It Dont Start, It Does Start, It Dont Start, It Bloody Does!

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mrnice

mrnice

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2,840
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Up **** creek.
Hi fellas i need help.
I own a 1996(N) 3.9 V8i LPG Disco and usually when i turn the ignition the second i turn the key the starter motor turns immediately and the engine starts. I've noticed that occasionally when i turn the ignition there is about a seconds hesitance and then the starter motor turns and hey presto, the engine starts. its never really worried me before. Today however after just fitting new pads and discs all round (hooray!) i went to start the car and when i turned the ignition - nothing. the dash lights dimmed ever so slightly (you could only just notice) but the starter motor failed to turn over., i took the handbrake off rolled it down the hill and bumped it, it started fine, i drove back up the hill turned the ignition off and tried it again, it started 4 times in a row and then nothing again. i went out an hour later to try it again and it works fine! Any suggestions, is it the starter? any help would be greatly appreciated as I really dont need my 6 months pregnant missus and my 6 and 2 year old boys being stranded in the middle of nowhere any time soon! cheers Lee
ps: I forgot to mention earlier this appeared to happen once or twice when we 1st had the car about 6 months ago, I put a new battery on and its seemed to be fine up until now.
 
I had exactly the same problem on my 3.9 v8 efi it would start 4 times in a row then would not start then it would exactly as you described.

The garage said it was the starter motor so i bought a brand new one off ebay and had it fitted. Its been perfect since.

The old one was 13 years old and had covered 73,000 miles. Hope i have helped.
 
The solenoid can stick on the starter even more so if its seen some off road mud and water ect. A dirty connection can cause the same problem.

I have not seen a landy ignition switch fail yet but there is always a first time.

In a nutshell, bad connection, or dirt.

regards

Dave
 
mrnice said:
Hi fellas i need help.
I own a 1996(N) 3.9 V8i LPG Disco and usually when i turn the ignition the second i turn the key the starter motor turns immediately and the engine starts. I've noticed that occasionally when i turn the ignition there is about a seconds hesitance and then the starter motor turns and hey presto, the engine starts. its never really worried me before. Today however after just fitting new pads and discs all round (hooray!) i went to start the car and when i turned the ignition - nothing. the dash lights dimmed ever so slightly (you could only just notice) but the starter motor failed to turn over., i took the handbrake off rolled it down the hill and bumped it, it started fine, i drove back up the hill turned the ignition off and tried it again, it started 4 times in a row and then nothing again. i went out an hour later to try it again and it works fine! Any suggestions, is it the starter? any help would be greatly appreciated as I really dont need my 6 months pregnant missus and my 6 and 2 year old boys being stranded in the middle of nowhere any time soon! cheers Lee
ps: I forgot to mention earlier this appeared to happen once or twice when we 1st had the car about 6 months ago, I put a new battery on and its seemed to be fine up until now.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like the starter motor is broke since it sounds exactly like a problem I had with my first car (a maestro:cool:) and more recently my wife's golf. When it wants to start, it's absolutely fine, when it don't, you get nothing, doesn't even attempt to start.

If it is the starter that's gone, when it refuses to start, you can get it going by sticking it in a gear (5th will do) and rolling the car a bit, take it out of gear and then try to start it again. Also, don't let anybody try to sell you a new battery to fix this as the VW garage tried to do to my wife - they wanted £140 for a new battery. £140! #~@#s.
 
I would just pop a new starter on seeing as your disco is 12 years old its probably still got the original fitted and they dont last forever. You can try cleaning up the solenoid for a better contact but as i said above i am sure it needs a new one plus on ebay you should find a brand new one sold by land rover shops on there...it will save you a packet!
 
bustersbus said:
mines was in for 17 years before it decided to play silly buggers!;) :D
Click to expand...

You were lucky! mine only lasted 13 years, but then again it depends how many times it was started in that time. Mr nice disco had probably more than average starts, an indication of lots of short journey's, generally not a good thing!
 
I had a similar difficulties with my '96 V8i - usually it would start fine, but on occasions (usually when hot) absolutely nothing. The starter solenoid turned out to be the problem, had no problems starting it since.

Cheers

Andy
 
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