sereis 3 diesel tried to start it up today smell of burning coming from engine had a look and engine stop cable had burnt through and sparks around throttle linkage any ideas? thanks
series 3 help please
Mar 17, 2005
6 Replies
Failed earth connection between engine and chassis. It's using the stop cable as a substitute.
It might be a simple case of dirty connections or the (usually) braided cable earth has 'died'.
Definite diagnosis -engine/chassis earth not working so starter current is trying to go through the controls. Find the engine to chassis earth strap and unbolt both ends and clean them, or alternatively run a new heavy earth strap from chassis to engine or gearbox. JD
Similar near-disater happened to my first RRC. It had twin batteries wired in parallel and Goodrich SS brake hoses (which is relevant!). The clips securing the +ve strap from battery to starter solenoid broke allowing the strap to become entangled with the steering column. After a while the column wore through the insulation on the strap. Very odd that at full LH lock the engine almost died and the lights dimmed. Arriving at my destination I was surprised by the smell of burning plastic. Rapid bonnet lifting revealed a surprising amount of smoke followed by rapid battery disconnection, I retrieved the vehicle the following day and found that part of the loom to the rear lights had melted and the throttle cable had melted the plastic in the Bowden cable. A large amount of new wiring, a bicycle brake cable as replacement throttle and a pair of those instant battery disconnect clamps from Vehicle Wiring Products saw the vehicle back on the road.
A few weeks later it was being tested for it's MOT when one of the Goodrich hoses burst. We found that the plastic liners had melted in all five hoses and concluded that they had offered a good-ish earth return (but how?) during the wiring fault.
I mentioned it to Goodrich who were horrified and sent me a replacement set. They said that they were going to include a warning to ensure that earth straps in RR were carefully checked when fitting their hoses.
Rgds Richard
I've heard of speedo cables failing soon after similar mishaps as well were the earth has chosen that route.
You might want to take a look at a similar thread last week.
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From advide here it sounds as if my SIII also has a bad earth. The electrics refuses to take any more current load than the charge and oil pressure lights. Any more and it dies completely. I'll be checking all the earth leads this Sunday to find out if they were right. The starter has been very slow to turn recently and a feint hot/burnt smell has always come from the engin bay after starting.
Good luck with your, David
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