sounds like an issue with the ignition switch itself.

 

I'm gonna take a stab at it and lean toward a corroded or bad ground cable connection. Can you very first thing in the morning get a voltage meter on your battey? I'm talking before you try to start the car! Leave it hooked up to the battery and leave the hood open. See what the voltage reads. Then try to start the car. If the car doesn't start, look and see what the voltage is reading. By the way. Before you try to start the car, turn on the park lights and leave them on. If the car fails to start and you loose all power then the park lamps will also turn off. Now you can get out and check the battery voltage. If the park lamps are stll off while you are checking the battery voltage, move the ground cable around and see if the lights come on. You can also try this with the positive cable. There is a safety block (red) that the positive cable connects to. Check the cable before and after it mounts to the safety block. How do the battery terminals look? Any corrosion or loose connections?

 

If everything checks out good on the battery end, i would agree that the ignition switch might be the issue. Do you have a second set of keys to try? The keys are chipped and can cause the ignition anti theft system to shut down.

 

Hi Greg,
please could you forward me the photos using my email address: winokekh@yahoo.com.

Many thanks in advance.
GOK

 

Perhaps the poking about in the underhood box is a clue. Look over fuse link 11, if corroded or cracked it could have a mind of its own and is upstream from the ignition switch. Schematic attached. Couple of fuses on that drawing to check as well.

 

I have the very same problem and was wondering if you could send me pics of what you did as far as taking the contacts out and sanding them. Thanks!

 

From a diagnostics point of view here, people are talking about COMPLETELY different problems here.

This thread is also extremely old so I'll point this as your post.. what is the "same problem" exactly?

No CRANK or no START?

I'm going to guess no CRANK.. or if it does decide to crank, it can be weak and only turns the engine over once or twice, maybe 3 times then it'll start if you're lucky. Sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad?

I have a decent amount of diagnostic experience and electrical experience.. this automatically rules out a ton of stuff, and almost certainly points to an electrical contact issue... which it's turned out to be for most people.

LR actually issued a TSB and now has a starter solenoid repair kit.. not that it matters since I can get a new starter from NAPA for like $100... just getting to the damn thing is a pain.

But yeah basically the contacts are either corroded or worn from contacting over the years.. there's a lot of current going through there. Once it latches on you're fine, but if it doesn't latch with enough force to maintain the "throw out" of the starter spring which "holds" the connections together, it'll just CLICK.

 

I no longer have the pictures or the LR3. But I agree with the last post, just buy a new starter or solenoid repair kit. I think I paid around $110 at Napa for new one six months after I did the initial repair. You have to remove the starter anyway, save yourself the time and aggravation.

 

After almost a year and tons or research on sites like this and you-tube I pieced it together.
Like many of you the truck will randomly not start. No obvious reason. Turn the key, lights come on, no power failure and all I hear is a "click" and nothing. After several turns of the key it will finally start. The most I turned the key was like 20 times once before it started.
Took it to dealer, independent Rover shops, no one could figure it out even after checking battery, starter, wiring etc.
Recently I came across a you-tube video then read a post on another web site which addressed the infamous LR3 leaking sunroof.
Long story short, over time and what I think is an engineering flaw, the drain hose from the sunroof gets clogged up or dislodged from it's correct postion. Especially if you off road a lot or have your roof open frequently. Which is the case with me here in So-Cal.
Most commonly the leak occurs and water pools on the passenger side underneath the floor carpeting. (I read it sometimes occurs on the driver side as well)
The padding under the carpet is very thick and can soak up a lot of water.
And better yet, after finding that my drain hose was not clogged but had somehow been dislodged at the bottom end where it is supposed to drain out at the bottom of the truck.
After any carwash or the rare heavy rains here my sunroof drained directly onto the floorboard.
The drain hose on the passenger side is supposed to exit behind a rubber piece inside the air intake vent. As stated mine was dislodged somehow.
The carpet, pull up your floor mat... If you see condensation underneath the mat or the floor feels damp... then you have water collecting in the floorboard.
The main result is that the water will negatively affect the bundle of wires which run under the door panel on the passenger side. There is even a ground wire I think.
So wet wires mean you'll have a shorted out and confused computer which will immobilize the truck because it doesn't recognize your coded key fob. In some cases the truck won't even recognize your key for to lock/ un-lock.
The key fobs are charged when you stick it in the ignition so for those of you who think it's the key... don't. I have an old key and a shiny new one and both experienced the same problem.
So with wet wires there is a short and a confused computer. It immobilizes the LR as a part of the security feature. Or it causes other things to malfuction.
Guess what happened as soon as I dried out the carpet as much as i could and managed to MacGyver a way to fix the dislodged drain hose and back into the correct exit hole??? My truck now starts, NO PROMBLEM!
I will be more than happy to provide additional details and feedback if requested.
I basically figured, this starting issue is probably a simple fix but not obvious nor common... I reckon I was right.

 

XROVER - Did replacing your starter solve your problem? I am having the same exact issue in my '06 LR3. Clicking sound for a second, everything comes on, including the F in the Shift position indicator, HDC Fault & Transmission error and no start. The mechanic is replacing the starter engine now.

Did it resolve your starting issues? Thanks!~