Discovery TD5 starting Problem

Hi,

I'm hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the latest problem my '99 Disco TD5 seems to have developed.

I left the Disco sitting on the street for a week or so where it remained until I attempted to start it thats when the following happened:

once the key was put in the ignition and turned to allow the glow plug light to go out, there was a beeping noise from behind the dash, the immobiliser light didn't go out, the light indicating the gear you are in on the dash was scrambled & on the gearshift didnt light up, M & S gears on the dash flashed Green, the key stopped locking/unlocking the doors (as well as the switch on the dash)

There was no click that I heard when i attempted to start and the battery doesnt seem to be flat as the lights worked but to be on the safe side, i put it on charge but still no joy.

3 days later i went to show someone the problem and it started first time! I took it for a drive and it was fine but the same thing happened the next day and it wont start again!

I have plugged in a snap on diagnostic machine but nothing seems to come up in the way of faults

After a hunt on the forums/web I can't find a similar problem to this and its driving me mad as its no longer a reliable 4x4 which i need.

Anyone any thoughts before it gets sold for spares or repair??

Thanks to all,

Did you chck the connections to the batterie? what is the voltage? how old is the Batt.?

Hi,

I don't think it is the battery as charging/jump starting wouldn't make any difference to it starting and the headlights didn't dim when i tried starting. The Disco also started 2 days later as if there hadn't even been a problem with it for the past few evenings.

I was wondering if it may be a water ingress problem? Previously i have noticed (i think) a small amount of water (a drip) once or twice coming from both the front & rear sunroofs and wondered if that may have been my problem? Once it had sorted itself (Dried?) and the vehicle was moved any remaining trapped water from the sunroof could have managed to get back to whatever circuit it was in contact with and cause this problem?

If this is the case, what is the most likely things I should check?

Sometimes its a bit easier to help if you give us some informations

Got electric sunroofs?
Problems only in heavy rain?
And as mentioned before, batterie, the DII is a bit sensitiv if it goes to low voltage and the earth connections are a common prob on these cars.

And if a little bit of water would cause havy probs every Landy would be stationary

take off earth strap on starter motor and give a good clean with a wire brush then greaase up and put back, worked for mine. hope it helps

check for moisture on the fuse board on the drivers side bulkhead. Also check the BCU (Body Control Unit) thats behind the glovebox.

Hi,

I have been having a search on the internet and I have come accross people who have had issues with the automatic gearbos XY selector switch being wet, could this be the problem?

Having no experience with this, i'm unsure if the symptoms I have mentioned would indicate this as being the fault or not? Looking on the internet, these are pretty expensive so I would want to be reasonably sure that this was the likely cause before forking out for a new one (anyone know where to get one apart from the local stealer??)

Thanks again

i had this problem i got a serice kit for starter motor no problems since starts first time ebay item no 330539341372

Sounds like the problem I had. The fix was to replace the earth clamp to the battery. It didn't grip the terminal properly even when tightened right up. This was also in conjunction with the injector rings and seals being replaced.