Defender TD5 starting problem

Hi all,
I am newish to the site and seem to have a problem with my 51 plate (2002) TD5 110 defender. Gearbox has just been reconditioned and refitted by local garage. After having it back and being impressed by my new, non sloppy or knocking box the flipping thing wouldn't start next day. Garage has had it back and seems to have located the fault. They say that the wiring harness that passes behind the engine has become brittle because of heat. Is this a common problem like they say ?
Injector harness has been replaced and most of the other faults that commonly occur have been done.
They say that this harness has got to be replaced which will solve the problems.
Any help before shelling out more money will be appreciated.

shelley said:

Hi all,
I am newish to the site and seem to have a problem with my 51 plate (2002) TD5 110 defender. Gearbox has just been reconditioned and refitted by local garage. After having it back and being impressed by my new, non sloppy or knocking box the flipping thing wouldn't start next day. Garage has had it back and seems to have located the fault. They say that the wiring harness that passes behind the engine has become brittle because of heat. Is this a common problem like they say ?
Injector harness has been replaced and most of the other faults that commonly occur have been done.
They say that this harness has got to be replaced which will solve the problems.
Any help before shelling out more money will be appreciated.

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sounds to me like they ****ed up putting the box back in and crushed it between the bell housing and the engine, get a second opinion mate

either like the above, but also cps sensor is mounted in the bellhousing, if this gets damaged it will cause starting issues.

New crank sensor fitted, wanted to know if anyone had heard of the harness becoming brittle. Can't find it mentioned any where.

brittle wiring is a new one on me, more like they were the cause imho
have you tried dragging it round the block, if they have disconnected the fuel lines it could be an airlock and the pump alone cannot clear the air, i had this on a disco td5 that had been run dry went through everything till someone suggested trying to bump it as the increased engine speed over the starter speed can clear the air.

Sounds like bull**** to me, the only wire around the back of the block is for the oil light, doesn,t matter if they cut the thing off, it won't affect the running/starting of the vehicle, could be damaged crank sensor / wiring as already said, or maybe something totally unrelated & just unlucky it happened the day after you pick it up !!

shelley said:

New crank sensor fitted, wanted to know if anyone had heard of the harness becoming brittle. Can't find it mentioned any where.

Click to expand...

No it is definitely NOT sh!te. I have had a defender 110 TD5 for a few months now and I've been plagued with it dying on me and refusing to start, sometimes for two days at a time. Today, I finally found the problem. I was fitting a new CKP sensor which is bolted into the bellhousing behind the engine, and I found exactly what you describe. The insulation on my plug for the CKP sensor was so brittle that some of it had cracked and fell away, thus exposing a little of the wires. I simply cut a bit of insulation off a spare bit of wire and sliced it lengthways so I could fit it over the existing wires. Problem finally solved - well almost. TheBus refused to start (I had done some other jobs while I was in there) and out of desperation I decided to re-fit the original sensor because she had been running before I changed the CKP. When I pulled the plug off the sensor, I checked my wiring and found that one of the wires had broken off right at the back of the plug, as a temporary repair, I cut away a lot of the plastic from the plug and soldered in a couple of wires as an ""extension"" then I wrapped this up with aluminuim cooking foil (the wires are screened to stop interferrence from blocking the signal) and she burst into life at the first turn of the key. So, I can emphatically state for the record, that it is true, the wires do become brittle with the heat. Oh, and I have absolutely no affiliation with your garage, I live away up in the scottish highlands, though I don't know where your garage is. I hope this helps. Ron.

Oh, and just to add, the plug for your bonnet switch is exactly the same as the plug for your CKP. If I wasn't intending to fit a bonnet switch for an engine compartment light, I would cut this off (it's not in use on mine at the moment) and use that to replace the one on the CKP.

However, if you are any good with a soldering iron, or know someone who is, simply cut the original plug off, with enough wire to work with and solder in a couple of inches of new wire as an extension, this definitely solved it for me. I intend to visit a local breakers yard and get a new plug because my wires broke so close to the plug I had to hack some of the plastic back to find wire to work with.