TD5 Burning Starter Motor

[BruceMac]

I'm desperate for help. I live in Sale Gippsland and last Sunday I had to go to Melbourne (250 K).
The saga.
All was going fine, I'd stopped and restarted the car about three times. On the way to my son's place in Croydon to drop off some mail and the ABS warning light came on and the dash lights went dim. I put the indicator on and started to pull over when everything came good again. I checked the brakes were OK and decided to push on. Left the car idling when I got to son's place, but then found out that none of the windows were working or the aircon. I turned the engine off to hopefully reset everything but then found out the starter motor was dead with that expensive electrical smell very evident near drivers side firewall. After a long wait the help from RACV consisted of mangling a fuse for the accessories that was probably alright and then push starting to get me home. Took car to local auto elec (not LR) and he removed the starter motor and declared it cooked and dead. He's supposedly checked as much as he can without a diagnostic machine but when I took it for a short drive the burning smell returned. I've got him checking earth points but I don't know where they all are or which ones would be the likely culprits.
Any help would be appreciated.

[biggin]

Welcome to the site fellow gippslander.
To state the bleedin' obvious, you seem to have an electrical problem.
And a strange problem at that.
While reading your thread I was thinking maybe a simple battery connection problem, but the starter motor burning out really threw me.
Perhaps the starter solenoid is kicking in intermittently, but surely you would have noticed the noise of the starter motor before it burnt itself out.
Can you confirm the starter motor was definately burnt out?
Check for melted insulation between battery and starter motor.
See if you can hunt down the source of the burning smell.
I'm a bit of a novice with Disco's myself, but I understand the electricals pretty well.
It's likely that others here have had a similar experience, so I'm sure more advice will be forthcoming.
If you can think of any other symtoms, make sure you post them.
Somebody here is bound to come up with the cause.;)
Chin up, and good luck

[BruceMac]

Thanks for the input. Battery levels and alternator are all OK. There's no noise from the starter and the pinion gear is in good order. I saw the starter after he pulled it off and it definately looked like the windings were burnt.
Can't offer much more in the way of symptoms.

[BruceMac]

Went to auto elec last thing yesterday. He couldn't find an earth from the engine/gearbox to the chassis so he's put one in. The other thing he could have told me before, was that when they went to remove the old starter all the mounting bolts were loose (finger tight). Anyhow, I've given it a test drive and no smells. Today I had a good look over as much as I can and I can't see any other damage to wiring. I also could't find the missing earth.
Thanks everyone for their help.

[alien]

Good to hear it's fixed.

My motor earth wire on mine bolts to the motor under the altenator.
Batt--Body--block.
Runs close to the fuel cooler hoses. Look up from underneath.