outlander won't start
 

Hey all,

Have a2009 outie 4wd with 165,000km on it.
Went to start it today, and it won't turn over. It almost didn't sound like it is cranking, more just like a whining.

All displays come on if I turn the key to the first position, the fan works, so did the wipers and lights. However, when trying to start it, it just whines.

I have been having trouble with the asc button not working. When I used to start it, the asc off display never came on, now when I tried it out pops on.. Weird.

Anyway, any chance it would be the timing belt? It's close to the km it says to fix it (168,000 and I am at 165000).

Thoughts? I just don't want to damage anything.

Anything I can try? I needed this vehicle for tomorrow.
Cheers
Dave

Did you check the battery? It kinda sounds like not enough power to crank it... Put a volt meter on it and see how much charge it has or throw it on a charger.

Could be your starter is going or gone but usually that has some previous symptoms.

If you are past your timing belt service date you should probably get it done before it breaks. It's possible it could destroy the engine if it snaps or skips.

I have no idea how to check a battery lol.. I suck with cars.. And I don't have a volt meter. But if the battery was weak, would all the lights and everything be OK. We just used the car 2 days ago and it was perfect

Could it be a fuel pump issue?

Are there any fuses I can check? If so, just point me in the right location lol
I'm not at the timing belt internal to change yet, but very close.
Thanks

You can't really check anything electrical if you don't own a volt meter.

If you want to try and fix this without getting a shop involved you will need the tools to do so.

Yes the starter is the biggest drain on the battery and often will be the only thing that won't work. Even sometimes it can turn the engine over but not fast enough.

The car sitting for 2 days (if it's cold there, even worse) can put a bit of a strain on a bad battery. I had one that wouldn't start after sitting just over night due to weather and the battery being bad.

If it's not even turning over it has nothing to do with the fuel pump.

The right location is your local hardware store/walmart/whatever. Go buy a $10 volt meter and check the battery voltage.

All you have to do is put your meter on DC volts (setting above 12, probably 20) and put the red probe on the + or red and the black probe on the - or black and then look at the number. If it's under 12.4 your battery is too low.

If that is the case you will then need a 12V battery charger or jumper cables and another car to get your car started. Once it's running you should do the voltage test above again with the engine on and you should see between 13.5 and 14.5V or so. That will indicate your charging system is working and then you just need to drive around for about 30 minutes for your battery to get fully charged.

If it dies again you may have a current draw problem or you may have a battery gone bad... Do you know how old this battery is? After about 4 years they can die at any time.

At the very least if you can have someone try and jump start you it will at least confirm if the battery is dead or not.

Otherwise I'd just call a shop and have it towed in.

Well, here's the update. I just pumped the gas a bit and it caught, and had some some strong exhaust.
We have had issues with this vehicle when sitting in the cold for a few days. It has happened before but it used to really shudder on start up. This was the first time it didn't catch at all, but after pumping the gas a bit, it caught.

So I'm assuming the fuel pump is OK? Is something freezing? We have never had this issue in warmer weather.

Thoughts?

If the fuel pump wasn't running it would not start or run...

Strong exhaust suggests excess fuel.. Could still be a bad battery..not easy to diagnose over the internet with no diagnostic info...

Drive it to an auto parts store and they can load test your battery for free.

Got a volt meter. With the car off and lights on, battery is 12.4 on the nose. Everything off, it is 12.65.

Should I see what it reads when starting the vehicle?

So upon starting, it dropped to 10.3v, and then stayed at 14.
Sounds normal?

Have you tried cleaning the battery terminals, it could be that easy.

Brian

12.6 is a fine voltage for a car battery at rest and 14v indicates it is charging properly.

You can see how it drops all the way to 10 volts when cranking because the starter needs SO much more power than anything else and the colder the ambient temp is the more power it needs to turn the engine over properly.

Check it again tomorrow after it sits overnight or after it's been sitting for a few days again and for sure next time it won't start, that will give you a better idea of what is going on.

I agree with Brian you should probably check the terminals and cables for corrosion.

Like I said when my battery was going dead it would charge up to 12.6 or 12.7 after I'd driven it for a while and then stay relatively high and by the morning it would be down to 12.4 or 12.3 and had trouble cranking.. Put a new battery in and have not had any problems since.

I'm still eyeing up the battery as the cause of this it's the most likely culprit so we need to rule it out before looking at other systems. Don't replace it though until we can confirm this is where the problem lies, they aren't cheap.