Series 3 Fails to stay started ?

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stag888

stag888

Active Member
Posts
113
Location
Bromley , Kent
Hi,
Bit of a strange one , after years of staring first time have out of the blue developed a starting issue - Won't start , any guidance or advise appreciated . Basically the engine turns over , and will fire up , however as soon as the key is allowed to return to the rest / on position the engine dies. Am going to start by looking at the ignition switch & starter soleniod for connection issues. Any thoughts appreciated as I struggle with electrics , and that's what I believe this is .
Cheers Steve
Petrol
 
Last edited:
stag888 said:
Hi,
Bit of a strange one , after years of staring first time have out of the blue developed a starting issue - Won't start , any guidance or advise appreciated . Basically the engine turns over , and will fire up , however as soon as the key is allowed to return to the rest / on position the engine dies. Am going to start by looking at the ignition switch & starter soleniod for connection issues. Any thoughts appreciated as I struggle with electrics , and that's what I believe this is .
Cheers Steve
Click to expand...
Petrol or diesel?
 
Some progress , not good , now will not turn over on the key , just a thud , but will turn over well , but still not start when I short across the starter solenoid .
 
stag888 said:
Some progress , not good , now will not turn over on the key , just a thud , but will turn over well , but still not start when I short across the starter solenoid .
Click to expand...
Under the barrel where you put the key in, there are two plastic discs, with contacts that meet up for the various key positions, run, start, etc.
I should think new ones are available, they are a Lucas item.
But in the past I have opened the unit up by bending the tabs back with a screwdriver, and cleaned the plastic discs and contacts with WD40, and re-assembled. It worked until I got a new unit.
 
Time to move down the line then.
Distributor/points/cap/arm/leads/plugs. Then move on to the fuel side. Have you taken the plugs out and looked at them?
If it was turning over and appearing to start, the starter was still helping. Then without that help things break down with "load"

J
 
marjon said:
Time to move down the line then.
Distributor/points/cap/arm/leads/plugs. Then move on to the fuel side. Have you taken the plugs out and looked at them?
If it was turning over and appearing to start, the starter was still helping. Then without that help things break down with "load"

J
Click to expand...
Battery and leads. A duff battery, or one with a loose lead, might give voltage at the coil, but not produce enough grunt to spin the engine over.

Then there is the coil itself, coils can break down under load.

If none of that seems to be at fault, then the fuel supply and carburation comes into the equation.
 
Turboman said:
Battery and leads. A duff battery, or one with a loose lead, might give voltage at the coil, but not produce enough grunt to spin the engine over.

Then there is the coil itself, coils can break down under load.

If none of that seems to be at fault, then the fuel supply and carburation comes into the equation.
Click to expand...

From what I read it was spinning fine until

stag888 said:
Am going to start by looking at the ignition switch & starter soleniod for connection issues.
Click to expand...

Now it wont turn over on the key after it was "touched";).

If it turns over when shorting across solenoid, then starter and battery are good. So what was touched needs to be touched again;).
Now we have 2 issues:D.

J
 
Checked battery - still good , checked coil also good , plenty of fuel , and and carburation , timing all good .... it all seems to come back to the switch ... as always never simple. My LR has the locking set up so has a key barrel at one end and a switch/ connector at the other , so when you say switch I take that to be the section at the end that connects to the wires , not the barrel that holds the key ?
What I did also notice when looking at parts the series 3 lockable set up has a choke attached , unsurprisingly as mine is a real mix and match mine locks but doesn't have a choke section on the side barrel , that had been rigged into the lower dash panel . Sense I may have issues working out what ignition switch I actually have
 
Turboman said:
Under the barrel where you put the key in, there are two plastic discs, with contacts that meet up for the various key positions, run, start, etc.
I should think new ones are available, they are a Lucas item.
But in the past I have opened the unit up by bending the tabs back with a screwdriver, and cleaned the plastic discs and contacts with WD40, and re-assembled. It worked until I got a new unit.
Click to expand...

stag888 said:
Checked battery - still good , checked coil also good , plenty of fuel , and and carburation , timing all good .... it all seems to come back to the switch ... as always never simple. My LR has the locking set up so has a key barrel at one end and a switch/ connector at the other , so when you say switch I take that to be the section at the end that connects to the wires , not the barrel that holds the key ?
What I did also notice when looking at parts the series 3 lockable set up has a choke attached , unsurprisingly as mine is a real mix and match mine locks but doesn't have a choke section on the side barrel , that had been rigged into the lower dash panel . Sense I may have issues working out what ignition switch I actually have
Click to expand...

I would consider the switch to be the two plastic discs with the inset contacts, as described before.
How do you check a coil? The only way I know is to substitute with another coil that is known to work on another vehicle.
Sometimes a coil will produce a spark when the engine is cranked over, but won't work when running.
Also, do you have a capacitor, or are you on electronic ignition? Capacitors fail for a pastime.
Likewise, a battery that shows good voltage on a meter won't always start a vehicle, you need a drop tester to show that.

The lock barrels with a choke/fuel shut off incorporated are horrible things to work with. A peculiar feature of Series 3s, earlier Series don't have them.
 
Yes checked coil with a known good one , no difference , has electronic ignition ,
Is there a way to bypass the ignition switch, just to confirm that's the issue ?
 
Got it to start , checking the coil again the voltage & also obviously the oil pressure light would flicker on and off depending on the exact position of key in the barrel when "On" , jiggling it so that the light stayed on and then shorting the starter it fired up immediately and stayed running ...will let it run for awhile , but then it begs the question - barrel or switch ? ..... either way they'll be coming out this week
 
Took the barrel off and the ignition switch literally came apart before I had a chance to remove the wires - well and truly shot , surprised it worked at all no chance of cleaning or repairing . What was interesting was the type - as I thought size / diameter wise and number of terminals it didn't match a series 3 switch - it appears to be an early defender barrel and switch - so that's what I've ordered , much cheaper and at least it will make it a straight swap. Should be back on the road by the weekend .
 
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