mudcakez

Cheers for the reply cowie

The battery is only a month old. No multimeter unfortunately, might borrow one from a friend.

Bit of an update though, I went out this morning to start the car and instead of holding the ignition until the engine started, I let the motor turn a couple times but stopped before it fired up. Then I turned it a second time and it started perfectly, with the revs going straight up to ~1.2k instead of labouring at 3-400 before going up. Not sure what to make of this but happy I've at least found a workaround for the time being.

As for the rattling I've now noticed it happens at idle and doesn't seem to be affected by clutch operation. I've had a listen and it definitely sounds like it's coming from mid-rear. Had a look and spotted a bit of the exhaust which may be the source, I'll try and get underneath and have a bit of a play to confirm.