I have a 2001 D2 , after sitting for a week in the cold -20 C or 0 F it will not turnover, I getting a clicking that sounds more dash oriented rather than under the engine. Could it be a relay, or is it the solenoid stuck?

I am looking for advice before crawling under in the cold looking to the solenoid to tap on(this used to work with VW's) not even sure where the starter solenoind is on the motor ( found it on RAVE)

note 2 year old battery and alternator, plugged in with a block heater

this was her first experience of more than 10 hours outside in sub zero

thx

 

Same thing happened to me yesterday. Temps dropped to 24F overnight, clicking sound in the morning. My starter is less than a year old and battery approx two years old.

I tapped w/ a BFH and after two click clicks it started. Not sure what's going on? The bendix could be freezing up.

 

Pull the starter and clean and grease the Bendix, then bench test with battery and jumper cables before reinstalling. If this doesn't work replace the starter.

 

When I had the same symptoms a few weeks ago the problem was the XYZ switch. It could be the starter, but those are, generally speaking, pretty robust on DIIs I think. XYZs are a known weak point prone to failure.

 

Thanks all a charge of the battery seems to have helped, it still sounded to me like clicking in the dash rather than solenoid, 10 days at below -20 can be be tough on the battery and I suspect that I have a slight short somewhere draining it.

 

Basics.
Charge battery over night.
Amps for charging battery should drop to 6 amps or less meaning full charge.

Still does not start?

Pull the connectors and clean them on the battery and cables.

Still does not start?

Follow the black ground from the battery to the frame and clean that connection.

Check the braided ground is present from the even cylinder bank head to the firewall