Elise S2 will not start

[Kevin]

Up early this morning to make the most of the nice weather but my 2002 Elise will not start, so here’s the problem as I can best describe it as I’m no mechanic! 

battery been on charge all week and green light on the CTEK so all should be well with that. When I turn on the ignition all the Stack lights come on ok, and are bright but the starter motor sounds like it’s struggling to turn over but I can hear a rapid clicking noise and all the headlights and headlight warning buzzer comes on but the engine will not start!

Any thoughts and advice would be very much appreciated on this early Sunday morning 

Thanks Kevin

 

[MrWill]

1 hour ago, Kevin said:

Up early this morning to make the most of the nice weather but my 2002 Elise will not start, so here’s the problem as I can best describe it as I’m no mechanic! 

battery been on charge all week and green light on the CTEK so all should be well with that. When I turn on the ignition all the Stack lights come on ok, and are bright but the starter motor sounds like it’s struggling to turn over but I can hear a rapid clicking noise and all the headlights and headlight warning buzzer comes on but the engine will not start!

Any thoughts and advice would be very much appreciated on this early Sunday morning 

Thanks Kevin

 

Morning Kevin

Literally a bad start to the day. 

3 things are most likely

Faulty solenoid /starter motor

Failed battery - despite being on charge 

Loose wiring between these two

It could still be your battery depending on how old / how it's been treated (left to run down and recharged for eg) over a few years   edit: try a standard jump start from your family run around to the Elise. If that works its your battery. 

If you're near the Trafford Centre in Manchester I have a spare battery for you to try. If the battery is newish a failed solenoid on the starter motor is mostlikely.   But the first thing to check is wiring and connections as that's free! 

Good luck

Eurocar parts may be open on a Sunday. Where are you based? 

MrWill 

 

[Kevin]

MrWill

Your feedback is very much appraised. I’m based in Shrewsbury and my local Halfords has a 063 battery in stock. Looking at my records the last battery was fitted in 2009! But the first step is to check the connections 

Thanks again 

Kevin

[MrWill]

No worries Kevin.

The smart money is on the battery based on what we know.  The elise is really sensitive to a drop in charge.  Give us an update if you're up and running later today. 👍 

Best wishes 

MrWill 

[Jonathan E]

Get a voltage reading off the battery using a multimeter ... Sounds like battery issue to me.

[The Cakes]

And get rid of your CTEK charger as that is probably why your battery is knackered. Get an Aldi or Lidl one for around a tenner or your new battery will end up the same. 

[R5K]

On 02/08/2020 at 10:31, The Cakes said:

And get rid of your CTEK charger as that is probably why your battery is knackered. Get an Aldi or Lidl one for around a tenner or your new battery will end up the same. 

Not sure you can blame the CTEK on a 10 year old battery.

[The Cakes]

3 hours ago, R5K said:

Not sure you can blame the CTEK on a 10 year old battery.

I’ve had battery’s last far longer than that. CTEK are renowned for being poor. Lots of other far cheaper options out there, which are known to last longer and easier to use. I’ve had two CTEK fail and so far none of the Aldi / Lidl variants have failed in the last 4/5 years. 

[Kevin]

Hi All

Thanks for all your feedback and as you suspected it was the battery, and thanks to Jonathan E a new battery was collected and fitted today!

Here’s hoping that the weather will be good this Sunday so I can make up for the aborted drive last Sunday

keep safe all

Kevin   

[NightHaunter666]

22 hours ago, The Cakes said:

I’ve had battery’s last far longer than that. CTEK are renowned for being poor. Lots of other far cheaper options out there, which are known to last longer and easier to use. I’ve had two CTEK fail and so far none of the Aldi / Lidl variants have failed in the last 4/5 years. 

I'm surprised by this. My battery was dead after about 2 weeks without using the car, so I got a CTEK for it. Got me to my trackday the next day, and it's still fit 3.5 years later. I'd say it's done the job well and postponed the cost of a new battery by a long time.

[The Cakes]

3 hours ago, NightHaunter666 said:

I'm surprised by this. My battery was dead after about 2 weeks without using the car, so I got a CTEK for it. Got me to my trackday the next day, and it's still fit 3.5 years later. I'd say it's done the job well and postponed the cost of a new battery by a long time.

One of many threads over the years on Seloc, which goes in line with my experience:

https://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=470042&page=1#pid8316004

[MrWill]

On 03/08/2020 at 20:57, Kevin said:

Hi All

Thanks for all your feedback and as you suspected it was the battery, and thanks to Jonathan E a new battery was collected and fitted today!

Here’s hoping that the weather will be good this Sunday so I can make up for the aborted drive last Sunday

keep safe all

Kevin   

[R5K]

On 03/08/2020 at 18:40, The Cakes said:

I’ve had battery’s last far longer than that. CTEK are renowned for being poor. Lots of other far cheaper options out there, which are known to last longer and easier to use. I’ve had two CTEK fail and so far none of the Aldi / Lidl variants have failed in the last 4/5 years. 

Average life for a car battery is said to be 4 to 6 years. We've used ctek on cars boats and caravans for years with out issue. I'd say 10 years was a good run.

[The Cakes]

10 hours ago, R5K said:

Average life for a car battery is said to be 4 to 6 years. We've used ctek on cars boats and caravans for years with out issue. I'd say 10 years was a good run.

I’m not arguing with you, I’m just giving him my experience. Don’t take offence because I’m telling you CTEK aren’t up to it. Happy that yours have been ok but the majority haven’t. I’d never buy one again end of, expensive old tech that is not in line with cheaper alternatives.