Replaced gearbox now engine won't turn over

[coolspot007007]

I've been replacing my gerbox over the past few weekends so car has been sat for approximately 5 weeks. Whilst doing the clutch one of the cover bolts sheared so I replaced the flywheel as well. I put the car back together last weekend and went to start it but get a single click and that's it (intermittent). The car had no problems starting before this and so far I've checked the following:

Good continuity of earths, earthed negative terminal to gearbox with jump lead as well just to be sure.
Immobiliser light goes out after after a few seconds as normal.
Loosened starter away from gearbox and give it a few whacks incase it was jammed.
Swapped TDC sensor for a known good one (people have reported bad ones causing engine not to turn over due to over-reading)
Cleaned up starter spade connector, the earth on gearbox, battery terminals and connectors.
Large fuses in the bay all ok.
Turned engine over manually, no problems.
Battery was showing 12v+ under starting and not starting.
No obviously loose/broken wires under relays at ECU conector.
Left the key in the ignition (on) for 1 hour, tried spare key as well.

Should the spade conection to the starter have 12v only on starting or at ignition on as well? The clock goes off when I try and start it and the lights dim so it seems something is drawing a lot of current. I've thrown the battery on charge again but I'm a bit stumped for anything else to check other than continuity of all the ECU wires, which I'm hoping not to have to do.

 

[apollo000]

Possible jammed starter motor, Have you removed starter and bench tested it?

 

[coolspot007007]

I did try to get it off but one of the exhaust manifold bolts is rounded so spent a while trying to get that off to no avail. I might try smashing a 9mm socket on to it tomorrow and see how that goes.

 

[Dave..]

Sounds like starter motor.

 

[Jonff]

You can get the the starter motor out through the top without moving the manifold. It's a tight squeeze and takes a bit of wiggling but it does come out through the top that way.

 

[coolspot007007]

I did try but it wasn't having it, I have a 182 manifold BTW.

 

[Jonff]

Yeah it took me ages to get it out but I was assured it would come out that way so I stuck at it. I removed the upper inlet plenum for better access, and once you've removed the 3 bolts holding it in place, the spade connector and the solenoid wire, I tipped the starter away from the engine and eventually waggled it out through the right hand side of the manifold.

 

[Poopensharten]

I have a spare starter if it is mate!

£40!

Also note it may be worth checking the black electrical relays under the fuse cover on the right hand side in the engine bay, I thought my starter was fooked but changed the relays and i was away like a heard of wild turtles.

 

[Dave..]

I
and i was away like a heard of wild turtles.

I lol'd. Not bad Scotland.

 

[Poopensharten]

I lol'd. Not bad Scotland.

Whats going down in china town Dave88? Still got the bean?

 

[Dan@SJM]

I have seen rogue dowels in odd places jam the flywheel before.

 

[Cr33do]

When you partially removed the starter did it spin?

The small spade should only see 12v when you are trying to start the engine and fall back to 0v when the key is in other positions.

Starter can come out the top with the 182 manifold. Did ours the other week. It's diddly and you have to rotate it to get it out but it can be done. I'd be tempted to do this and check it off the car. You can use jump leads to test permanent live and earths. To make sure it spins you can connect the live to the other connector, the one with the braid wire going from solenoid to motor. This will just spin the motor.

Our solenoid was knackered so it wouldn't throw the gear towards the flywheel. Instead it did nothing and pop fuses.

 

[Dan@SJM]

Can you turn it by hand?

 

[coolspot007007]

The starter did nothing when I partially removed it, and the engine does turn by hand. I'll remove the starter properly today and see if it works off the car.

 

[coolspot007007]

Starter works fine off the car, checked the voltage to the solenoid, 12.5v when starting. I put it back in and got the single click again. Used a jumper cable on one of the starter bolts to battery negative and it turns over! It's dropping to around 11v when turning over which sounds ok, but now it won't fire. The jump lead was getting very hot when turning over, I don't know if that's normal when repeatedly trying it but not starting.

So far I've tried:

Using 2 jump leads to earth the connection at the rear of the gearbox and bypassing the braided lead by the driveshaft.
Swapped TDC sensor (one definitely working)
Checked all the plugs are in the sensors in upper inlet and checked the pins for corrosion.
Swapped the ignition leads around at the coil pack, are these ok in any order as long as they're in pairs? I put them in 1&3 at the top and 2&4 bottom, the leads are numbered plug 1-4 starting from the throttle body end.
Immobiliser light still goes out like it should.

I'll be replacing the earths with new ones when I get the chance but not sure what else to check now.

 

[Dave..]

Whats going down in china town Dave88? Still got the bean?

Unfortunately so! It's on axle stands broken again, for the 4th time in 6 weeks.