P38A Starting mystery ( Diesel)

tarphenry said:

Hi all. Whilst on holiday , the car failed to start, made no attempt at all. A chap next to me put one of these "magic" boxes on the battery, no effect. Then we tried jump starting it , no effect and the battery seemed very low after all these efforts ,so I called recovery. 35 mins later, a tech rolls up ,i gave him the key and it fired up immediately 4 or 5 times. My battery is charging ok and everything seems good. I have no idea where to look. has this happened to anyone else? any and all assistance is appreciated Mick

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tarphenry said:

Hi Keith, no start cranks ok but battery seemed to lose power pretty quick. I have previously checked for parasitic drain but found none and also have a permanent 50 watt solar panel on roof.

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Datatek said:

If it cranks but does not start, assuming the in tank pump is working, then loss of sync from BECM to EDC is likely. What make is the battery? Some self discharge PDQ. Solar panel flat on the roof will often not produce much power, enough to keep a good battery topped up but not much more, I assume you have a charge regulator for the panel?

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Grrrrrr said:

So battery seems too tired to crank but five minutes later cranks it over no problem and it starts with no issues?

I'd be thinking bad connection somewhere, probably the earth. Or the earth cable is bad inside. I'd go through the electrical troubleshooting guide on rr.net. There's a cooy on here somewhere too. I guess it might even be a dry joint in the fusebox. iiirc the starter fuse is one of those big 80A ones..

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