Electrical Starting Issue

Racandy said:

You would think so yes but jump leads are very poor quality and obviously they don't have the best connection to either vehicle either. You would be surprised how many breakdowns I go to and people say oh it's not my battery I've tried a jump start off the neighbours v8 on my fiesta and it won't go. But ya jump leads cost 2 quid from aldi is what's going through my heAd. Drop my jump pack on and it fires into life. They just look amazed at ya lol. So hard to diagnose a car over a forum but least with everyone's input and sensible help you will get there I'm very sure. The joys of Landrover ownership

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not sure what you are on about tbh, you have no idea what jump leads he used.

afaik, if you jump start with decent cables (say 4-6 guage) then it'll pull whatever amps from the other battery and whatever the alt has, so way more than 200amps for the 300tdi.

Two car batteries rigged in parallel will double the Ah rating. Easily feeding the starter with enough amps to turn the engine. I've two sets of jump leads which are both very capable, I cant remember the last time I melted through a pair.

Starter motor will be cleaned, new exciter wire added and bolted back on the engine. Not before I have a go at hand cranking it. If I cant hand crank it i'll start with the glow plugs, if that fails I'll drain a few litres of oil. If it still doesnt work then its engine shopping time.

youve either got a poor starter, leads or battery ,if engine hand cranks ,simples

Preid said:

Two car batteries rigged in parallel will double the Ah rating. Easily feeding the starter with enough amps to turn the engine. I've two sets of jump leads which are both very capable, I cant remember the last time I melted through a pair.

Starter motor will be cleaned, new exciter wire added and bolted back on the engine. Not before I have a go at hand cranking it. If I cant hand crank it i'll start with the glow plugs, if that fails I'll drain a few litres of oil. If it still doesnt work then its engine shopping time.

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just to be clear, no one is saying start it by hand.. unless you are geoff capes

it's just to make sure the engine can turn and nothing is bust internally.

What? I cant start it by hand? I was told I just had to throw the decompression lever, crank it until I was blue in the face and it should just fire up.

I'm not a total noob

Here's hoping Jamesmartin.

Time to head out to the truck!

Preid said:

What? I cant start it by hand? I was told I just had to throw the decompression lever, crank it until I was blue in the face and it should just fire up.

I'm not a total noob

Here's hoping Jamesmartin.

Time to head out to the truck!

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haha. on my 2.25 d there's a starter dog fitted

good luck with that :lol: (i'm presuming they intende to just use it for tappets)

Mother of god it is cold!

Alternator dropped off at the auto electricians. Measured 5.6k ohm across the main wire to earth which I doubt is a good thing. Came out to hear a hissing from a tyre... looks like a nice slow leak. I'd of changed it at the barn but due to the truck being parked at an angle I cant get my car in all the way.

I had planned to get a fair bit done but with this storm its making working a pain in the arse. Cant keep any heat in the barn and working in the freezing cold sucks. The roof isnt exactly solid as you can see.



Worse yet the snow was still coming in. Decided that refitting the starter while its snowing wasnt an option. Instead I lit the fire and decided to look at the starter again.



It does throw the starting cog thing out when firing up. I gave it a clean and moved my snow covered bucket seats over towards it. I stayed for a while longer wondering when the rest of my electrical bits ive ordered will show.

Oh the engine! The only socket missing the set was the one I needed! 27mm... Is that by any chance the same size as the wheel nuts? I fired on a 28mm and thought i'd give it some force but nothing that could round it. It didnt take hardly any force to turn the engine After a few turns I thought I could start this sucker by hand :lol:

So it is pointing towards a dodge earth or start motor. Hopefully it wont be snowing tomorrow. I'll move the fire next to where i'll be working and get the starter back in.

Preid said:

Mother of god it is cold!

Alternator dropped off at the auto electricians. Measured 5.6k ohm across the main wire to earth which I doubt is a good thing. Came out to hear a hissing from a tyre... looks like a nice slow leak. I'd of changed it at the barn but due to the truck being parked at an angle I cant get my car in all the way.

I had planned to get a fair bit done but with this storm its making working a pain in the arse. Cant keep any heat in the barn and working in the freezing cold sucks. The roof isnt exactly solid as you can see.

Worse yet the snow was still coming in. Decided that refitting the starter while its snowing wasnt an option. Instead I lit the fire and decided to look at the starter again.

It does throw the starting cog thing out when firing up. I gave it a clean and moved my snow covered bucket seats over towards it. I stayed for a while longer wondering when the rest of my electrical bits ive ordered will show.

Oh the engine! The only socket missing the set was the one I needed! 27mm... Is that by any chance the same size as the wheel nuts? I fired on a 28mm and thought i'd give it some force but nothing that could round it. It didnt take hardly any force to turn the engine After a few turns I thought I could start this sucker by hand :lol:

So it is pointing towards a dodge earth or start motor. Hopefully it wont be snowing tomorrow. I'll move the fire next to where i'll be working and get the starter back in.

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it's probably the starter, go strip it apart indoors and make sure it's all good. might even be worn brushes. *shrug*

put the starter in a vice rig it up and engage it while trying to stop pinion with a length of wood if starter poor it will stall easily if good it will eat the wood

Got the alternator back... £50!

£50!!!1!

:5back2:

Looks like I'll be drinking the cheap stuff tonight.

So the motor itself has been submitted to various tests and doesnt seem to have much all wrong with it. God it was messy.


(note my assistants choice of footwear)

Bolted it back in and nothing, even wiring it up as I had it still wouldnt turn the engine. Brought in a second battery, this time it would turn the engine but I had to keep tapping the exciter wire on the +terminal. Solenoid just ended up getting stuck so I put a halt to it. Couple of taps with a hammer brought it round.

Let some of the oil out. As I put the plug back in it suddenly started getting looser as I tightened it up. I thought 'f*ck, no way have I stripped the threads'. Decided to leave it and have another go at cranking. Again failure, turn the engine a few times with a ratchet and draining some oil didnt appear to help. So I thought i'd drain some more. As I loosened the plug it began to really tighten. At this point I was starting to wonder if I was losing my mind. Drained a bit more and pinched up the sump plug.

Again failure. Checked my earths, checked there wasnt any current leaking and all was well. Few more attempts and I called it. Voltage dropped from 13 to 6/7v while cranking. We had a few sparks at the earthed end on the motor. Nothing more.



So I've decided to just leave it. I know a truck that doesnt start isnt much use but I'll finish the rest of the wiring and if it still doesnt want to start. I'll take it to a garage and get them to look at it. I've pretty much accepted im not going to make this Sunday's event. I'll go along to spectate and see what im up against next year.

I finished prepping the rear of the frame for painting. Just got to wipe it down with thinners before firing on some heavy black paint. Front bead locks are off and primed. Decided to paint the diff guard too as it'll look sh*t hot against the black axle's. Hopefully all the bits I ordered from Devon 4x4 show tomorrow and I can dive in with getting the wiring sorted. Im not going to change any of the filters until I get the engine going. I find the steering setup on this truck something else. I guess breaking a track rod end will result in multi-directional steering or just no steering at all. I've ordered a spare set and pan hard rod bushes too.



Points for whoever can tell me how many batteries are surrounding my truck. Bonus points for correctly guessing how many are f*cked.



This was an absolute nightmare to get off the rim! Its been sanded, cleaned and primed along with the other side.



Im aware this will probably get scratched to hell but its only what you can really see thats getting painted.

And finally, can someone tell me what these are?


Ideally you'll say they're super magic engine starting components.

That is all for now! Off to cry into a pillow while wishing I stuck to Pajero's. :lol:

I'll post up what happens further down the line in regards to this issue. I'll start a progress thread up to for anyone who's interested as this is deviating a bit from the OP.

They are rear shock droppers to give more articulation and it now sounds like you have a starter motor that's failed under load if u are getting sparks and having to hit it

Racandy said:

They are rear shock droppers to give more articulation and it now sounds like you have a starter motor that's failed under load if u are getting sparks and having to hit it

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Ah well, i'll get a new motor ordered.

Shock droppers? They dont look to sturdy. I've a nice set of D44 shock mounts on the truck. I'll stick to those.

Off out tonight to the truck to get the newly painted rims and diff guard back on the truck. Managed to trick a friend into helping me with painting. Bets on how long he keeps it up before he wants home anyone? Prepared myself for the beadlock rims, got a drill and socket bit all ready to rock. None of this spending hours slaving with a ratchet and spanner.

Oh I also started waxing the arse of the running gear up last night. The paint around the rear of the frame should of cured by now so i'll get the tray back on tonight.

Only downer is I forgot to degrease the side panels after sanding and the paint went like orange peel... I'll fix that tonight.