Got back from holiday, the Disco (1998 300 TDI) wouldn't start. No problems jump lead on the missis mitz and off she fired. Went for a drive about to charge the battery and then stopped for fuel. She wouldn't re start. Tried jumping again not a sausage. Re charged the battery over night still didn't help. Checked the battery reading near 13V. Got a new battery, made no difference still won't go off the jump leads. Fuses all good etc. All i can here is a slight clinking when i try to start.

After a look on the web i read about the spider problem and thought there we go that sounds just like the problem. Happily i took the dash apart to get to the offending item ready to do a home fix. To my surprise all i found was the connector but no spider at all It looks like someone removed it before all is thats left is the plug. Ive ordered a bypass in the hope that if i plug it in all will be well but I'm not hopeful.

Any ideas great fully welcome. This is my first land rover and although i can manage simple mechanics the electrical side I'm finding confusion.

Whats your thoughts?

Cheers Will

check the starter wiring on solenoid and earths from engine to chassis ,chassis to body,the fact your gettin clicking should mean immobiliser is okay ,

Well got the spider fix today low and behold it doesn't fit, it the wrong size! Although the number of pins is the same the wired plug in the disco is much larger than the bypass land rover supplied plug.

The woven earth near the starter motor is perfect, everything else i can't really see its in a right pig of a place to get out. Any advice as to which parts its best to remove to allow easier access to the starter?

Its getting close to have to have it towed to the local garage.

If your plug to the spider unit has nothing connected to it, I would imagine that would cause you problems. I had some problems with mine starting, sometimes took on and off/lock unlock a few times and it would start. Put a bypass plug in there and it doesn't do it anymore.

Hope its the spider, easy fix.

Worth noting that if your tdi is an auto you wont have a 'spider'.

If you are getting a "clicking" noise, then I would be looking at the starter motor itself.
If the wiring to it is ok, then sounds like a starter motor fault to me.

Get a test light to see if you are getting a signal to the small wire when you try to turn over, if so, then its a motor fault.

Cheers guys i will try to test the starter motor feed, it a **gger to get to though.
Its manual and i have the sider by pass but the plugs are different so it doesn't fit on the cable in the disco

is it auto or manual ,i had a similar problem to this a couple of years ago on my auto it turned out to be the switch thingy on the gearbox so just bypassed it insteadof spending the 90 odd quid for a new one ,but i would check all the earth leads first could be something as simple as a dodgy earth connection

a very similar thing happened on our old td5 we used to have, at first we thought it was heat related as if we parked in the shade it would start, this was coincidence.

however we found out it was the motor itself, there was 1 particular place where the contacts didnt work, so it wouldnt spin just click, to start it all we had to do was push the vehicle whilst trying to crank then let the clutch out, this moved the motor off its "dead" spot and then it would turn over and start fine.