My 97 Discovery started to give me intermittant starting problems a year ago. I drive to a place and park. Went to my dentist and came back with all that pain of having done root canal. Turn the key to start..the starter does not even turn.. just a small hising noise for less than a second and that is all. Left the car there and went next moring... put the key in and it started as if nothing had happend. A month or two later same thing happened.. played around with locking unlocking the vehicle.... both manually and with electronic keys.. and after few alarms sounds...it started after an hour..... to make the long story short.. it happened again three other time..... Now it is totally dead. battery is OK. The starter does not even Turn Over.I just get the same hissing sound for less than a second and that is all.
So after reading few forum string here .. it seems like a Alarm problem specifically related to the Spider unit... so I opened up the whole of front dash looking for this "Spider Unit". But I can not find this darn thing... Could someone tell me where this is and what it looks like. Or am I barking up the wrong tree and going is a total wrong direction. Please throw some light on this problem?
After all sid and done, I may have to find a good mechanic for this trouble... Could someone please suggest a good mechanic in Central NJ.
Thank you for your anticipated help!
Laji
Stuck in Princeton, NJ

 

Hi there,your problem sounds like a ground problem. When you are starting you put a huge draw on the battery, and that is where I would start.Clean the battery terminals [well]. As a test if you had a friend stand near the battery the next time this happens they sould be able to hear the noise, even if it is comming from somewhere else. It could also be a bad ground at the engine block.
good luck
Irishrover

 

Thanks Irishover,
Appreciate your response! Yes I have cleaned all the ground and checked the fuses. Is these any one particular grounding connection that I shold be looking at? As you know there are lots of grounds on this vehicles and am not sure which is the one that would be affecting the starting.. please let me know the location so I can look at.
Have you heard about the "Spider Unit"? do you know where that is located and what it looks like?
Laji

 

This is apparently a huge issue, these damn alarms... Mine wasn't starting last week, I'd have to play with the doors to get it to turn over, turned out to be the alarm killing the ignition! Number 13 fuse was blown which is an alarm fuse. I replaced it, car worked fine, then a day later the same issue. Looked at the fuse again and it was blown, so I traced the issue back to the alarm ground which is behind the passengers side kick pannel and it wasn't in good shape, cleaned it up, cranked it down, and I've been problem free for a week now.

The, "spider," unit is behind the radio and slightly below I believe.

 

Sorry Laji, I can,t help with the spider unit. I don,t even know what it is or what it does !!, but my feeling is the problem you are getting is from one of the ends of the wires that go to the battery.It could be the power side that goes from the battery to the starter or the ground that goes to the block [ I think ]. The reason I say this is the hissing sound this is usually caused by the power draw braking contact. It seems that almost all electric problems are caused by bad grounds or bad contacts,and not always the same ones that other people experience. I know it is exasperating,but it is very rewarding when you finally get it. Good luck and let us know how you make out. Just so you kown I am having a similar problem with my door locks, I have been trying to track it down for weeks. the interesting thing is they work fine after a heavy rain, and that tells me that it is something simple,like a BAD GROUND or bad connection, but finding it!! there, the fun.
Irishrover.