starter
 

i own a 1994 land rover discovery 1.... has anyone else experienced repeated starter motor failures?.... mine keep burning out. good name brand ones and cheapy ones... they all last around 3 or 4 months.. i tried changing the ground points for the starter ... changed the ground wire every single time with a 4 guage wire... and i have tried bigger guage because the ground wires always burn up along with the starter... i replaced the hot side of the wire also but that doesn't help. any suggestions?

How's the cranking speed? A slow cranking starter would indicated a weak battery or bad connection which will lead to both quicker battery death and quicker starter death.
My starter is fed by a #2 cable with a good solid connection on both ends.
The earth lead (also a #2) runs from the upper bolt to the same bolt on the chassis where the battery earth connects, which is also a #2.
Unless there's some enormous drag on the engine itself, it sounds like maybe your battery to chassis earth lead is dodgy.

FWIW, I've run out of gas and used the starter cranking in low range to roll myself off the road without any issues.

Check all your grounds. Look at Coventry West website for a great detailed view of the inside of a Discovery starter.

starter
 

Cranking speed was slow and it would pull a huge load trying to start.... well now the problem is fixed but i dont see how its working. my ignition switch was by-passed because the starter wire was burnt off so i installed a by-pass button. but the main ground wire was removed because everytime i hooked it up it would start getting hot soon after and start smoking. so as of now.. it starts and runs fine. with no ground wire running to it. so now i'm confused

As stupid as this sounds, do you have the wires reversed somewhere?

pos (red) from bat goes to the top large term on starter solenoid, ground (black goes to chassis from bat and ground strap from chassis to starter mounting bolt.

Small wire from switch to small terminal on solenoid.

luck,greg

The chassis earth lead would get hot and start smoking? Sounds like it was connected to the same stud as the starter feed. There should be no current flow through the earth except when the starter is engaged.

no.. red terminal is going to the top stud... ground or earth is coming from the bottom stud to the frame... everytime i hook it up it starts to bake

Sounds like you have a short somewhere in or around your starter.

PLEASE tell me the bottom stud on the solenoid ONLY has the wire going into the starter motor on it.
(when you turn the key, the little wire gets 12v, that slams the contacts closed on the solenoid, connecting the top and bottom terminals together, powering the starter motor.

If you have the ground to the bottom, I understand now how it gets hot, IT'S SHORTING YOUR BATTERY.

Move the ground strap to the starter mounting bolt, i.e. one end on frame, other end on starter mounting bolt, you'll find it works much better. LOL

Probably did no damage, we hope.


luck,greg

lol ok.... on the solenoid ONLY..... i re-hooked it back the way it was..... and i've fried the battery before.. and the dealership has fried my battery also hooking it up "the right way"..... i didn't self short myself..... i'm leaving it the way it is because it is not getting hot.... multiple people telling me i'm doing it wrong... but when i do it there way.... it starts to fry... its working now..... its not pulling a huge load when it starts... its not getting hot.... or throwing fireworks..... i by-passed the ignition switch because that burned off and i have a button to engage the starter so things are fine