Series III not starting

sounds like paint under the earth lead to me assuming it wasnt originally

+ve earth (and post '67 it shouldn't be) to me try connecting a jump lead from the battery neg on to the block . Derek Power is knowledge - I know I need a V8

Derek wrote, On 15/05/2007 00:39:

We had the same problem on our 1973 SIII, just a symptom of old age though. The lights, horn and indicators seem very sensitive to a bad earth, they went before the starter motor stopped working.

There are hundreds of routes for the earth to take on an old Land Rover. On ours it was tracking up the speedo cable and across the air filter can. Looked as though someone had tired to badly weld next to it. Things were smelling very hot for a couple of days before all stopped working.

We could not get the chassis to starter motor earth linkage to conduct sufficiently, even after cleaning both surfaces and replacing the cable. There is now a permanent connection from the battery negative to a metal plate securing the oil dipstick pipe to the engine.

Try brazing a little blob of metal onto the chassis - this gives you a permanent non rusting area of the chassis to which you can attach an earth cable - just drill & tap the blob of brass & chassis underneath, then bolt through. Chose the area wisely, a nice dry bit will be best.

Jesus Karen - you've been around for a while. ;-) It's been so long since I last saw that done that I had completely forgotten about it.

Yep, been around since the dawn of time, or maybe that's just the way it feels some mornings :)

The local mountain bike folk refer to me as 'The prehistoric tart', in fact. Doesn't stop me outpedalling the young 'uns though, which really ticks them off nicely.

Yeah, the arrival of winter here has made morning less pleasant - with each passing year the arthritis in my many-times broken fingers gets worse.

Good to see - keep the pressure on them. :-)

Yours actualy use their bikes? One of the nice relaxing activities round here is to go up in Them 'Thar Hills on a bank holiday and watch all the lycra boys/girls arrive with 93 bikes strapped on the roof of their Golf, spend an hour getting them all off, finding their reflective sunglasses, ringing Reb and Tarn on their mobile and shouting "yah" at lot, strutting around a bit, doing two laps of the car park, going for lunch, having an ice cream, having tea and putting it all back on/in the car and driving off home with expressions of utter weariness on their faces[1].

Richard

[1] When "working" for Arun Distric Council as a beach comber in and around Bognor we used to equally enjoy watching wind surfers do exactly the same (though not the two laps of the car park, often).

On or around Thu, 17 May 2007 20:15:24 +1200, EMB enlightened us thusly:

you tried them glucosamine pills? Glucosamine Sulphate, with or without Chondoitin. Supposed to help rebuild the cartilage in the joints. Mother swears by it - her hip got sufficiently bad that she couldn't do more than about 15 miles of driving without getting out and walking around a bit. Now it's perfectly OK most of the time, and she also gets less back trouble.

takes time, though - 's not a miracle cure, you need to take it regualrly for at least a month to notice any effect, and takes longer than that to really kick in.

I take them spradically, which doesn't do so much good - keep forgetting; my shoulders aren't too clever sometimes. remembering to take the buggers would help.

On or around Thu, 17 May 2007 09:30:38 +0000, beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:

well, it's hard work getting the bikes off and back onto the car, yer know.

Started about a month ago.

I have that problem too

I've been taking them both for a while now and have definitely seen improvements, so has my mother and they've even given my old Border Terrier a new lease of life! (you can get it in liquid form for pets). Greg

Thanks Derek,

I s>>I took on a rehab project on a 1973 series III land rover. I stripped off

Someone must have had the same problem with this one before. My negative battery cable runs to a bolt by the oil fill stack. And an additional linkage run from there down to the chassis bolt by the engin mount. I have the battery getting a full charge and trying again today. I cleaned all connections and am trully hoping that with the cleaned connection and a full battery we might be in business. I'll keep you posted...

Well.... it's not exactly rocket science to start to suspect the +ve circuit to the starter motor. I'd be looking for dirty connection, a dead solenoid (or the activate wire detached from same), or a deceased starter motor.

A quick and dirty bit of troubleshooting is to leave the ignition key OFF, the vehicle in neutral, and use someone else's screwdriver to short across the main solenoid terminals. If the starter works you're looking at solenoid issues rather than starter motor problems.

The front grille on a Series III is made of plastic. Quite what you expect to gain by earthing it is rather hard to fathom.

Yes SS is a conductor. It also reacts with aluminium VERY nicely to cause massive amounts of corrosion (unless it is isolated with non-conductive washers wherever it meets the aluminium).