trouble starting defender

pj1

Well-Known Member
One for the mechanics please. After a long rebuild I finally have my 300 tdi on the road but im having trouble starting it. I took it for a 45 minute run stopped for 15 minutes went to start it again and it sounded like the battery was flat. Only just turned over three times and that was it. Turned ignition off turned it on let the glow plug light go out and it started fine. Tried it today and it struggled again even with heat. This isn't a new thing since the rebuild. I thought it would be solved with a new battery but that hasn't helped. As far as I know all wiring connections are good. Could it be bad alternator not replacing charge from starting or bad starter motor or something else.

Thanks for your time

Regards Pete
 
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have you all the earths from engine to chassis done up tight ? bad earth on the engine will do that as it's all insulated with rubber mounts
try a jump lead from the engine/gearbox /transfer box straight to the negative on the battery see if that improves things , usually if the alternator is on it's way out the ignition light won't go out or will flicker
 
perhaps your EGR valve is stuck open ,feeding c02 to your engine or causing a vacuum leak.itl make your engine struggle to start as it cant run on exhaust gas.the glow plug light is used by a lot of car makers as a turbo fault warning and the EGR valve and Turbo are linked.there is a blanking plug kit , which may flag up an engine management fault but you can go to a remappers and have it removed from the management chip.or just take the egr valve off ,drown it in carb cleaner overnight and scrub with a soft brass brush and refit,atb
 
tozzy it's a 300 tdi defender the only chip is a dropped one on the floor maybe :D
 
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That's funny. I always argued that the older engine's were more reliable as there were fewer electrics to go wrong. And certainly stone chips and chips from the golden arches in this land rover.

Looking into it further last night I cant find an earth between the engine and chassis at all. Some have said its near the starter motor but without it present im a bit blind as to where it should be.
 
Looking into it further last night I cant find an earth between the engine and chassis at all. Some have said its near the starter motor but without it present im a bit blind as to where it should be.

I've had a similar problem with earth on the starter motor on my petrol Series 3. I bought some black battery cable from Flea Bay and ran it from the -ve side of the starter to the -ve side of the battery. All works fine now.

Only suggestion I would make is to securely fasten the cable to the chassis as I've learnt through bitter experience that loose battery cables don't co-exist for long with the moving parts of an engine.......
 
it doesn't really matter where it is but there should be a braided earth strap from engine/transmission to the chassis, on a disco there is one from the starter body to the chassis rail , if it can't get an earth it will earth through the handbrake cable and melt the inner sleeve
 
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LandyKeeper is right , i have a 1987 series 3 and it was doing all sorts of strange things when i bought it
but after cleaning up the the earths from engine to chassis and fitting a new one all my issues have gone
 
Have a walk around the vehicle. If it says 'Land Rover' on it anywhere, that's the problem...



I'll get me coat!!
 
300's are known for starters wearing out relatively quickly, usually brushes. It was a bought in part they fitted and not up to scratch. Get a replacement starter (a good one) and fit an earth strap from engine to chassis.

Good news is, the starter will be a tenth of the price of a Toyota one and it's already outlasted one. :rofl:
 
LandyKeeper is right , i have a 1987 series 3 and it was doing all sorts of strange things when i bought it
but after cleaning up the the earths from engine to chassis and fitting a new one all my issues have gone

Really :eek:
 
As far as I am aware mine is a 1987 series 3 and came out of the factory
with a petrol NA engine it now has a 2.8 turbo diahatsu fitted

I must say Thankyou to rodp as I do not have what I thought I had
i do have an early 90
thanks rodp for your help
 
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As far as I am aware mine is a 1987 series 3 and came out of the factory
with a petrol NA engine it now has a 2.8 turbo diahatsu fitted

You really ought to check the chassis number against the year, it may be one of the very, very last. In which case put the original engine back in and wait until Defender production stops. ££££££
If memory serves me correctly they were only produced until 1985, possibly early 86.
 
That's funny. I always argued that the older engine's were more reliable as there were fewer electrics to go wrong. And certainly stone chips and chips from the golden arches in this land rover.

Looking into it further last night I cant find an earth between the engine and chassis at all. Some have said its near the starter motor but without it present im a bit blind as to where it should be.

The earth lead on my 300tdi 90 is between the transfer/gear box bolts, the chassis near the crossmember and then daisy chained to the battery negative.
Note: one cable with three connectors on it...
 
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