As they are so cheap, I've bought a refurb kit for the starter motor, and will see how that goes. Fingers crossed

Thanks, I'll check that out

When you say "spade" are you referring to the activator wire? Could I get the same result by shorting the activator wire to the main 12V starter motor feed?

Unfortunately I can't load test, but before I charged the battery, I was getting high 11s across the battery when cranking. Also, the battery is pretty new (sub 8k miles and less than 5 years old), so I'd be surprised if it was that

Today's test involved fully charging the battery, cleaning the contacts and refitting. Same result. Hmm... Maybe the problem is with the starter itself after all...

Ok, it doesn't want to jump start, and the battery is at 12.56V when I measure the voltage directly (without the jump leads connected) - I'd have thought that'd be enough to crank it. Next step is checking out the start motor wiring, I guess. Any pointers on where to start? Disconnect the...

I'll see if it'll jump start and then take it from there. At least if it does, then I can properly test the alternator with the multimeter.

The battery is also pretty new, but I'm definitely suspecting the alternator...

Hi. Hopefully someone else has seen this... My TD5 Defender has always started first time with no delay (apart from when the ECU failed, but that's another story). However, today, it would not crank at all, but I was getting the solenoid click. I managed to jump start it to get me home, and...

I think the silencer was genuine, and it makes a dull thud when I hit it with a trowel (no spanner handy!) Perhaps it is louder now, but the noise is centered elsewhere instead of being centered on the big silencer (i.e. right under the cab). I may be clutching at straws here... :D

I today fitted a straight through pipe onto my 2002 Defender 90 TD5, but when me and the family took it out for a test drive, we were all surprised at how much quieter it sounded under normal driving conditions. It may have had more of a roar under heavy acceleration, but we're not 100% sure...

Got the lid off thanks to some brute force and ignorance, and it all looks really good in there, apart from some corrosion on one of the big nuts holding one of the caps in place. Next step is to try and remove the old caps without breaking something ;)

Thanks for the update. I think I'll give it a go. Fingers crossed!

Hi. Just wondering, is your TD5 ECU fix still working? I'm thinking of doing the same thing to my (currently faulty) spare. Cheers

Is your fixed ECU still working? I'm tempted to try this myself... Thanks

I am as wondering if anyone has replaced the two large caps on the TD5 ECU themselves. My spare ECU now has Topside Switch Failed and open injector circuits 1 to 5, both of which I believe point to one or both of the big caps having failed. Has anyone successfully performed this repair...

Thanks. I love the hardtop look, but the blind spot takes a bit of getting used to!

Thanks. I'll be there. M

Yep, I certainly don't want to lose the remap, as it drives (drove :() really nicely

No can do. I spoke to them, and they said that they cannot fix the particular faults that I have. Empire said that they can usually fix these problems, but not always. I need to have a proper look into it later - I might just buy a used one from eBay and transfer the map etc across.