Starting problems

Hi all, First off great forum I've been reading through some posts on here and very helpful and informative.

My problem started last May on holiday in the Peak district, Van wouldn't start one afternoon, managed to bump start it down a hill and then it went away for a few weeks, so i put it down to something being left on and flattened the battery. Then later in the summer it did it again, just once and then fine for weeks. Then in October it got a bit more frequent, so i checked the battery and it was holding a good 13v after standing over night, so i took the starter motor off and checked internals and it seemed OK, put it back on and it seemed fine for a few weeks, then started playing up again. So i brought a new bigger battery, biggest one i could fit in the battery box! Again seem to be OK for a few weeks but then it came back worse than ever, now it's every day at least once, sometimes several times. I've just checked the engine earth strap at the back of the engine cleaned it and put it back on, hopefully this will cure it otherwise I'm stumped. One other interesting thing my wife noticed the other day was with the hazard warning lights on all the lights flicker, and when the cooling fan kicks in the radio restarts, could it be an earth I've missed or loose connection? I've also seen on the wiring diagram there are some inline fuses feeding the ignition switch and ECU could it be one of these, where are they?

Can anyone offer any tips or advise on what else to check, I've been fixing cars for years and I've always been pretty good at car electrics but this one has got me stumped.

By the way it's a 2010 Piaggio Porter 4x4 1.3 EFI.

Any help much appreciated.

When you say doesn't start - does it crank over ok?

No there is no cranking the starter motor doesn't turn only clicks. You can still bump start it, It's just not always convenient, like yesterday when i stalled it in London on a hill towing a trailer full of Logs At least the misses was able to hop out and give me a push !

jbenny2 wrote:At least the misses was able to hop out and give me a push !

Yes, but did you get the van started???

Sounds like starter brushes to me, or something very suspect in the wiring dept but yours is a bit young for it to be brushes. Does the starter work OK on the benck?

Try tightening the two 12mm nuts on the solenoid. The top one is the feed to it and lower nut the supply to the motor itself. They get hot and burnt with excessive engine cranking. See if there is any movement on the leads as you tighten them giving a poor connection. It's usually that or the solenoid on its way out.

jbenny2 wrote:By the way it's a 2010 Piaggio Porter 4x4 1.3 EFI. 

Niceeeeee!



But year, it's the starter solenoids contactor bit.

Not sure if you can take it to bits.

Put a multimeter on the motor feed that comes from the solenoid and into the motor, and I bet when it won't start you will have no 12v there.

im having a similar problem with mine, new battery on and it struggles to start at best, after a cold night i have to use my booster pack as the battery has lost about a volt overnight.. the sarter also seems to stick on realy cold days... would like to check the starter.. where is it!!? if anyone could post me a picture that would be great

Turns out it was the battery box not connected to the boot floor very well, always the simple things