Not attempting to start, no sound from starter motor

[Wills passion]

Hi I have just joined and want to pick your knowledgeable brains… I have a 2004 fortwo passion that suddenly wont turn over or attempt to start. In the silence I hear what I presume is the fuel pump. Also when turning the key to 1 there’s a noise from the left hand side of the engine similar to the noise the ball on a roulette wheel makes has it comes to rest ! The car is in neutral and no immobiliser symbol on the speedo. Thanks In Advance,

[Thrumbleux]

The roulette wheel noise is the starter solenoid trying to engage but kicking back out when the current needed to hold it in is insufficient for whatever reason. Poor earth (check earth straps) is one possibility as is flat/weak battery. Bad starter motor is also a possibility but check the earths and battery before going there.

[Mr T]

That noise on the left could be the clutch actuator motor.
Has the car been standing a while? Could be a seized up alternator, quite common on these cars.

[Wills passion]

It had been idle a few weeks with a ctek charger maintaining the battery so I decided to give it a ride out.I had driven a mile to a customer’s premises and after 4 hours I came out and it was as my post.The following day I had it towed home. Having tried jump leads on and a battery charge

[Thrumbleux]

I started mine (briefly) with the alternator seized and it ran but the belt was shrieking. I did have the engine cover open though.
Is it possible yours was too and you missed it? It would account for the subsequent no start (flat battery). If that has happened, then the belt has likely been worn through and snapped - depriving the water pump of drive and possibly overheated the engine. Check the belt and see what gives.

[Wills passion]

I have tried jump leads and charging the battery and it’s still exactly the same. I had a mate cycle the key between 0 and 1 while I had the engine cover off, the rolling ball bearing in a plastic tumbler noise was low down on the left of the engine. Just puzzled that there’s no noise from the starter, if the solenoid was clunking and the engine not turning I would know where to look but in the start position only the electric fuel pump is making a noise until I turn the key back . The starter motor looks inaccessible to get a multimeter on the 12v connections , is there a way of intercepting the wire to the solenoid, even if it means breaking the wire insulation to clamp my probes on .?

[Thrumbleux]

Re the starter motor wire. From memory, all that could really be done was get a hand through the gap and wiggle the connector to regain connectivity or reconnect if it's become detached. They were noted as troublesome.
The 'noise' - you probably need to confirm/eliminate the clutch actuator as the culprit in case starting is being denied because the transmission can't convince the engine ECU that the gearbox is in neutral. I think, the clutch is in release position during cranking - but not absolutely certain of this.
The clutch actuator is at the left hand side of the gearbox just behind it. See FQ101 if you are unsure identifying it. Home in on it to see if it's the source of the noise.If it isn't, we can return to the starter solenoid and deduce if the starter motor is still electrically connected by other methods. Is the alternator free, unseized and the drive belt there and showing no signs of distress?

[heinkeljb]

The 12volt trigger wire for the starter motor is a spade connector.... You could stick you hand / arm down the back of the engine, or up from below and take the spade connector off by feel. take it off and put it on several times to try and get a clean metal to metal surface.

Whilst you have it off, you could try getting an other length of wire in it to allow you to connect your multimeter probes.

Another place to look would be under the (UK car) passenger seat. There is a secondary relay board under there which has a relay which switches the start as far as I remember. I believe you can swap the relays on the board with each other in case a relay is faulty .

I think it would be worth the subscription to joint www.Evilution.co.uk and look at the How to's on there regarding the starter motor.

John