Partner (M59, 2003) electrical woes

[clavileno]

Hi all. Can anyone help?

I had a slow starter the last week or so. On Monday it failed to start until the starter was tapped with a stick!

On Tuesday all was well for the first two trips of the day. On the third, however, nothing. Repeated the stick trick. Still nothing. So far so ordinary.

Somewhere in this process, it seems as if a relay has stuck / fried. There is now no power to headlights (tail lights are fine), radio, heater fan, wipers. And still no start.

I called the AA who performed diagnostics: no relevant codes came back. I had to be recovered from London to the Yorkshire Dales (took 14 hours or so…)

I believe (but may be wrong) that there’s a relay to disable supply from “high-current-draw” devices during starting. If so this may be stuck / fried. Or there may be something else; I don’t have a wiring diagram.

My VIN is VF3**************[VIN obfuscated, can be read by forum staff]

I’ve tried a BSI reset with no success. All fuses are fine.

At this stage it seems I may need a new BSI or BSM in addition to a new starter. But I don’t know! At this stage seriously considering scrapping the car (2.0 HDI, 188k miles, needs other work in the next couple of months), which would seem a shame.

Can anyone assist? I’ve tried registering over on the Berlingo forum, but registration there seems broken.

[PaulC5]

There might be a maxi fuse that has blown. I do not know where they are on your car but they are often under the top layer of fuses in the engine fuse box. The starter motor sounds as if it needs replacing.

[clavileno]

Thank you. Sadly all maxi fuses are intact - visually & meter-checked.

Agree about the starter. Which I would change if I can get to the bottom of the electrics.