Hey guys new to the forum and new to land rovers! I just recently bought a 2001 discovery with 125,000miles … actually yesterday and today after work the girlfriend wanted to clean the inside up while I was doing some yard work so she pulled it in the drive way to clean it, she left it running with the ac at full tilt! I soon realized about 30 minutes or so after the fact so I went up to her and said that’s probably not good for it maybe turn it off for a bit. The previous owner had installed a cheapo Amazon push start ingnition which I was already skeptical about, she push the button to turn it off and when the rover shut off it seemed the (starter???) was stuck wide open I popped hood smoke was starting to arise on passenger side near exhaust manifold I frantically started pulling fuses and then soon pulled two positive leads off near fuse box something finally gave and starter noise went a away I know the sound of a starter solenoid clicking but this sounded like a starter with no pinion gear to grab on to anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks guys

 

First step - it's probably the result of the push button start. I'd take it back to stock "turn the key" ignition (which will require... a determination of if the prior owner installed the push button start to circumvent another issue, which might require some troubleshooting, or if they just did it to be 'cool').

Discos fall off the slippery slope quickly with problems when they are modified like this. I'd stick to modifications for offroad capability and/or proven LR forum mods like thermostat mods, PCV mods, etc. Hence my return to stock comment.

BTW 125K miles on a 2001 is good / relatively low mileage, so hopefully this is a good one with lots of life left otherwise!

 

You should be thanking your girlfriend for cleaning your truck! Leaving it running with the ac on perhaps isn’t ideal, but it’s not terrible either, and it had nothing to do with your starter problem. A girl who’ll clean your truck while you work in the yard is probably worth keeping.

 

Welp here’s the push start mess I have!!

 

My biggest concern with there wiring is the picture in the middle purple/green green/orange look to be factory wires. As for the brown/black wire that’s coming from push start “module”!? They have these wires tied into each other. I had to take off a back plate with 8mm 12point heads to get to this area

 

Yikes. Botched wiring jobs by PO’s are probably the things I hate most on older vehicles.

 

I think I’m onto something here but not 100% so I looked into the push to start diagram and bbrown/black wire coming out of module says to tie power into foot brake brake light. I also found a loose two wire plug under column just hanging out! Hmmm do these guys belong together???. I’m determined to bring this back to factory. I ordered new key tumbler, key ignition harness to go from tumbler to fuse panel and a brand new starter so far from lucky8

 

And I hope you’ve bought your girlfriend some flowers for cleaning your truck for you.

 

Well new key/ignition switch new harnes from key to fuse box and a new starter fixed the rover im pumped thanks everyone that gave me some tips