Having bought the car mentioned earlier in my buying advice thread, all has been good except for an intermittent starting niggle. About once a week the car will turn over and then fail to fire/catch when the starter disengages, it will do this repeatedly until resorting to giving it a good rev as its turning over. The starter disengages by itself before the key is released but I'm guessing this isn't the cause as many vehicles appear to do this now. Once it has started there is a fairly strong smell of petrol, but this is probably from revving it from cold.

Any ideas? Thanks

Having bought the car mentioned earlier in my buying advice thread, all has been good except for an intermittent starting niggle. About once a week the car will turn over and then fail to fire/catch when the starter disengages, it will do this repeatedly until resorting to giving it a good rev as its turning over. The starter disengages by itself before the key is released but I'm guessing this isn't the cause as many vehicles appear to do this now. Once it has started there is a fairly strong smell of petrol, but this is probably from revving it from cold.

Any ideas? Thanks

Sounds like you have a problem with the solenoid of the starter which is sticking on sometimes.

Can you feel the starter motor to see if it is warm?

Another problem could be a bad Earth, check the lead going from the battery to the chassis of car for breaks/damage.

joolstdi

the starter disengaging before you release the key is probably to stop you burning it out.

im not too sure on what the problem can be but when were the plugs last changed? how does the car drive once started?

Sorry, missed these replies!

The starter spins up fine every time, does that rule out the Solenoid? It disengages at the point the car would normally start,it is only operating for two or three seconds so I don't think it is cutting out to prevent it overheating.

The car has a full ford service history but thats not to say the plugs have been replaced...thats a job for the weekend. Once started the car drives fine, no hesitation or flat spots.