Hello all! Ok I'll get right to it. I have a 1998 Land Rover Discovery. It is my second vehicle so I don't drive it more than about 1-2 times a week and usually just to do short errands around town and an occasional trip to the desert. Well within the last few months I have noticed that it starts up just fine when it is cold, but after about the 2nd or 3rd stop on my short errands (5-10 min drives between stops) it starts to sound sluggish while starting but would always still fire up after a few slow cranks. I would get home, leave her parked for a few days and then fire her back up and she would start like a champ on the first time and then follow the same pattern after a few stops around town. Well this went on for some time and then I went for a little longer drive (about 30-40 mins), parked her for about 5-10 mins and when I got back in to fire her up she wouldn't even crank and all I could hear was a faint whining noise (inspected and found out the noise was coming from the starter). There is not even a clicking noise, just this faint whine). I crawled under, cleaned all the crud (oil and dirt/mud) off the starter connections and even tried banging on the starter with a heavy socket while I had someone try cranking it. No dice. My question is, is this a classic bad starter? Should I just buy a new starter and swap it or is there something else I should be trying first? Are these starters serviceable? Can I replace the brushes within them and if so does this sound like replaced brushes could fix it? Could this just be the solenoid? (which I know very little about). I tested the battery and it was good and even tried jumpstarting her and had no luck. All electrical components worked like normal (lights, windows, radio, etc).


Another quick unrelated question... I know when looking for parts for my year Disco, it has an option for the 50th Year Anniversary. Mine has a sticker on the window that says 50th Year Anniversary, but that is all that says that. My question is, is there any difference between a 50th year anniversary model and just a normal LE or LSE? If so how would I be able to tell if it is a 50th Year Anniversary model?


Last question... How many of you have named your Rovers "Helen" after Paul McCartney's Land Rover, Helen Wheels???

Thanks all! - Jordan

 

No difference on the special addition. Same ol Rover with a different colour. If you have 12V or battery voltage at the large wire on the starter and voltage on the smaller signal wire when cranking in position three then the starter is probably bad. But you could have a bad ground on the engine. I would check that first and then also check the ground going from the back of the drivers side head to the firewall to make sure it is ok as well.