Noob in need!

RuailleBuaille

Hi guys,
Total noob when it comes to the mechanics of cars so I thought I'd seek help here. I drive a 98 Almera 1.4, it would not start for me this morn. A faint chugging sound (sorry I don't know the technical term!), lights on dash came on (airbag, engine management, oil, handbrake, all the ones that usually come on) but she just wouldn't start.
I'm not sure if it was just the cold (hadn't driven it since 3pm yesterday), I didn't leave anything on. Is there a way to tell if it's the battery or the starter motor or something more serious? Sorry if this has been asked before, I checked other threads but they seem to deal with newer cars. Thanks for any help!

martydunf

Its not the battery anyway if the lights on the dash came on.
Did you have a few attempts at starting it? If not it could possibly be because of the cold.

Altho thats not to say it could be something more serious such as the starter I'm not sure tho!

Anan1

Sounds like the battery to me, a weak battery can have enough power to bring on the lights but not to start the engine. Push or jump-start it, if that works then it was just a flat battery. Make sure you didn't leave anything on, and take the car for a good (30 mins) drive. If it happens again, replace the battery.

RuailleBuaille

Thanks for the replies guys. So if i get jump leads and that doesn't work, does that mean it's the strter motor? I was told you can buy a new one for 30euro, anyone know how much to fit it? Thanks again for the help!
EDIT: I just looked up batteries on Halfords, how do I know whether I need a calcium or lead acid battery?

Anan1

Don't worry about the starter motor for now, it's probably fine. Could you try push-starting the car?

Cionád

Check that its the battery first by jump-starting. And IF you need to get a battery, get it in a local motor factors, will be cheaper and they'll know what battery you need.

RuailleBuaille

Thanks for all the help guys. I asked a few people in work and they reckon it may be the spark plugs I'll try the battery and get back to you, thanks again! Boards Motors save the day once more!

itarumaa

martydunf wrote: »

Its not the battery anyway if the lights on the dash came on.
Did you have a few attempts at starting it? If not it could possibly be because of the cold.

Altho thats not to say it could be something more serious such as the starter I'm not sure tho!

You can easily have a battery problem and still have lights on the dash.

Cpt Tremendous

It may be something o do with the fact that the car is 11 years old, sometimes when cars get old they tend to break down or cause trouble, bring it to a mechanic for a service

Cionád

Cpt Tremendous wrote: »

It may be something o do with the fact that the car is 11 years old, sometimes when cars get old they tend to break down or cause trouble, bring it to a mechanic for a service

Mine is 11 years old and has 160,000 miles on it and it has never caused any trouble at all.

Try the DIY stuff yourself first OP, these old Almera's are handy to maintain yourself.

Cpt Tremendous

Cionád wrote: »

Mine is 11 years old and has 160,000 miles on it and it has never caused any trouble at all.

Thats only about 14,545 mile a year, which isnt an awfull lot.
My uncle had one of those old Corrolla hatchbacks and he only did around 10,000 or so miles a year and he had it for over 13 years.

But my cousin bought a new one 3 years ago and uses it much much more, its already had to have a few parts replaced. It all depends on the abuse a car takes

mickdw

martydunf wrote: »

Its not the battery anyway if the lights on the dash came on.
Did you have a few attempts at starting it? If not it could possibly be because of the cold.

Altho thats not to say it could be something more serious such as the starter I'm not sure tho!

Why post on here with a completely false statement? The dash lights will come on if you have any hint of life in the battery. The bad battery may then have enough power to slowly turn over the engine or it may not be able to turn over at all.

Cionád

Cpt Tremendous wrote: »

Thats only about 14,545 mile a year, which isnt an awfull lot.
My uncle had one of those old Corrolla hatchbacks and he only did around 10,000 or so miles a year and he had it for over 13 years.

But my cousin bought a new one 3 years ago and uses it much much more, its already had to have a few parts replaced. It all depends on the abuse a car takes

From what I've heard build quality on the newer models Corolla/Almera is not as good as it was in the past, plus there are far more componants/electrics so more things can go wrong.

Your right about the abuse it takes, treat a car right and it's unlikely to let you down.

In this case though the OP is better off trying to identify the problem him/herself before heading to a mechanic because they are rediculously simple machines and this could simply me a case of a worn battery.

Buffman

RuailleBuaille wrote: »

Hi guys,
Total noob when it comes to the mechanics of cars so I thought I'd seek help here. I drive a 98 Almera 1.4, it would not start for me this morn. A faint chugging sound (sorry I don't know the technical term!), lights on dash came on (airbag, engine management, oil, handbrake, all the ones that usually come on) but she just wouldn't start.
I'm not sure if it was just the cold (hadn't driven it since 3pm yesterday), I didn't leave anything on. Is there a way to tell if it's the battery or the starter motor or something more serious? Sorry if this has been asked before, I checked other threads but they seem to deal with newer cars. Thanks for any help!

Sound's like a classic flat battery. The recent month of very cold weather could have been enough to finish off an already dodgy battery. If you get a jumpstart, drive for a while to charge it up, and it goes flat again, you need a new battery.

RuailleBuaille wrote: »

Thanks for all the help guys. I asked a few people in work and they reckon it may be the spark plugs I'll try the battery and get back to you, thanks again! Boards Motors save the day once more!

It's not the sparkplugs.

Cpt Tremendous wrote: »

It may be something o do with the fact that the car is 11 years old, sometimes when cars get old they tend to break down or cause trouble, bring it to a mechanic for a service

Age means nothing with these 90's almera/corrolla types, my 97 almera has over 200K miles on it and still drives like new, no vibrations or pull at all. Build quaility is brilliant, a lot better than the early 00 models when they started using Renault parts.

meesa

Cpt Tremendous wrote: »

Thats only about 14,545 mile a year, which isnt an awfull lot.
My uncle had one of those old Corrolla hatchbacks and he only did around 10,000 or so miles a year and he had it for over 13 years.

But my cousin bought a new one 3 years ago and uses it much much more, its already had to have a few parts replaced. It all depends on the abuse a car takes

Cpt Tremendous wrote: »

It may be something o do with the fact that the car is 11 years old, sometimes when cars get old they tend to break down or cause trouble, bring it to a mechanic for a service

Contradiction alert!!

turnsoutIwas

OP-it sounds like a flat battery to me. The cold weather causes them to fail.
Connect jump leads and try to start it. If it doesn't start get a mechanic.

S.I.R

its either the battery or surprizingly the HT lead...


ive a spare set if you like ?

nearly new... Free.

martydunf

mickdw wrote: »

Why post on here with a completely false statement? The dash lights will come on if you have any hint of life in the battery. The bad battery may then have enough power to slowly turn over the engine or it may not be able to turn over at all.

Maybe ya but the OP said it started the day before and they said they had nothing left on in the car hence as to why i thought it couldn't be the battery.

Unles the car barely started that day with whatever juice was left in the battery??

Anan1

martydunf wrote: »

Maybe ya but the OP said it started the day before and they said they had nothing left on in the car hence as to why i thought it couldn't be the battery.

Unles the car barely started that day with whatever juice was left in the battery??

Usually when the battery's on the way out it goes something like this: You go out to the car on a cold morning, turn the key, the dash lights come on, but when you try to start the car the battery doesn't have the juice to turn the starter enough to start the car. This would give the faint chugging sound the OP described, along with a dimming or extinguishing of the dash lights as any available current is drawn by the starter motor. If the battery is even weaker, you may just hear a sharp click.

Cpt Tremendous

meesa wrote: »

Contradiction alert!!

Maybe you should pay note to the fact that I said that they sometimes tend to break down.

My uncles car never gave him much trouble but that doesnt mean that that all old cars will run perfect, the OP didn't give much of a background on his car, so maybe it has recieved abuse in the past.

If your not going to post anything constructive in a thread dont bother, as all your doing is wasting our time.

OP, try giving the car a quick run through like the other guy said, it just may solve your problem but if I was you I would just get it serviced

Darragh29

OK, dash lights coming doesn't mean much in the context of this particular problem. OP, your vague description of the problem sounds like the battery is struggling to turn over the engine.

Get it jump started and if this resolves the issue, then your battery OR alternator is the problem.

Until you know if the above advice has got the car started, forget about spark plugs, starter motors, HT leads, etc, etc, etc.