Hello again,
My 2000 td5 starter motor suddenly refused to operate and I decided to remove it and have a look inside. ( to repair it if possible ).
The Land Rover manuals say that you have to simply isolate the battery at the negative terminal, disconnect the power and control wiring from the starter motor and remove two bolts and one nut and out it pops for all to see.
The power disconnections and first two bolts are easy, the nut cannot be seen, is not accessible to any spanner known to mankind and is barely touchable with two fingers.( these must be on the same hand) To top it off, the nut is 15mm whilst the bolts are 13 mm. Trust LR to make the one you cannot see, measure or access different.
To cut a long story short, the nut is easy to remove if you have a short 15mm 12 point 3/8 drive socket and a 6 inch 3/8 drive extension bar and rachet handle. Approach the nut from the front between the starter motor and the engine mount.
I did not have a 3/8 drive set and wasted three hours trying to do the job with a 1/2 inch drive set. I now do have a new 3/8 drive set and the job took a few minutes only.
The 1/2 inch drive sockets are too long to fit onto the nut straight and the 1/2 extension bars are too wide to fit into the space available. The result is an angled approach and the socket will not connect properly. If you do get it on partially it will strip the points on one side of the nut when you try to lossen the nut.
When you get the starter motor out, all necessary replacement parts are available from many auto electricians to replace the main power switching contacts ( both fixed and moving ) and the brushes. Total cost is about $60.00 for the above parts instead of $295 for a changeover unit from an auto electrician. Burnt contacts and worn brushes are the major causes of starter motor faults after dirty or loose terminals.
Impossible job becomes easy job with the correct tools.
regards
Discoveraus
