Thread: 300TDi Not Starting After Playing in the Mud

is it turning over and not starting or not turning over at all.

if its not turning over check the voltages at the terminals on the starter there should be a constant 12V on the large terminal that hooks up from the battery and the smaller one should have 12v when the key is in the start position.

if you have those working correctly and its not turning over then the starter is clagged and will need a clean up if you're lucky its just the bushes are stuck off of the comutator and a strip clean and reassamble is all thats required.

if its turning over and not starting then its more than likely the power to the solenoide on the injector pump not getting through.

If when you turn the key nothing is happening Id beguessing starter solenoid.
silty water will do bad things - need to pull and clean

could also be earths gotten dirty... likely starter though

S

Everything in and on the rig is working perfectly, except for when I turn the key...there's just silence and nothing's happening. My gut instinct feels it's the starter motor.

Now for a really stupid question...where's the starter motor hiding? It wasn't immediately obvious with a quick look, but I also haven't had a look under the engine bay. Night time struck before I had a chance to get too far into diagnosis after work today.

Passenger side below Turbo, it may be easier to see if you drop off your Elbow hoise on Turbo.

Cheers & Good Luck

Originally Posted by El Duderino

Everything in and on the rig is working perfectly, except for when I turn the key...there's just silence and nothing's happening. My gut instinct feels it's the starter motor.

Now for a really stupid question...where's the starter motor hiding? It wasn't immediately obvious with a quick look, but I also haven't had a look under the engine bay. Night time struck before I had a chance to get too far into diagnosis after work today.

As he said, kinda well hidden.

While your pulling the starter motor out, I would also pull out the front seats to let you pull the carpets and underlay out.
The underlay won't dry out unless its at least lifted up.

John D - Defender 110 2.4

On the starter motor there is a spade connector that activates the solenoid, my bet is this is loose and is not contacting properly, take the connector off the starter and give it a clean and pinch it with some pliers and hopefully that is your problem.
Same thing happened to me in a servo after re-fueling luckilly i know what it would be and was able to quickly sort it.

Hi all. Long time lurker, first post and all.
My disco does this too. Totally random. Usually happens somewhere embarrassing, like in the drive-thru bottle-O. I have a fix for it. For some reason, not enough power is getting from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid. I took the regular spade off the solenoid wire and put a bigger one on it that I could crimp an extra wire into. I ran this wire up and through the firewall to one of those flip-top press button switches. (Kinda like the missile fire switch in a fighter, just to impress toyota owners.) Then I connected a wire from the main fuse feed terminal. Any time it refuses to start, all I do is put it in neutral, turn the key till the glow plug light goes out, and hit the switch. Instant start. No more running around to open the bonnet and trip the starter with a screwdriver.