mycar has problems strating up (vauxhall vectra P reg) electrical?

[kerri]

we have had it looked over by a friend who used to be a mechanic, e has said it is not a mechanical fault it is a eletrical fault. It somtimes runs fine then sometimes wont start up at all.
Any ideas on what it could be or who wewould go to to have it looked at as its obviousy not a meachnic as my friend cant do it. We have had issues with it recently with the engine management light coming on, battery indcator coming on but was told it was a loose wire. nce its going its fine its justgetting t started sometimes..... any help please???

 

[angstrom]

Check your starter. I had a car years ago which would not start when hot but would start fine when it was cold. I finally traced it to the starter. The starter armature bearings had worn out and when the engine was hot the starter naturally would get warm. This expansion caused the armature to sit lower in the bearing. This caused the armature to turn sluggishly when starting a warm engine. It was only a slight lop sided wearing out on the lower side of the bearing but it was enough to cause a problem. The worn out bearing was not easily seen by the naked eye, but a washer of the same size showed the wear clearly when placed in the bearing after disassembling the starter.

If the wear is great enough cold starting would be hard too.