neutral safety switch or what?
 

Its been raining the past couple of days and wanted to show off my rover by doing a couple of trails before I had to go to school. Well we all had fun and all went well, but when I went to go to leave school, the rover acted like the battery was low, (kinda cranking but not enough to catch) so I get a ride home and come back with a rescue vehicle, to my dismay the battery was fully charged and jumping it wouldn't help. My dad and I figured that I might have ripped the neutral safety switch, has anyone else had the same problem?

P.S. I already rest the inertia switch


Thanks in advance- Collin

The neutral safety keeps it from cranking at all.
Sounds more like just loose or corroded connections to the starter or ground.
Or could be a dying starter.

Start with the basics - fuel and spark.
And is the ECU soaked?

There is a schrader valve on the passenger side fuel rail - if fuel pump and regulator are OK, you'll have 32-34 PSI there when pump runs.

Pull a spark plug and have Dad hold it (no, he's not gonna fall for that one) - but do check for spark. No spark can indicate crank position sensor, if so equipped.

And see these areas of the ETM:

I had a corroded ground at the starter to frame connection that would keep mine from starting at the strangest times.

It's a bad starter:(... Banged on it a couple times with a 5/8 wrench
and a hammer and got the starter to crank a couple times, but alas it wasn't enough, my dad put the rover in neutral and I pushed her into another parking spot, this way it looks like I drove to school, not broke down there.


@SB i looked at the fuel rail and coil and all is well with them.

Thanks to all!

Starter is PITA to remove. Will need long extensions and wobble socket.

Those wouldn't cause slow cranking.

Colin, I highly recommend a starter from Britishstarters.com. It's a Denso gear reduction starter, better and cheaper than OE and has a lifetime warranty.

If you use enough extensions to have the ratchet/breaker bar just in front of the diff you don't need a wobble socket.
IIRC it's an 8mm Allen socket.

X2 on the allen - be sure to wash out the existing allen bolt head with brake cleaner or something, they get a gunk build up in there and the allen drive won't go to the bottom of the socket, can round it off on the inside, which causes additional issues.

Another, albeit unconventional way to gain access to your starter for removal is to remove the front passenger tire. Looking into the wheel well, the starter is directly behind that inner fender wall.

I took a pair of aviation tin snips and very carefully cut the inner fender wall vertically upward right by the seam at the rear of the fender wall. That allowed me to basically fold the inner wall up and out of the way for clear unobstructed view and direct access to the starter and the 8mm allen cap screw that they are referring to.

Upon completion, the fender wall folds right back down into place. This also provides direct access to the exhaust/y-pipe junction to change that gasket.

I realize some people would never consider doing this to their Land Rover. In my opinion the improved access justifies doing it. Just wanted to let you know. Decide for yourself. I like to be able to see and reach what I am trying to work on without all the contortions involved in doing it the other way.