Golf with starting problems!!!!

Help...

Car has been struggling to start for several days. Barely started at the gas station this evening, when I got home minutes later I tried it and nothing.

I can hear the starter, but it wont catch? How do you determine if its a battery which has lost its ability to hold a charge or an alternator which has lost its ability to charge...

Or should I start somewhere else.

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Paul

Is the car even trying to turn over, or does it just click?

I want to say that it was originally but as I pushed it, it didnt seem too have the power and started to click. I bought the car at 70000 km and its now at 115000 and it looks like its original battery.

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Paul

What happens when you turn the key? If it grinds and whines and sounds a little like a siren, the starter is going out. If it does nothing but click, or nothing, it's usually a dead battery or just corrosion on the battery connections, dead battery caused usually by the alternator failing to charge it.
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Drive Safely and Smile Freely

I would start off by changing the battery, that sounds like it might be the cause and it is one of the cheapest repairs you can do yourself. Let us know what that does.

That sounds like an easy fix.

If your battery is dead, like already stated, you will here a clicking sound when you turn the key.

If you replace the battery and all is well then hooray, however if you soon develop the same problem its the alternator.

Either of these parts are fairly inexpensive, considering this is a European car.

Further more; check the battery terminals and see if there is any corrosion, if so clean it off and tighten the clamps on the battery.

And if all that doesn't work and you have a bad starter, you may as well have a shop look at it. No point in having something get much worse then it should be.

Good Luck!

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CJK

Thanks...

I poked around when I got home and everything seems tight, definitely no corrosion. I agree battery is the place to start.

Any suggestions on make of battery?

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Paul

Hey,

Barely scraped a start out this morning. Got to work and removed the neg from the battery and to my relief the alternator was okay. I had access to a interstate load tester at work and my 650 CCA battery tested at 165 CCA. Which is not so good, but an easy fix....

Replaced the battery and everything is in fine working order....

Its possible that when i shopped it last week for the Eibach, Bilstein upgrades that they may have been listening to the radio, the car was struggling to start since that day...

BTW Eibach and Bilstein is a very, very nice combination. Dropped about 1.5 to 2 inches and vastly improved maneuverability without creating a 100% race car feel.... Up here in Toronto there are two seasons, summer and pot hole...

Thanks for your replies...

Next question.... How do you know how well your turbo is working?

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Paul

rolling road will give an indication of if something is wrong.

little slow this morning.....how so?

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Paul

rolling road as in the rollers to test hp. if the turbo isnt working it will be down on hp.
have you had a diagnostic's run on it??