Starter woes - machine gun noises.

[Quagmire]

Right, so this is my Rover 3.5 powered Land-Rover 90. It used to be my daily, but since my Rover P6 came on the scene back in 2014 it has been relegated to weekend duties. Up until now it has taken this demotion well, and generally started first time every time, even if left to sit for a couple of weeks.

Until now...

A couple of weeks ago I jumped in it to go for a run and upon turning the key was met with a machine-gun style clicking from the starter solenoid. No problem I thought, and I jump started it with no issues.



It ran fine for the rest of the day.

Jumped in it the following weekend and went to start - same thing! Bugger I thought, battery must have died. Its about 8-9 years old.

New battery arrived:



so I fitted it and tried again - same thing! OK, i thought, maybe new battery is low on charge. Tried to jump start, and same again- just repeated clicking.

OK I thought, so if its not the battery then maybe I have a duff started or solenoid. Its one of the older style massive starters... Tried tapping solenoid and starter body with hammer, no start.

Then I swapped on a known working starter and this did the same thing... I then tried my original starter on the ground using my old battery and it seemed to work fine.

So I refitted the original starter. Car started ok - wahoo!

Went to use it the next day - nothing again, just machine gun noises.... Tried chucking a jump lead on starter body to battery negative to rule out duff earth, no change.

Just went out and tried the battery from the P6, which I know is charged and this time I got a click and nothing else. The LCD display on the speedo went out monetarily too - not sure if it does this normally though.

So what shall I try next? The only common denominator now is the wiring, and nothing had changed on that side prior to the fault occuring...

[ChrisJC]

I would use jump leads to bypass the battery - earth - starter wires. Sounds like a problem in the battery positive lead.

Chris.

[unstable load]

I would use jump leads to bypass the battery - earth - starter wires. Sounds like a problem in the battery positive lead.

Chris.

It does sound like that. Follow the s cables to their end lugs and check that they are tight and clean at the earth and solenoid as well as the battery end.
While you are at the starter, check the wires from the switch, too for proper connection.

[Quagmire]

Update on this one- still no idea really what was going on but all working now. Have resisted posting as didn't want to curse myself by saying it was OK!

What I did was:

Fitted the battery from my P6 (fully charged after driving home from work), ran a jump lead from the negative terminal to the starter body and another lead from the positive battery terminal to the positive lug on the starter. I had now effectively bypassed the main feed and earth from the starter.

Turned the key, and it worked.

"OK" I thought must be bad wiring. Took the positive lead off, tried again, and it to my surprise it cranked normally again!

Took the negative lead off (so now back on factory wiring only) and it still continued to crank as normal...

Ran the car up to temp and jumpered on my new battery to ensure it was fully charged.

Shutdown, swapped batteries (P6 battery removed, new battery fitted) and it fired up fine.

I shut it down and decided to remove and clean all connections on both +ve and -ve sides.

Since then I have been driving around in it as per normal with no issues!

So now I am left with a car that works, but that I have no real faith in (yet - it needs to earn my trust again).


Weird.