300tdi will not start first thing

Hi, i have a defender and in its earlier life has had a 300tdi fitted. I have only had it a couple of months and its now struggling to start first thing.

When i first go to it no matter what time or temp it will do one normal turn over then it slows right down and barely turns over. So i changed the battery and cleaned up all the earth cables and it still does the same.

As soon as i connect it to another vehicle it starts straight away on the 1st turn.

Was wondering if anybody had this problem before and could shed some light for me.

Many thanks
mlucas110

have you tried the introduction section ?

Batterys ****

oooooofffff... sell it.

I would say you have something plugged in that's draining the battery then being as it starts ok from a jump! ... internal light off? Radio? CB? Sat Nav? Anything plugged in to the lighter socket on a permanent live?

Could just be an 'end of life' battery or alternator on the way out and not keeping the charge.

was it a petrol before? the starter cable is not as thick on a petrol as it takes less to turn it over and not really enough on a diesel.

Welcome by the way

Maybe the battery is another duff one but i put my volt meter on and says its holding charge and the alternater is putting back 13-14 volts. Ill check to make sure nothing is draining the battery but i have no features like radio or lighter etc jus a few lamps so ill check them

thanks for your help

worth testing the battery when it's under load as well as when just resting.

They can someetimes show a decent voltage, but it drops like a stone when out under load.

If battery is OK (and alternator sounds like it is), then you either have poor wiring to the starter or a starter motor that it drawing far more current than it should, which would explain why jump starting does the trick

Oh, and really silly question, what is the rating of your battery? Have seen some guys struggle using batteries that just don't have enough cold cranking power. A diesel draws one hell of a lot to turnover and fire.

thanks for you help ill definatly try that. I dont think its the starter motor because once its been started and driving it will start all day with just one turn eof the engine. The battery has a good amp output as i pulled it one of my transits a few months ago.

Last thing at night. Disconect battery . Then reconnect in morning . See if starts ok . Least you will know if something discharging over night .

In past i had a faulty altenator batt was discharging through it . It had a faulty diode in it which was leaking . Even though outputting correct voltage . Fault only showed up when put on machine

Have you checked the glow plugs and the timer relay which supplies the power to the plugs?

My glow plugs were shot and replacing them made firs-time starting the norm!

Cheers, Manny

Starter motor can go lazy! Whip it off and check the carbon brushes and grease the bearings !!
The starter motor is very close to the exhaust down pipe and can suffer due to heat etc !!
Check all earths to chassis etc put a multimeter on ya battery and wind her over ! See if the battery voltage drops drastically !! It's possible to have a cell fail in battery !!!