The lights are on but nobody is home

Forgiven · Postby **Forgiven** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 11:26 am

Merry Christmas to anybody reading this. (But I guess if you reading this on Christmas Day you may be sad like me.) Went out to the garage this morning to drive my stock NA to church and....lights but no action. The opposite of a birthday present. (Yes, it's my birthday too.) Windows go up and down, lights are OK, but turning the key just makes a noise from the back which I presume is the fuel pump? Years ago I had a car - a 1948 Sunbeam Talbot 80 - that I could start manually by pressing on the front of the starter motor, but I'm guessing that we've moved on since then. Anyway it might be something else to do with starting - other than the battery. Anyway, I don't expect a lot today - I'm really just sharing because I haven't got anybody in the house to whom this is of interest.

manga_blue · Postby **manga_blue** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 3:38 pm

Oh, what a buggar. Hopefully it's something simple like a battery or starter motor connection. Try checking the big cables. If you had a Talbot (I always wished I'd owned one) then you would be familiar with dodgy wiring connectors - they do occasionally afflict Japanese cars too.

We're far away from you waiting for a roast to be ready. We're having a small lunch because our kids are scattered far and wide this year.

Keep us posted with how you're going. This forum is not just for tech support, sometimes you can turn here when everything goes pear-shaped, as it can do for us all at inconvenient times.

Best wishes.

Postby **Okibi** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:49 pm

Happy Birthday, any progress?

Forgiven · Postby **Forgiven** » Sat Dec 29, 2018 4:10 pm

Sorry, I didn't check back till now. Thanks for the support. No, no change, because I don't feel competent to do any checks - the last time I took to the car with anything like a spanner, to remove the front seat, it was expensive - plus even if I got it diagnosed, my mechanic is on holidays. Heatwave here, so it's not a big loss.

Forgiven · Postby **Forgiven** » Sun Dec 30, 2018 12:35 am

And on passing it on locking up the house just now, I remembered that I did, using one of those DVD manuals from the net, look for what I could jiggle to see if there was a loose connection. But, I'm a little embarrassed to say (but I have other gifts), that I couldn't even find the starter motor!