Already had a pretty fair idea about how relays work.
Replaced the relay, and it seems to be behaving itself now.
Hopefully it will stay this way

Cheers
Wayne

Most likely, the relay needs replacing.

You'll need to learn how to relays work,
to determine if it's something else.

Chris

Oh yeah, immobiliser, I don't use car alarms ... forgot about that.

Quote:
As a test, bypass it. Bolt the two cables on the relay directly together. If it now starts, you know it's the relay or the wiring for the relay.

My ute has a relay between the ignition and the starter. It is not a standard item.
It is screwed on up near the headlight relay.
When you turn the key, and it doesnt start, you can hear this relay click.
An immobiliser is an engine immobiliser. (Part of a car alarm)

Quote:
Well, on a B110, there is no starter relay except the solenoid on the starter. The solenoid has the relay built-in (the copper bits discussed above).

Just take the starter apart and look at it. If the solenoid contacts are bad, the starter might work fine w/o a load on it. But when trying to turn the engine, the contacts spark out. Just like a dirty battery terminal, they might run the headlights, but stop altogether when you crank the engine.

Not sure what an immobiliser is, what's another word for that?

Quote:You can check like this: put your voltmeter directly on the battery terminals. You should get near 12 volts. Now put the voltmeter earth lead on bare metal surface of engine (like the aluminum manifold) and the other lead on the big solenoid terminal opposite the battery cable. It should read zero. Have someone attempt to start it (be careful of moving parts). The voltage should go from zero to 9-12 (?) volts or thereabouts. If it stays at zero or close to zero with the key held at start, that would indicate a bad connection somewhere. In start, the solenoid coppers should be directly connecting the battery cable to the output cable, and it should read battery voltage. Most likely the bad connection is inside the solenoid, but could also be a bad earth or bad cable connection.

i reckon hes trying to pull your leg, but i cant solve your prob

Well I whipped the starter motor out and took it to the auto electrician.
He tested it and reckons it is fine (a little noisy though).
He seems to think the voltage coming to the starter might be low.
He wouldnt tell me any more than that. I think he wanted to get some money out of me for further info. The hide of him!
What would cause the low voltage?
The only 2 things it could be would be the relay or the immobiliser. As far as I understand, they are both essentially just "on/off switches". I wouldnt have thought these would be the problem.
Can any of you guys shed some light on it?

I agree, the solenoid is the master of disaster in this case, had a lot of those 'clicks' and non starts, there is also one thing though sometimes the negative from the battery does not earth the engine that well and can coause the same

The solenoid copper parts can be filed/sanded back to bare metal and sometimes work OK for a long time. Some solenoids are sealed and not designed to come apart though.

But the Bosch starter is 100 times better than the stock A12 starter, if you have a choice it last longer, better quality.

the click you can hear sounds to me like the starter solenoid pulling in. ( I dont think your 1200 would have any relays or anything else that goes click, if the car is pretty much standard)
It could be the contacts under the starters solenoid cap like others have said! this is very common in starters.
If its a "bosch" startermotor you can get the cap off and you can buy a kit which is a new cap and contacts. Most probly its not a Bosch starter though!

My first bet for your problem is the brushes inside the starter need replacing as they are now too short.