Are you one of those Malaysians who have the common Proton car starting engine problem?
Well, many old Proton car owners are having this technical hiccup.
When you turn the ignition switch, and the engine doesn’t kick into life straight away.
There is no rapid clicking sound.
You notice the indicator lights on the dashboard are on.
This means there is nothing wrong with your car battery.
After a few attempts, you manage to get the engine running.
Sometimes, there is no problem. You can start the car engine at the very first time.
Once you can have the car engine running, when you turn off the ignition key now, you can restart the car without any problem.
From what I have read in the car forums, the problems could be the ignition switch (the place where you insert the car key), loose cable connections, or a bad starter selonoid.
Proton Car Starting Engine Problem
Anyway, this is what my regular car mechanic told me.
As your car electrical system gets older, the system is not able to send enough current to crank the engine.
Sometimes when you turn the ignition key it doesn’t supply enough current to the starter seloniod.
To overcome this problem, you need to add a starter relay.
He connected a relay between starter motor and key circuit to direct the current from battery to starter solenoid.
There are two items needed: a Bosch pre-wired 5-pin relay socket and a Bosch relay.
It has been working perfectly all these years.
Until a few months ago, I encountered the same old problem again.
Since my Proton Iswara is almost twenty (20) years old, this time around I thought it was the starter or the ignition switch that was giving me trouble.
The other day my neighbor, a taxi driver saw me tinkering with my car engine.
He walked over and I told him about this irritating sometime-cannot-start-engine-problem.
He told me to replace a new relay first and see how it goes.
In addition, he told me that usually is not the starter solenoid problem.
According to his experience, the starter is quite durable.
The following day I bought a brand new Bosch relay for RM 10 from an auto parts shop in Taman Pandan Jaya.
I had it replaced right away outside the shop.
Yes, sure enough, until now I can start the car engine with the first turn of the ignition key.
In fact, before I had the relay replaced, once I casually asked another car mechanic about the problem.
And right away he told me it was the starter. If I had listened to him, I would definitely spend more than RM 10. Phew!
As I have mentioned I had the relay fixed in my car many years ago. It has worn out.
For those of you if the relay is not the crux of the problem, then I think it could be the starter solenoid or even the starter switch.
Anyway, for those who want to connect the relay yourself, here and here are two guides for your reference.
I hope this simple tip can fix your Proton car starting engine problem and share this with other Proton car owners.