LRS3, 2.25d won't start

[Vorgra]

I know, it's a sad day.

As of a few days ago my landrover Series 3 2.25d has failed to start

I have checked-

Battery, Default battery was 1300cca, Put a substitute in 800cca, and also hooked up a 1200cca jumper to see if anything changed.

The starter motor turns, albeit slow, it turns at 3-4 cranks per second, this starter motor is roughly 1-2yrs old.

I have 4 parallel glow plugs, running at 9.89v (no ballast resistor) one of the 4 is faulty and only operates at .250~ volts, however, this has been the case for a year, and it still started fine-ish, The 3 running on ~9v work, I learnt the hard way. (it's not like they slowly get hot, it just comes on all at once and smells like burnt flesh... oh wait...)

Air isn't an issue, on the intake end, nor is the exhaust blocked.

The only thing I haven't checked is fuel, however just I have tried some "start ya bastard" in the intake (after the filter and hose)

It pops a bit and sparks fly out from the exhaust gasket near the down pipe.

When it does fire from the "start ya bastard" it sounds like the engine is hitting a snag, it cranks a bit harder then stops hard. (its hard to explain).

I have new fuel filters on standby and will replace them after work.


So, Help?



The other day, I was in the macca's drive through and it had difficulty starting after I shut it down to be able to hear the people at the window,

In this instance initially it wouldn't turn over, like the solenoid was stuck, and then It turned over really slowly but still fired up quickly. (this happened in all of 5-10seconds)

[Blknight.aus]

sounds like a combination of or a lot of one of the following

1. bad earth to the battery from the starter
2. bad battery
3. bad starter
4. bad solenoid

you need to do a voltage drop check point to point while you crank it over. you should see almost no voltage drop from the body of the starter to the earth post of the battery.

you should see almost no voltage drop from the positive of the battery to the hot terminal of the starter solenoide

you should see 12V across the solenoide when its not trying to start and 0v when it is.

you should see 12V drop from the switched side of the solenoid to earth when the start is trying to start.

if all that checks out then you most likely have a contaminated/shorting brush pack/commutator or high resistance brush inside the starter.

you could also have siezing bearings in the starter.

you also need to check the voltage on the battery while cranking a good battery should crank a S2.25D at over 400rpm with about 11V showing on the terminals.

if you have the original glow plugs they should be wired in series.

[Vorgra]

Rightio, Solenoid is perfectly fine

There is resistance in the starter motor itself, however, I am positive the starter motor is not at fault here.

I have had a starter motor turn an engine once every two seconds for 3mins until it manually heated up the chamber through compression alone to eventually cause ignition. If there's air, fuel and heat you only need to crank it once.

I am under the impression the muffler has collapsed, as the engine is currently exhibiting the symptoms of a blocked or partially blocked exhaust.

Currently, when I start it, the starter motor will turn 6+ revolutions in 1 second then suddenly slow down (backpressure buildup), when I put 'ether' into the intake the engine fired almost instantly, however, it's likely the sudden build up of backpressure has caused the engine to stall immediately.

I checked the outflow of air at the exhaust, and it's like a whisper per crank.

I'm going to disconnect the exhaust pipe in the engine bay and see if there is any improvement tomorrow.

[Blknight.aus]

I am under the impression the muffler has collapsed, as the engine is currently exhibiting the symptoms of a blocked or partially blocked exhaust.

Currently, when I start it, the starter motor will turn 6+ revolutions in 1 second then suddenly slow down (backpressure buildup), when I put 'ether' into the intake the engine fired almost instantly, however, it's likely the sudden build up of backpressure has caused the engine to stall immediately.

I checked the outflow of air at the exhaust, and it's like a whisper per crank.

I'm going to disconnect the exhaust pipe in the engine bay and see if there is any improvement tomorrow.

just to nit pick, didnt you say



Air isn't an issue, on the intake end, nor is the exhaust blocked.

[Vorgra]

Haha, yeah good spot, I initially got my old man to check the exhaust while I cranked it over, he said it was fine, after a long while doubting him I decided to check it myself, and it was substantially worse than he made it out to be.
(Note to self, check for yourself/myself)

[Blknight.aus]

been caught out that way multiple times myself.

usually though a blocked exhaust wont change the cranking speed on the starter.