TD4 won't start

Evening all,

I have had my 2005 sport for a week and already the fun seems to have started.

Just gone to go out and its not starting. My guess would be starting motor, but you may think different. When trying to turn it over it is making a rapid clicking noise. I managed to jump start it once, and it was running ok when I stopped it and started it a couple of times after it died again. 2nd time I couldn't jump start it.

All lights seem to be as they should be and power wise and battery seem ok. Only thing, I connected it up to my Ctek charger, and it was showing half full which I hoped would be enough to start it. I will charge it over night and see how it goes before I start buying new parts.

Thanks in advance.

Just been having a further nose around the forum, and perhaps the solenoid as seems quite common and hopefully and straight forward swap out.

Anyone know can these be bought from euro car parts or similar so I can pick one up tomorrow morning?

The vast majority of cases, rapid clicking means that the battery is flat.
(unless its a common thing on the td4 engine, I don't know!)

Usually caused by one of two things, goosed battery or goosed alternator.

Start from the battery route first and have this tested. When I bought mine the battery was goosed as this was a 2007 so already outlived it usefulness. With modern vehicles it doesn't need much voltage drop to cause a lot of problems.

bad battery or bad terminals

Mine would do this now and then.....turned out to be a bad connection on the battery

If the battery, terminals, wiring etc. are ok, then it'll be this thing:

LANDROVER FREELANDER 2.0 TD4 DIESEL DENSO STARTER MOTOR SOLENOID REPAIR KIT | eBay

common Td4 starter fault.

I would go for the starter motor actually the solenoid on it you can get the repair kits of EBay

Thanks for all the suggestions. Turned out to be the battery. I had ordered the new solenoids as well, so have them incase this comes up in the future.

teddywood1 said:

I would go for the starter motor actually the solenoid on it you can get the repair kits of EBay

Click to expand...

I've been a car owner since 1968.

I have replaced tens of batteries, several solenoids and occasionally starter motor brushes and the gear engagement stuff but I have NEVER replaced a 'starter motor' because it was electrically bad.

Very occasionally the commutator is worn to the point of needing skimming on a car that's been a stop start car for years and years, but that was back in the 70's. Stuff is better made today.


IN general a clickee-no-startee problem means the voltage to the solenoid or motor is well below spec, and that either means a bad battery or a bad connection. That bad connection can be inside the solenoid of course as that is nothing more than a heavy duty switch and contacts there can get dirty.


The diagnosis with a simple meter is - simple.

You need a mate to work the starter switch.


1/. Put negative of meter onto battery negative terminal.

2/. Put meter positive onto car battery plus.

3/. Try and start car. If voltage drops to below 9v the battery is shagged.

4/. If battery ok measure voltage across not the battery terminals, but the actual clamps that attach to them. If the voltage is poor here, then you need to remove terminals, clean with a wire brush, use Vaseline and re-clamp them.

5/. If the voltage on the clamps is OK, leave the meter negative where it is and try the far end of the cable on the solenoid. If that is poor, then the cable connections is faulty - I've seen this once, with a heavily corroded crimp on the far end.

6/. If the cable checks out, move the meter to the actual solenoid stud itself. Sometimes the cable to stud connection is corroded, and that will show up as the cable end showing voltage, but the stud not.

7/. If there is voltage at the solenoid of a decent level, then really the problem is inside it and then, and only then, is it worth removing the starter motor and dicking with the solenoid. There are in fact just two connections left - the solenoid contact itself and commutator to brush contact inside the motor.

A cheap ANALOGUE meter is FAR more use than a digital meter, as you can see at a quick glance roughly what the voltage is. Digital meters are far more accurate, but far harder to read.

And an analogue meter is a LOT cheaper than a starter motor.

I have owned a car since 1965 and like you have replaced many things like batteries and starter motors but the Td4 seems to ware out the contact points in the solenoid I have had it twice but an easy fix ok if the battery is low then It may produce a similar symptom, so yes check the battery first to which I have a proper battery tester used by garages ,and if the battery is ok start looking at the solenoid .

teddywood1 said:

I have owned a car since 1965 and like you have replaced many things like batteries and starter motors but the Td4 seems to where out the contact points in the solenoid I have had it twice but an easy fix ok if the battery is low then It may produce a similar symptom, so yes check the battery first to which I have a proper battery tester used by garages ,and if the battery is ok start looking at the solenoid .

Click to expand...

yes. Start with battery and then loose terminals. If those check out OK its time to look at the solenoid.

But never been a problem for me yet.

I found my battery was shagged and ended up buying a large 110 Varta battery and has been really good turning the engine over since then

it started with a clicking noise and done the test with a multimeter and also found the terminal connections onto the battery wernt very good, after a good cleaning up made the work of difference

does seem in the td4 it's either a bad battery,connection or sometimes a battery drain somewhere within the system