Starter motor? 90 200tdi 1993

Hello All,

I am sure i have been registered on here before.

The problem. I went deep (sea) diving over Billing few weeks ago, in a 90 that i thought was of road prepared.

It seems the snorkle was not attached properly and water was sucked up. It did not get into the engine as after the air in take pipes were disconnected i travelled home some 40 miles with no problems. Water/mud only made the carpets wet and did not touch the fuse box.
I got around to replacing the pipes as the others were finished, went to turn the land rover over dead! just a clicking from the relay. I have read every google search i can and it would seem the starter is playing up?
Although i thought these were sealed. First question please is the starter located on the right of the engine bay as you stand front on at the top just under the turbo nearly hidden and a barstand to findand having never had any problems before where are the glow plugs lol.
Would it be worth tryng these first. Any help would be appreciated, cheers.

Yes the starter is there where you described , the glow plugs are below the injectors on the left hand side, should be a yellow lead connecting them all together

Just as a thought, have you tested the battery? sounds like it's dead....

Cheers for the swift reply. There is power and the lights are on the dash which i know doesnt mean much. I did read on one site that there is the possibilty the battery can
drain i did kind of test it, but every thing seemed to point to the starter especially if you have been off roading in mud and water, it can enter it. I was hoping i wouldnt have to go that route. Others say 1 1/2 to change but that really looks like a bitch, there must have been a better place to put it. Also the snorkel, i have tried to reattach it corectly but there is no space at all where it meets the wing unless you have the hand/paws the size of a small rodent, was playing with it for two hours the other day. 5 fags later and getting curtains twitching with my language i gave up for another day.

I just replaced the starter on my 1993 200tdi. It's EASY. I got a recon unit and gave them my old one so it cost about £80. I took off the down pipe then laid across the engine and took the starter out from above. Then I just slotted the new one in from above and did up the bolts. 20 minute job.

I would double check the battery and get a voltage reading.

It seems quite common that serious mud and water get in the alternator and screw it up, which means no charge.

I remember a friends Disco wouldn't start after going for a play, the alternator had stopped charging, and when he went to restart after a break the battery was drained. It had 9V at the first reading and that wasn't enough to turn it over.

Have a look at my page about starter motor troubles. It took me 1 1/2 hour to get it off and 1 1/2 hours to put it on.

You will have to take the exhaust down pipe off and the washer bottle to get it out which is done from above. There is a bolt holding it on which you can see from looking underneath and one situated at the top.


Take the bonnet off it makes life a lot easier and gives more light. The top bolt can be seen if you look down the back of the engine between the bulk head and the engine.

Its a bit of a bitch to undo and get back in but quite a simple job. It's a 1 Spanner rating in the haynes manual.

Its under "starter motor removal" and its a recent thread.

Also it cost me £20 to get my starter re-conditioned.

Steve, Before you go removing the starter and all that yad, consider the following.

Offroadin can often fill your alternator with mud and the contacts in that stat may not charge. Battery therefore goes flat - bingo, clicky clicky.

I would suggest you try the following - blast the alternator with water and clear any mud. Spray with a full can of wd40 and start up (perhaps with booster cables) and take it for a run. If you are are lucky, job is a good one and your sorted.

What does the alternator look like...is it covered in mud around the contacts ? Anyhow, up to you but works for me on regular basis after going thru muddy water.