A week ago my V8 2001 Disco2 with 112,000 miles wouldn't start. I assumed the kids left a light on so I gave it a quick jump and I was on my way. I drove several miles and all was well. Less than a mile from hazards came on and wouldn't go off. I shut it down and they remained on, the button did nothing. I restarted it and started heading for home. The motor stopped running, I got it restarted and made it to my garage. I turned the hazards off by disconnecting the battery, connected it 5 minutes later and they were off but the rover wouldn't turn over. I have put in a fully charged new battery that tests at 12.8v with the lights on. I pulled the starter off and bench tested it- it works well -spins and solenoid moves the Bendix. I put it back in and let the key sit in pos2 for a couple minutes and then cranked it only the solenoid click but no turning over. Held the key for 10 more seconds with clicking and then I saw a wisp of smoke coming from what appeared to be the firewall near the starter, and not the starter itself. Couldn't see any smoke from underneath or in the cabin. Disconnected the battery and faint smoke (with electrical fire smell) went away. I had hit the inertia switch and the alarm light has not flashed.

Can anyone give me any advice before as I start exploratory surgery?

 

Just start your process it would not surprise me to locate a smoked wire.

 

I have started taking everything apart starting with the passenger side since it seamed that's the side the smoke was on. Will I really need to take off the steering wheel to get back there? Also what will the panel in the engine compartment that the inertia switch connects to get me to - I couldn't find that panel in the RAVE?

 

Take a break, stretch out on the cool concrete, and put the eyeball on the starter, see attached pix. Wire connections must be damn clean and tight. Ditto for large wires on bolts in underhood fuse box, and battery terminals themselves. Follow (-) black battery wire to ground points on frame and make sure those are clean and tight as well. Starter draws about 300 amps when engaged, does not take much gunk to cause a voltage drop. Can also be garden variety bad starter or solenoid.

 

Rounds 1 of exploratory surgery on all the wiring clusters behind the dash revealed nothing of interest. I will clean up all those connections and look at dropping in the new starter that is suppose to arrive today. I don't understand however how that would have made the hazards come on the last day it ran-- maybe I'm putting to much weight on that.

 

New started and polished contacts have not helped. No solenoid click or spin of the starter. I haven't found any smoked wires in the glove box or steering wheel area. Can anyone through me a bone here? Oh and the alarm won't arm. BCU problem????

 

Wait, you saw smoke near the starter on the firewall? Inside the vehicle or outside. if its outside then you have to look at all the wiring especially the starter wiring. If its on the inside near the starter then it would be around the pcm, blower motor area.

 

The smoke was quite low in the engine apartment near the starter. It was hard to say exactly where in was coming from. I thought it might have been a little left over solvent from cleaning the starter while it was off but it had quite a singed wire smell. I haven't been able to find a smoked wire inside the cabin or anywhere in the engine compartment. I am now getting worried about the BCU now that alarm won't arm. A tow to the dealership may be in my future, it looks nice from the highway, I'm sure there prices are reasonable and staff is highly skilled.

 

Does starter relay energize? If not, why not? Can you jump starter relay contacts in the base and make starter activate?

 

I can jump the starter from the starter itself. Can someone point me to directions on testing if the relay is energized/how to jump it from the really base?? I don't fully understand the directions I am finding and don't want to short something. I swapped the window relay with starter relay and the windows work fine but it still doesn't crank or click. Putting my voltmeter across where the relay plugs in gives me 12.4V top-bottom and left-right. Directions or a link to good ones would be appreciated.

I pulled this out of the thread about the guy on a sugarcane plantation, but it wasn't enough info for me. I wonder what happened to his repair?

1. See attached electrical diagram, which is like an old fashioned map.

2. See the starter relay, (relay 2) it gets 12 volts from the fuse, but the BCU supplies the ground to energize the relay and turn over the starter.

3. The ECU supplies grounds to turn on the main relay, and the fuel pump relay (relay 1). Fuel pump shuts off after 30 seconds if truck does not crank.

4. You can swap relays or remove a relay and jumper the power connections to test the starter.