Car won't start after being sat idle for 6 months

red_harrington

red_harrington

Well-known member
It's an Audi diesel. Any ideas what I can do before I go the expensive option of getting it towed to a garage?

I hooked the battery up to our other car with which means the lights and electrics will come on, but there is no sound from the starter motor whatsoever.
 
red_harrington said:
It's an Audi diesel. Any ideas what I can do before I go the expensive option of getting it towed to a garage?

I hooked the battery up to our other car with which means the lights and electrics will come on, but there is no sound from the starter motor whatsoever.
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Not a click? I've struggled at times with leads from another car. Try charging the battery if you've got access to a charger. Physically rocking the car in gear is worth a try if it still won't start with a charged battery.
 
join a rescue organisation, give it a respectable period, then phone them up. I think the RAC will come out straight away but best check on that.
 
You may need to charge the battery for a while before trying to start the car.

As Bear said, if the starter motor has disengaged then rocking the car back and forward when it's in gear may re-engage it.
 
red_harrington said:
It's an Audi diesel. Any ideas what I can do before I go the expensive option of getting it towed to a garage?

I hooked the battery up to our other car with which means the lights and electrics will come on, but there is no sound from the starter motor whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Firstly, diesel degardes over time and the quality of the diesel may have degraded to the point it won't ignite.

If there is very little fuel in the tank, topping the tank up wit ha couple of gallons will help.

Secondly, even in a closed system the diesel will evaporate from the fule line and you almost certainly have an airlock. To correct the airlock there is a product called, I think, quick start. You spray it into the air intake (its an aerosol). It is highly explosive and will force the engine to start and clear the airlock. It's not a pretty way to start a car, but if you take it to a garage they will drain the tank and fuel system and re-prime it. It will cost a fair bit.

If it's an older car I would fix it yourself with some new fuel and quick start. If the car has a shed load of residual value, phone a garage.
 
Thanks for comments. I think I will charge the battery properly and then use that quick start stuff. There's not even a click from the starter motor, nothing at all! So I'm not optimistic but let's see what happens
 
red_harrington said:
Thanks for comments. I think I will charge the battery properly and then use that quick start stuff. There's not even a click from the starter motor, nothing at all! So I'm not optimistic but let's see what happens
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If there’s nothing at all then battery first, followed by the rocking in gear. I’d be very surprised if the diesel has degraded too much in that time. When you’ve charged the battery you could try pouring some diesel directly into the bores, works with petrol on old bikes and cars.
 
red_harrington said:
Thanks for comments. I think I will charge the battery properly and then use that quick start stuff. There's not even a click from the starter motor, nothing at all! So I'm not optimistic but let's see what happens
Click to expand...
The click you normally hear is from a relay and if you are not hearing that you may have an electrical fault, perhaps some corrosion on your battery terminals.

If you hook up jump leads and still dont hear a click from the relay, you have a problem elsewhere. You do get a very poor connection from jump leads so it is a good idea to charge the battery and clean the posts and connectors before you connect everything back up. Once connected back up get someone to try and crank the engine. Listen under the hood for the relay click. If the car wont turn over but you hear the relay clicking, your starter motor is siezed or jammed. As someone said, stick the car in second gear and rock it until you feel the car move 1 quater of a turn on the engine. You will feel this in the rocking motion. Now try to crank the engine again.

Sitting six months, even if it is cranking I will be surprised if it starts even with a good battery and a decent crank speed. The oil will have thickened, the fuel wil lhave degraded and the top of the engine will be dry as a bone.

Once you have it cranking, do NOT use quick start at this point. Crank the engine normally for 5 second bursts and leave it for 10 seconds then crank it again. Do this 4 or 5 times. The short crank times will avoid damage to the starter and start circulating oil round the engine.

Then you can use quick start to force the engine to start. Be ready for a big bang though, it's noisy.

Good luck and let us know what happens.
 
When I was in the navy I'd regularly leave my car for 4-6 months when deployed. The majority suprisingly started first click. The bigger issue I used to get was breaks ceasing on (also salty sea air doesn't help on the south coast).

I did have a couple not start even after being jump started. I had to get the AA out. The battery was basically useless and they replaced it. They said because it had gone so long without charge you couldn't recharge it.

So maybe a quick trip to halfords or euro car parts deliver and a new battery will have you mobile in no time. I ended up needing them twice although AA carried spares in their vans (although not an exact match).

The Golf I had was an absolute weapon. It would just start first turn after 6 months at Brize Norton.... German engineering 👏
 
S7DiscoDown said:
When I was in the navy I'd regularly leave my car for 4-6 months when deployed. The majority suprisingly started first click. The bigger issue I used to get was breaks ceasing on (also salty sea air doesn't help on the south coast).

I did have a couple not start even after being jump started. I had to get the AA out. The battery was basically useless and they replaced it. They said because it had gone so long without charge you couldn't recharge it.

So maybe a quick trip to halfords or euro car parts deliver and a new battery will have you mobile in no time. I ended up needing them twice although AA carried spares in their vans (although not an exact match).

The Golf I had was an absolute weapon. It would just start first turn after 6 months at Brize Norton.... German engineering 👏
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I had a mondeo like that, it was absoloutely bullet proof.
 
Centralscrutinizer said:
Does anyone bump start cars anymore, it used to be a way of life for me.
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I remember bump starting many of my old ford's. I think it's a thing of the past.

It was Probably due to those god awful manual chokes cars used to have. Just a recipe to flood the engine..... Don't miss them😂
 
Just recharge the battery that should do it. Leave your ipad for six months, or your mp3 player , or your phone and the batteries will be flat when you come back to them. Make sure its fully charged before you try to start it and it should be fine.

As Laughing said
I did have a couple not start even after being jump started. I had to get the AA out. The battery was basically useless and they replaced it. They said because it had gone so long without charge you couldn't recharge it.

The above as I mentioned will only work if the battery is decent. Just had to replace my car battery. Never not started first time. Went out one night nothing. Gave it a charge and it started but when I took it to get the battery tested it was on its way out. You should get it started but you need to have the battery checked due to reasons Laughing mentions. When I left my car standing for long periods when I was abroad I used to get son to start it once a week and let it run a little time.
 
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Don't bump start a car newer than about 40 years old - if the car's got a catalyst it will knack it. An RAC man once told me you can if you know what you're doing but I don't. Or that might have been don't try to bump start an automatic ..... Anyway, I wouldn't ....
 
I'm 99% sure you'll require a new battery here. If you don't have decent jump leads, I'd probably say to cut your losses and just buy a new battery as the jump leads can be half the price of a battery. If you can get to Halfords then they can advise which battery, but it'll be easy to look up online.

Best option, I think, unless you have breakdown cover so they can use one of their industrial strength battery kickstarters!
 
Laughing said:
Firstly, diesel degardes over time and the quality of the diesel may have degraded to the point it won't ignite.

If there is very little fuel in the tank, topping the tank up wit ha couple of gallons will help.

Secondly, even in a closed system the diesel will evaporate from the fule line and you almost certainly have an airlock. To correct the airlock there is a product called, I think, quick start. You spray it into the air intake (its an aerosol). It is highly explosive and will force the engine to start and clear the airlock. It's not a pretty way to start a car, but if you take it to a garage they will drain the tank and fuel system and re-prime it. It will cost a fair bit.

If it's an older car I would fix it yourself with some new fuel and quick start. If the car has a shed load of residual value, phone a garage.
Click to expand...

I would seriously doubt it will evaporate in a closed system over winter, it also won’t degrade to no longer ignite injust six months, highly unlikely to be the fuel. I’ve tested fuel sat in old tanks on farms for over 20 years and despite having a lot more sulfur than the regs allow nowadays it still was fine.
 
I have the same problem myself my petrol focus hasnt been used since December and it wont start. It needs a few things doing on it and an mot shortly are there any local garages to Ingleby which will tow away and fix for a reasonable price
 
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