Another problem solved

Ever since owning my series 3 109 station wagon I have had a problem with the starter motor. The previous owner said he had changed the solenoid and fitted a recon starter but to be honest it looked as old and rusty as the rest of the vehicle. The problem was that when trying to start it, the starter would turn sluggishly most of the time and I would have to try several times to get it to fire.
I had removed the earth leads, cleaned the contact faces and put them back but it made no difference, I even fitted a new and bigger battery. Eventually, I bit the bullet and forked out £115 for a new starter which took me quite a while to get around to fitting, here I would like to blame old age and bad weather, it had nothing to do with laziness. Anyway, I did fit the new starter and after much cussing and swearing the thing was on and connected up. Imagine my mood when I turned the key to find it had made no difference at all.

A few days ago I was having a fiddle as you do and noticed that the earth lead from the battery to the engine didn't feel quite right about half an inch from the engine end connector. It felt like some of the wires where broken inside the insulation. A quick trip to halfords for a new lead (£5) and after fitting it the engine springs into life like a good un. I know many electrical problems are down to bad earths but usually it is the actual metal to metal connection that is the problem. Anyway, one more thing off the list of jobs only another couple hundred left to do.

Col

Nice one

Can not have enough earths on an old landy, Nice to have it sorted.

yes, you are right about more earths. I've experienced plenty of bad earth problems over the years and numerous old bangers I have owned, having cleaned the earth contacts and carried out continuity checks they seemed fine. The problem was that as the starter tried to turn, that was enough to jiggle the cable into a position that the internal break caused a high resistance. The earth lead in question didn't look all that old. I have noticed with copper cable In general that the quality is not as good as the old days, which is sadly true of most things.

Col

But it's all the better for a new starter motor.

You get similar problems on much newer vehicles too - grease up ya terminals with some vaseline and keep your fingers crossed eh?

{To be honest I thought this story was going to end in a "and it turned out the ring gear on the flywheel has been eaten away" so it could have been worse}

Yes, Stretch, it's always nice when a problem turns out to be something simple even if it is a bit frustrating chasing red herrings. Good idea on greasing the terminals, I might just do that in my next tinkering session. It feels great now that it starts on first turn of the key, I always had visions of the neighbours listening to the thing trying to turn over and placing bets on whether it would. In fairness, it always has started but it always felt like that scene in one of the Rocky films where he dragged himself up off the canvass and went on to win.

Col

Colthebrummie said:

Yes, Stretch, it's always nice when a problem turns out to be something simple even if it is a bit frustrating chasing red herrings. Good idea on greasing the terminals, I might just do that in my next tinkering session. It feels great now that it starts on first turn of the key, I always had visions of the neighbours listening to the thing trying to turn over and placing bets on whether it would. In fairness, it always has started but it always felt like that scene in one of the Rocky films where he dragged himself up off the canvass and went on to win.

Col

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You managed to sit through a Stallone film? Wow - I'm impressed - that sounds like the kind of tenacity needed to get a Land Rover started!

Lol