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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

starting issues
Starter fires up car, then on third or fourth attempt, get a click, click, and then nothing. Lights dim a bit.
Starter replaced with reconditioned one.
Works fine for a couple of weeks then same symptoms - click, click, no turnover, then nothing when turn switch.
Batteries fully charged, and using 2 in parallel to give power (they just happen to be there, and its a new to me vehicle).
Ok, two dodgy starters. So get brand new starter.
Fit it (with some struggles to get hands in there).
Turn on, glow plugs, click, whirr (of starter not engine) click, now nothing.

Now, the chances of it being 3 dodgy starter motors is slim.

The engine turns when dragged about in gear, so isn't seized.

Next steps? Am thinking either weak electrical feed to starter motor circuit somewhere, but it doesn't seem like the right symptoms as there's certainly power getting there. Had considered dodgy immobiliser, but as it's a 200tdi and there's power getting through, doubt it's that.

Any ideas/diagnostic tests I could run?
Post #588716 30th Dec 2016 5:02pm
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dorsetsmith



Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: South West
Posts: 4554

Check battery Neg to chases and transfer box
Post #588724 30th Dec 2016 5:17pm
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custom90



Member Since: 21 Jan 2010
Location: South West, England.
Posts: 20453

United Kingdom 
As above, possibly consider adding temporary power and earth feeds.
As well as normal testing for continuity, power etc with a Multimeter.

Hopefully this will then aide you to I.D. The problem.

Checking earth from starter to battery lost negative would be a good start. No Guts, No Glory.
🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇪🇺🇸⛽️🛢️⚙️🧰💪
Post #588727 30th Dec 2016 5:30pm
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dorsetsmith



Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: South West
Posts: 4554


Click image to enlarge


This is mod drawing from tdi 300 removed EGR control show glow plug timer and starter relay red box is their alarm contacts will be wired to but not shore if TDI 200 has one fitted
Post #588737 30th Dec 2016 5:59pm
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

checked most stuff including earths, and got a few more things to try, but wondering if my replacement starter motor is also fubared. Do people recommend buying the Bosch original, or the Bearmach/a.n.other make - got mine from Advanced Factors who are generally excellent for gear, so it's not so likely to be that (that would make it the 3rd one to fail in 2 months) - but wondered what people found the aftermarket ones to be like?
Post #589359 2nd Jan 2017 1:55am
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dorsetsmith



Member Since: 30 Oct 2011
Location: South West
Posts: 4554

sounds like you have more than just starter motor problem
Post #589400 2nd Jan 2017 10:13am
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Bps



Member Since: 14 Feb 2016
Location: Lancashire
Posts: 833

United Kingdom 
Do you know that both of the batteries are actually good? One of my old batteries appeared fully charged but as soon as you put any kind of drain on it it wouldn't turn the starter. If the vehicle is new to you I would bin the 2 batteries to start with and use one good known battery and start from there.
Post #589405 2nd Jan 2017 10:53am
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

@Bps - that's my next plan. Reconditioned one last night, will connect that direct to the starter, and have the other one powering the ignition circuit - that may help.....

I was told the batteries were relatively new (year or so old) but will do a load dump test on them too.....
Post #589416 2nd Jan 2017 11:56am
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

update in case anyone's following:

charge overnight showed battery at full charge this morning Disconnected charger, waited 2 mins, reconnected - showed low charge and took a while to come back to full charge. So am assuming it's the battery. Too cold here to try this one on the vehicle, so spent the afternoon finding out what battery would fit, and gone for a 1000CCA battery https://www.tayna.co.uk/C31-1000-Numax-Car-Battery-P8706.html

which should give some oomph.
Post #589589 2nd Jan 2017 9:25pm
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

ah.

might have to change plans, yet again. Have a winch fitted, and want a second battery to power that, and will also be running a fridge and hotel load on longer off-road trips, so the second battery has to do those duties too. So I either have a simple system with two wired in parallel, and maybe a physical isolator switch, in which case my readings about which batteries to have throw up that it's generally better to have two batteries the same. Or I put in a split-charge system to isolate them and keep them topped up. But the whole point of this vehicle was its simplicity - though I know on the the t0max split charge system there is a specific wiring shortcut you can do if the unit packs up to make it either join or isolate the batteries, as you need.....
Post #589629 2nd Jan 2017 11:14pm
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Cupboard



Member Since: 21 Mar 2014
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2971

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 HT Corris Grey
I think you'll probably struggle to fit two of those batteries in, it's possible but a tight fit with two 019s (the standard size) but I think a taller one like you've chosen would be extremely difficult.

Winch. The general consensus is that you should have it wired to your primary (starter) battery so it's as close in wiring terms as possible to the alternator. You won't be winching with your engine off, and if you are you've probably got more serious problems Laughing

Split charge. Doesn't have to be complicated. I use a Victron Cyrix CT, the 230A version. That allows me to manually combine them if I need to jump start myself or use the winch. If you do have any issues with something like that then you can just take the the lead off one of the terminals on the relay and connect it on to the other one. It would be a ten minute job all in to bypass it.
Post #589711 3rd Jan 2017 1:05pm
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

thanks. With a split charge like you suggest (VSR) I guess I can use another smaller battery as the second one, as they are not directly wired up in parallel - having two different ones in parallel seems to be a problem as they have different discharge characteristics and so one is always pulling the other one lower - with the split charge then there's no problem about this.
Post #589797 3rd Jan 2017 5:16pm
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jst



Member Since: 14 Jan 2008
Location: Taunton
Posts: 8066

 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 USW Stornoway Grey
i use these https://www.tayna.co.uk/Numax-CXV27MF-P3665.html when fitting two batts in a def for winch/other use. has them in the 110 for a while too. trayback runs them (two sets of (4 batts total)) truck cab runs them in parallel. both have doen for 5-8 years each. good for the money. Cheers

James
110 2012 XS Utility
130 2011 M57 bespoke Camper
90 2010 Hardtop
90 M57 1988 Hardtop
Post #589830 3rd Jan 2017 6:34pm
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Cupboard



Member Since: 21 Mar 2014
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 2971

United Kingdom 2011 Defender 110 Puma 2.4 HT Corris Grey
xcentric wrote:
thanks. With a split charge like you suggest (VSR) I guess I can use another smaller battery as the second one, as they are not directly wired up in parallel - having two different ones in parallel seems to be a problem as they have different discharge characteristics and so one is always pulling the other one lower - with the split charge then there's no problem about this.


Yes, you can put pretty much anything in.
It's good to match chemistry, and you're right that non-matched batteries aren't ideal but it's not the end of the world.
Post #589895 3rd Jan 2017 9:11pm
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xcentric



Member Since: 17 Jan 2016
Location: Midlands
Posts: 247

ho-bloody-ra.

It now starts. Turns out the earth to the chassis was fine, but the earth to the engine was very corroded. Dremel and sandpaper and it now goes sweet as a nut.

So I didn't need a new starter motor or battery Laughing

Just got large parts of the engine to put back together again (well, exhaust, filter box, washer bottle, etc.). Still, I now know my way around it all a lot better Very Happy
Post #591262 8th Jan 2017 12:39pm
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