Thread: TD5 Burning Starter Motor

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

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.

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.