Hi I have a S-max 2010 2.0 tdci changed battery brand new nothing changed starter motor  still nothing can bump start and jump start everything fine no warning lights leave it overnight go to start no start any help much appreciated as I have had this problem 2 days now

Have you checked the voltage of the new battery?  If it'll jump start, it has to be a battery fault.  Either the battery itself or the battery cables.

1 hour ago, Robert S-Max said:

Hi I have a S-max 2010 2.0 tdci changed battery brand new nothing changed starter motor  still nothing can bump start and jump start everything fine no warning lights leave it overnight go to start no start

Funny I'm currently working on a Vauxhall Movano with the same fault. It's happy to be jump started, but even with a brand new battery fitted yesterday it won't start unless jumped. I'm just waiting delivery of new cable and I'm going to replace the cable to the starter motor.

I was talking to a mechanic and he said it could be due to earth points

The battery was tested got a new starter still the same the alternator is giving out the correct voltage but I connect battery to another vehicle like a jump start but not running my car will start I've looked online to find my car needs 1150 cca to start but my original battery has 780 cca

Could it just be down to cca of battery?

This is the link to the info I found about the cca for battery's 

https://fordbatteryfinder.com/best-battery-for-ford-s-max-wa6/

10 hours ago, Robert S-Max said:

This is the link to the info I found about the cca for battery's 

https://fordbatteryfinder.com/best-battery-for-ford-s-max-wa6/

I'm not sure that's correct.  I can't remember seeing any car battery with over 1000CCA.  A 2.0 TDCI shouldn't need any more CCA in an S-Max than it does in a Focus.

Ford parts catalogue suggests a 2010 S-Max has batteries ranging from 500CCA to 700CCA.  So 780CCA should be more than enough.

Battery cables should definitely be checked.  My money is on the earth cable if you're connecting the donor battery to the chassis rather than the negative terminal.

I was talking to my friend who has a c-max exactly the same problem as mine his mechanic said it's something to do with a sensor out of alignment when that is sorted it should fire up I'm trying to find out what sensor and will update

43 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I'm not sure that's correct.  I can't remember seeing any car battery with over 1000CCA.  A 2.0 TDCI shouldn't need any more CCA in an S-Max than it does in a Focus.

Ford parts catalogue suggests a 2010 S-Max has batteries ranging from 500CCA to 700CCA.  So 780CCA should be more than enough.

Battery cables should definitely be checked.  My money is on the earth cable if you're connecting the donor battery to the chassis rather than the negative terminal.

Yes I am connecting to chassis

12 hours ago, Robert S-Max said:

I've looked online to find my car needs 1150 cca to start

That is not quite true. The instantaneous peak current that could be potentially reached is 1150A for a fraction of a second,  before falling back to the actual cranking current, most probably less than 700A.

So do I need a battery capable of 1150 cca peak then

2 minutes ago, Robert S-Max said:

So do I need a battery capable of 1150 cca peak then

And obviously clean and check all earth cables

1 hour ago, Robert S-Max said:

So do I need a battery capable of 1150 cca peak then

No. A battery with an average CCA of 800 to 900A will be more than enough. It's not that big of an engine.

Ok I'm going to try to clean connections and maybe replace wires for starter motor

No joy still the same took off most earth points to wire brush made sure they were tight. The strange thing is no dash lights dim when trying to start tried all relays apart from the really big ones as the tester wouldn't accommodate them but if you put your finger on top of them you can feel them click when trying to start. Could it still be an aging battery if so then why wouldn't it start with new battery unless it was a dud one I bought.

When it all started I noticed one of these without the top on it in the engine fuse box but when I looked found the top plastic bit and put it back on because It looked fine but I have bought a new one and replaced it also on the battery positive connection what is the plastic thing after the terminal also the plastic box on the engine wiring loom I will take photos tomorrow 

Quick update car is running as should and starting all it was a dodgy earth cables going to starter motor which has been replaced 

Just read through this - always nice to see a resolution. Ironically i was watching a Matt Armstrong YT vide a couple of weeks back - an RS6 that had the same problem...and it was almost the same thing...

On 2/24/2024 at 1:01 PM, Robert S-Max said:

Quick update car is running as should and starting all it was a dodgy earth cables going to starter motor which has been replaced 

Is there a quick check to know if it's really the starter earth cable.? I have the same problem and it's difficult to access the starter motor. Can I connect a wire from starter motor straight to the battery just to check before removing the existing wire? 

41 minutes ago, luisito said:

Is there a quick check to know if it's really the starter earth cable.? I have the same problem and it's difficult to access the starter motor. Can I connect a wire from starter motor straight to the battery just to check before removing the existing wire? 

Do you have the picture of the earth cable that you replaced? 

4 hours ago, luisito said:

Is there a quick check to know if it's really the starter earth cable.?

The starter motor is earthed via the engine block. There is no earth cable to the starter motor. It is possible that the starter solenoid has a switched earth wire as the positive is usually taken directly from the starter motor feed.