2014 Holden Captiva 7, 2.2L diesel.
Bit of a problem with my wife’s car. I’m a diy type guy so I can do most general fixing, though i haven’t heard this sound before. I took the air filter off in the video to get a look at the belt, very silly engine design. Has a coolant leak so I’m always topping that up but otherwise it ran fine before.
Earlier in the morning the car was running fine, then a few hours later it wouldn’t start. I thought she left the lights on so tried a jump start, it turned over and the engine tried to start but couldn’t quite get there then made this screeching sound at the end. I’ve dealt with many belt problems, it’s not the serpentine belt.
Did some searching and maybe it’s the starter but it’s a big job to take out and inspect.
The next day the battery was almost completely drained when i went to have another look so something is draining the battery. I wonder if the starter has bad connections? Did another jump start and it almost kicked over again but there were no bad sounds. After a couple more tries the high pitch sound came back, I didn’t want to keep trying in case it caused damage.
Would it be a bad connection or should I go ahead and inspect the starter?
Sounds like the alternator or water pump has seized. Remove the drive belt and rotate the pulleys by hand. Start the engine without the belt to see if it will idle.
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Thanks for the help.
Will do. I’ll have to do it tomorrow though, time is a rare thing with kids hahaha. Will update you.
+1 for removing the belt to check for a seized part and to see if the engine will now start and idle…
Once you get the starting and noise problem taken care of, next thing is get that coolant leak taken care of, at some point the leak will turn into a coolant dump and can/will cost you much more time and money to repair it then… And when it dumps, it is not always in your driveway…
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Original battery? If so, it is 10 years old and almost certainly needs replacement. A faulty battery could be the cause of most of the symptoms. Suggest to not defer on this b/c a faulty battery may damage the starter motor.
Starter sounds great. Strong, robust crank. I go along with the seized pulley idea.
It sounds to me like the starter is disengaging before the engine starts. It cranks fine for a second or two in the video so I doubt it’s a seized water pump or alternator. Verify you have a fully charged battery (12.4+ volts). Being a DIY guy, it’s easiest to pull the starter and have it bench tested at an auto parts store. A new one is likely in your future.
Loosened the belt and all pulleys move fine except one. How would I get it to unjam?
The sound in the video is just my young son playing, not the engine 
Well, I don’t know this engine and the pics / video aren’t great, but that’s your crankshaft pulley. It’s not jammed - you’re just trying to turn it against engine compression.
Take the belt all the way off and try to start it. If it starts don’t leave it running. “This is only a test”
Ah okay. I’ll try starting it without a belt next. This is all new to me, I haven’t checked on these parts before
With the ac compressor, is it normal for the inner part to move independently of the outer part where the belt rests on? Both move freely of each other
It won’t start, almost as if its got a flat battery but the battery is testing fine.
I’ll hook up some jumpers to our other car
Edit; so the battery is testing good, and it has a green light on the battery itself… but we get more turnovers after charging it with jump cables, but it still won’t start.
That is perfectly normal, you are feeling (in simple terms) the clutch being disengaged, meaning the pulley is not engaged to the compressor, when an electrical current is added then the 2 parts will not turn separately of each other, meaning will feel like they are locked together…
It cranks but will not start correct??
You may have knocked a plug loose, carefully look around where you have been dealing with the removal of the belt and check for any loose or unplugged connectors… Also check for blown fuses, as well as make sure you have everything plugged up dealing with intake side of the engine (air filter box area), sorry I am not familiar with your vehicle or engine…
And as Cigroller already said, if that big pulley that will not turn by hand is able to turn by hand, you have other major problems… lol
If an engine cranks robustly, but won’t start, the most likely culprits are either no-spark, or no-fuel.
I’ve experienced both at one time or another. And one weird problem was too much fuel.
It’s possible you damaged something or blew a fuse during your first jump-start attempt. That might cause a no-spark problem.
Starter removed. The flywheel teeth are grinded on. The starter teeth look okay. Brought a new starter, but does it look like the flywheel itself is jammed?
Teeth look OK on the flywheel…
Did you have the old starter bench tested to see if it is bad??
Didn’t get it tested, but spent the day installing the new starter motor. And it starts lol thank fuck!!
After a test drive around the block, the smoke coming out the exhausts was quite heavy. Tomorrow ill do an oil change and fresh coolant.
While doing the starter swap i had to disconnect the battery. Would this be a reason for the check engine on dash being there still?
Was it doing it before??
The MIL/CEL should have gone off temporally when disconnecting the battery, so if it came right back on then something is wrong and you need to start by checking the codes… How long had the CEL been on??
It’s possible the many failed attempts to start the engine may have flooded the engine w/diesel fuel and the excess fuel in the cylinders and exhaust system, is now causing a smoky exhaust. If that’s the case it should return to normal in a few miles driving.
