Sluggish Starting 90

Hi,

My LR90 (1986) NA Diesel is a bit sluggish starting these days.

The battery is new and seems to be charging OK. Glow plugs are new too. I've also checked the earth straps including, for good measure, proving a couple of additional ones.

All seemed to be better until yesterday. Started ok first time and ran around a few fields tugging some trees. Engine was up to running temperature. When I wanted to re-start engine turned over very slowly and dashboard lights dimmed before sluggish start. This happened a couple of times. Seemed to start OK earlier today.

The only thing left for me to check out is the starter motor - could this be the culprit? If so what's the best way of confirming the problem?

I've limited skill when it come to spanners and the like but will happily give anything a try!

Having a search I seem to be looking at £120 ish for a new starter motor???

Kind regards,

Richard

1986 EX RAF LR90

This embryonic site has a couple of pictures of the vehicle in question.....

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Reply to
Richard
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Had this problem the other week, turned out the battery terminal clamps were iffy, cleaned them up and refitted with a couple of blobs of vaseline.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Reply to
MVP

Reply to
Richard

SNIP

Nope that's not the problem! Battery is almost new. Nice clean terminals greased as you recommend. Even checked voltage whilst on load (via the battery terminals) and that looked OK. However, I will make sure they are still clean when I get a chance tomorrow.

Thanks for the prompt response.

Richard

Reply to
Richard

This sounds identical to what my 90 was doing. I rebuilt the starter motor myself, it was still the same!!!! Eventually I added an extra thixk earth strap from the starter motor direct to the battery and now it performs like new! Wouldn't have believed it if I didn't do it myself.

Stew.

Reply to
90ninety

How about at the starter motor end both the supply and earthing. It doesn't take much resistance at a couple of hundred amps to drop 12v and stop the motor working... If the terminals are accessable feel them after it has had one of it's sluggish turning over sessions. If they aren't cold thats your problem.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Run a jump lead from battery -ve to a good earth point on on the block (lifting brackets are good). If that removes the problem then it is definately an earth problem, if not then it indicates a problem on the +ve side of things. There is no way I'd reccommend running a jump lead from battery

+ve to the solenoid to test that side of things though.

Richard

Reply to
beamendsltd

But paralleling a voltmeter with the cable and checking it's reading (ie the voltage drop) whilst cranking is safe enough.

Reply to
EMB

If you have a known load, like headlights, you can get a check of the current too. Check the voltage drop across the battery earth strap with the lights on. Then try the starter (lights off). Lights only, rough round-figuring, will be about 10 Amperes. So ten times the voltage drop will be around 100 Amperes.

And when the engine's running, and the voltage is reversed, you know how well the alternator is working.

You need to read millivolts (mV) for the normal operation, volts for the starting.

Reply to
David G. Bell

""David G. Bell"" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk...

Hi all,

I've taken the starter motor off for inspection. The positive terminal on the solenoid (the one leading to the starter motor) is very corroded and probably the cause of the starting problems.

Whilst it's out I'm having it re-conditioned. I hope that will then be the end of that problem.

The responses were most helpful - thanks to all who suggested solutions.

Regards

Richard

Reply to
Richard

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