminal of battery when I want to start? Tie the wire up somewhere out of the way when I drive?

Is that 6v on the trigger wire when connected, or disconnected....or no difference?

Chris' advice is solid...

cheers

James