2005 GTI RFI starter disengages

[Tollis]

Hi everyone,

I’ve got a 2005 GTI RFI that suddenly won’t start. The strange thing is that when I take the plugs out it turns over fine, but once even one plug is in it will engage the starter then disengage immediately and the starter free spins.

Battery is new and charged
I bridged the solenoid and the same thing happens.

Not sure where to look next, bad ground, bad starter?

Anyone experienced this before?

 

[DaddyLoafin]

bad ground, bad battery, poorly charged battery. I know you said its brand new but what your describing sounds like a battery issue to me. load test it and if its under 12v than take it back and get a new one and charge it when you get home before installing it in the ski.

 

[Tollis]

bad ground, bad battery, poorly charged battery. I know you said its brand new but what your describing sounds like a battery issue to me. load test it and if its under 12v than take it back and get a new one and charge it when you get home before installing it in the ski.

Battery so good at 12.3v and doesn’t drop significantly when trying to crank, brought it back to Napa for a proper load test and it passed no problem.

I think I’m down to grounds or starter. I’ve figured out the starter grounds to the block through its mount but where does the block ground? The neg bat cable disappears under the engine and I’m having trouble tracing it.

 

[DaddyLoafin]

not 100% sure on a rfi but on a carbed 787 the ground goes to the starter. 12.3 without a load isnt great, if you have a known good battery try that. One of my neighbors has a rfi and he called me for help one day, his starter would try to spin the engine than the Bendix would retract and it would just spin without turning the engine over. It was the battery even tho it was less than a month old.
The bare minimum you should charge the battery and try again.

I daily drive a Focus RS and when the battery for that gets below 70% life, ill start getting all sorts of error messages and CELs on colds starts that go away after I drive a mile or two. Just sayn

 

[POPPS]

Yup, load test the battery

 

[etemplet]

I'd do a voltage drop with the starter engaged. If your battery isn't putting out it will show up under load. The only ski I checked was a 787 XP and I was getting 11.5 volts with the starter engaged. I'm not saying my battery was fully charged but it was a good battery. I'd use 11.5 volts as a minimum.

I've had starters drop out like yours is doing. Replace the starter and the problem went away. You might try looking at the brushes.

 

[DaddyLoafin]

just had to replace the battery in mine again this weekend. Even with a full charge it would engage the starter and rotate the crank like an 1/8 turn and give up. went to a proper battery store and got a nice battery and all is good now. never going back to those stupid die hard battery's lol