So i sparked the starter last night and it still wouldnt turn over, it was tricky to hear it trying to engage over all the sparks and me crapping myself but it did, which lead me to believe that the starter was working, solenoid was not.
Starter dropped out fairly easily but everytime i went to take it out i kept saying, "well maybe its the solenoid/frame ground wire" back together, clean up the ground, try and start, no luck. "maybe its the ignition wire to the starter thats loose" back together, tighten the connection for the igniition line, try and start, no luck. Finally i just yanked it.
Took it out and hooked it up to my jumper cables, to try and see what the situation with it was. When i gave it juice it would extend, but wouldnt spin. So that was the hard click i was hearing, the gear was shooting out but wouldnt spin. So im taking it to advance auto today because it has a lifetime limited warranty, i might just upgrade to a name brand one so i dont have to put a fourth starter in this car. but i'll try and take pics as i put it back together, although the tolerances down there are pretty confining. I'll do my best.


Thanks for all your help.

 

Keep us posted.

 

What a pain in the butt this has been. So i pulled that old starter, decided to take it to advanced for another refurbished unit for free because of the warranty on the one that died. They bench tested my old one, dead. Tried the new one, spun well.
Got back home, threw the new starter in in like 10 minutes (im really getting good at that)Bolted everything up pretty snugly,gave it a test crank. It hesitated like the starter gears were trying to find purchase but then it hooked up. Great news. Climbed underneath to tighten everything up, tried to start it again, dead. Didnt know what to do, though my ignition somehow fried the new starter, so i pulled it. Ran jumper cables from my battery to the starter, the starter was fine.
Re-installed the new starter with the jumper positive bridging the +starter terminal and the ignition relay for the starter, key in position two, Car started when i contacted the negative terminal.
Moved the jumper off the ignition relay and put the ignition line to the starter back on, now the cable is strictly on the positive terminal of the starter, i was able to go into the truck and turn it from the key. So it just wasnt getting the right connection from the +battery terminal to the +starter post. I went back under neath and cleaned up realy well and really cranked down the +connection to the starter, tightened everyhing back up and voila, good to go.
I have some pictures that may be helpful to the next poor soul that this happens too, i'll get them up as soon as i can.

Thanks to everyone for your help. Now, im back to having a running healthy land rover.....At least for today

 

What did you do with the original starter? Did you turn it in as a core when you purchased the first replacement?

Are the replacements old OE starters that were refurbished?

I thought my startere was bad, I bought a used one at a foreign parts recycler here in Pittsburgh at a nice price. However, before replacing the starter, I redid both the battery and starter ground connections to the frame and my intermittent start problem cleared up.

I amholding on to that starter, There is arelly old auto electric shop nearby that I may have them take lok at it, or I may decide to open it up and take a look at it myself.

I have heard there are brushes maybe thatcan be replaced raher cheaply.

Anyone familar with the internals of a Discovery starter?

 

yeah, i returned the original for the core deposit. The ones i bought from advanced are refurb units. As to whether theyre refurbs of old Disco starters, im not sure. I pulled my original in december and i dont remember what it looked like relative to the new ones i got. If i recall they were a little different. But im not positive. It is a brush motor i believe

 

Post those pics in such a way as to make a sticky in the "tech section" by starting a new thread.

 

Yes the design is used by too many auto companies to list, they're really simple, but you have to pay attention on disassembly as to order of parts removal.

You might try a seach ('net) on how to rebuild a car starter.

I could describe, but a picture tells 669 words, or somethiing....
and I hate typing -- LOL

luck,greg