Hi All,

I recently purchased a 2000 Land Rover Discovery II knowing that it probably needed a head gasket job done on it. I noticed that the starter would work most of the time but sometimes it didn't and you would have to turn the key on 2-3 times to get it to catch. It finally refused to start so after reading a bunch of threads here at the forums, I got under there and hit the starter with a hammer. This worked once and then no longer worked the next time that I tried it.

I figured no big deal, I purchased a new high torque starter and new Optima Yellow Top battery for it. I installed the new starter and was dumbfounded when I went to turn the key and heard the same click. The click I was hearing was the solenoid engaging. So I checked my voltage and had 12.9v going to the starter. With the key and solenoid engaged however the 12.9v was not traveling across the solenoid to power the starter. I ran a jumper from the positive post of the battery and had my daughter turn the key on and I then touched the end of my jumper wire to the unpowered pole on the solenoid.

The engine then cranked as it should. But here is the weird thing. I instructed my daughter to continue cranking the engine till I told her
to stop. I had the spark plugs pulled so she continued to crank the
engine even after I pulled the jumper wire off. So if the solenoid was
not allowing voltage across to engage the starter, how was she still
cranking it after I pulled the jumper??? Any ideas on the problem?

 

Maybe the jumper engaged the solenoid and when you removed the jumper with her cranking, it remained engaged until she stopped

 

Not sure how, I am merely touching the lug that should be feeding the starter motor once the solenoid is engaged. I am not touching anything that would control the solenoid. I have 12.9v at the starter, but it is not jumping across the poles when the solenoid is engaged, but it does when I touch the positive from the battery to it and continues to turn once I remove the wire lol...

 

I'm no electrical engineer. Perhaps this image might show where positive current may come from with the jumper removed.

 

Hey Jamieb,

Yeah, if you look at the diagram that you posted, I am touching my jumper from the positive side of the battery down to the lug that has that very short red lead going into the motor. It makes no sense to me why this is happening. I hear the solenoid close, but the motor does not engage. With the key still engaged I touch that lug,
and it begins turning the Disco's motor, I remove the jumper, it continues to turn over until the key is released like normal....

 

Sort of like it takes a jumper to get the motor turning, but remove the jumper with the key engaged and it keeps turning. Maybe power is getting to the starter - not enough to crank but enough to keep it turning once it turns over?

 

Solenoid contacts on starter bad from stock. What brand starter? See many el cheapo "HT" ones out there delivered to your door with little support.
......

 

Check all the connections.
Might be the master ground wire.
and can even be your battery posts not supplying current all the time as they have
junk on them.

Then it "catches" as the battery post will spark and melt the lead and it works for a time.

Take the battery posts off and clean them.
If the battery is old replace it.

If your key ring has 10,000 keys on it and you have a lot of miles
then you may have worn out the key switch.

Note the LED for theft.
If that is flashing then you are locked out from starting.