Disco 300tdi Won't Start and Now Battery Drain.

Not my week this week.

Foolishly, I tried to start my 300tdi Manual Disco 1 while it was in gear. Now I can't get it to turn over at all, I've got a load of lights on on the dash and the battery drains down to nothing overnight.

The car has been subjected to a recent rebuilt but not all the electrical systems have been fully reconnected. Not that any of that has been a problem for the last 12 months while ive been moving it around the yard between boughts of working on it. It seems to have been running fine during that period.

I can't see any blown fuses, I have replaced the starter motor and no joy. The starter motor earth is bolted down properly. I haven't seen any burnt out wiring but I have not yet put a multimeter on any of the wiring. There was a single popping/cracking sound from the transmission tunnel area when the car stopped working.

Can anyone here point me in the right direction?

Starter Jamed

Cable burnt out

I'd check the earth wiring from the body to the engine block first, odd popping from under the transmission tunnel can indicate that the current might be trying to flow through the handbrake cable; it's not unknown on some models. I'd next check the power feed from the battery to the starter motor, making sure that the connection is clean and solid and the insulation hasn't worn through due to rubbing on a chassis or bodywork part. I went through three batteries on a Granada before I found that one.
If that were the case, then there's the possibility that there might not have been enough current to turn the engine over, but just enough to jam the starter motor. The usual first remedial action for a jammed starter is to put the vehicle in gear, say second, handbrake off and the ignition off too. Then with loads of muscle and grunting, push the vehicle back and fore until everything goes clunk and releases. Applies to manual gearboxes only.
Recharge the battery and check what current is being drawn. Take your multimeter out of the circuit again before you try starting the engine.

Crisis over,

I cleaned up a few connections and wiggled the earth a bit and now its back to life again.

Thanks for you support.