Car won't start

[rooree]

I drove my car as normal, went to work, finished to go home and car wouldn't start (not the first time this has happened).

The start power button,  on first press, displays all dashboard lights, radio, wipers etc but when you push clutch into start, once glow plugs have heated up, there is just a faint click.

I left it for 12 hours, returned and the car started fine and is still working fine now.

I have carried out battery and alternator checks which show as being fine. Key fob battery has been changed. 

Has anyone else had this problem with their focus? Possibly a dodgy starter motor? Could this be a glow plug issue? I would hope that a 64 plate focus would not require new plugs.

Someone has mentioned to me the anti theft system. When I tried to start it the other day, the key was not in my pocket, it was in a bag in the back of the car, wondering if this triggers something.

Anyone able to shed some light on this issue?

[andypsp]

Think youll find its time to splash the cash on a new batt i'm afraid 

[rooree]

@andypsp even though battery tester is showing full charge in battery?

[TomsFocus]

There should be a warning message along with beeps about 'keyfree not in car' if you try to start without the key near enough.  

It doesn't sound like a battery fault to me, but what were you testing it with?  Simple voltage test doesn't really show the whole picture.  Ideally it should be load tested, Halfords or most motorfactors should have the equipment to do that.

Do you have access to diagnostics at all?  

[rooree]

@TomsFocus Thanks for the info. I run diagnostics on the car. it's reading "0" error codes but this is probably due to the fact that the car is now running fine again. May have to wait until it fails to start?

I'll look at getting a load test done it so I can rule the battery out.

It's a bit of a strange one...just hoping it's not the starter motor

[isetta]

I know this is not scientific.

When a starter motor is on its way out it is sometimes due to the carbon brushes not making good contact with the commutator. In my 37 years of driving I have found that when they go in that way you can often make it work by giving the starter motor a sharp tap with something like the wheel spanner and then trying again to start the car. Often worked in my experience. It does not fix the problem as such, it just helps that one start of the car.

I know this is not as easy as it was years ago as the starter motors are not as easy to get to in order to tap them.  I think these days starter motors tend to last a lot longer then years ago and I think part of this is because the engines start up almost immediately compared to engines with carbs and contact breakers.  However stop/start must shorten the life of starter motors.

Of course it might be something totally differnet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutator_(electric)