Long cranking to start TD5 Defender resolved.

[Mudnut]

My 2005 TD5 Defender has been getting progressively hard to start. Would crank, and I could watch the battery voltage drop until it would either start, or need to be charged with my battery charger. Looked into possible reasons, and was looking at injector seals, air in fuel. Oil in wiring harness..... Most of the standard reasons.
I then crawled underneath and had a look at the starter motor. It didn't look like it was hanging right, so reached up and gave it a shove. The whole thing moved about 10 mm. All three bolts were loose, and it was not making good contact to the block. Tightened the bottom two, and the Defender has fired right up since. I might have to through bolt the bottom two, as they didn't seem to tighten much. I think either the bolts or the threaded section of the block are stripped. Should be a cheap and easy fix though.

So if TD5 difficult to start, ensure starter motor is solid against the block. Takes 5 seconds.

Cheers,

Ken

[shack]

My 2005 TD5 Defender has been getting progressively hard to start. Would crank, and I could watch the battery voltage drop until it would either start, or need to be charged with my battery charger. Looked into possible reasons, and was looking at injector seals, air in fuel. Oil in wiring harness..... Most of the standard reasons.
I then crawled underneath and had a look at the starter motor. It didn't look like it was hanging right, so reached up and gave it a shove. The whole thing moved about 10 mm. All three bolts were loose, and it was not making good contact to the block. Tightened the bottom two, and the Defender has fired right up since. I might have to through bolt the bottom two, as they didn't seem to tighten much. I think either the bolts or the threaded section of the block are stripped. Should be a cheap and easy fix though.

So if TD5 difficult to start, ensure starter motor is solid against the block. Takes 5 seconds.

Cheers,

Ken

Have you got a fault reader?

If so, did it have any faults listed?

I'm willing to wager it did...

[Mudnut]

Have you got a fault reader?

If so, did it have any faults listed?

I'm willing to wager it did...

I don't have a Nanocom, but I do have a scan reader. Only faults are overtemp alarms that have been present for years. I think with the motor movement, or torque on the starter it would loose contact, and the ECU would not pick up power for injectors.

I just posted this as a quick check if anyone is having this issue.

Ken

[shack]

I don't have a Nanocom, but I do have a scan reader. Only faults are overtemp alarms that have been present for years. I think with the motor movement, or torque on the starter it would loose contact, and the ECU would not pick up power for injectors.

I just posted this as a quick check if anyone is having this issue.

Ken

The most likely fault would be "noisy crank"

If you get that fault logged during cranking from a faulty or loose starter, they become very difficult to start.

Do you know the exact faults logged?

[Mudnut]

Will check tomorrow. Scanner is sitting on passenger seat, as I was clearing codes for a dash light unrelated.