Freelander won't crank on starting.
This problem has many baffled for months. When you turn the key some times the lights on the dash dim and the starter solenoid appears to jump in and out about every second. The motor turns over fractionally only. It will not crank over and start. If you try again later it could start and the motor turns over fast. Car was serviced and the ignition switch was replaced. No improvement. If you put a jump start pack on the motor will start immediately. I checked the voltage on the battery with a load type battery tester and it read around 12.4 volts. I had another spare battery that showed 13 volts so I decided to change batteries. It was worse. Once connected this battery showed 12.2 volts. The battery I removed now showed 13 volts. I noticed there was a reasonable spark when the terminals were again connected and this seemed odd as nothing was working. It appears that there is a voltage drop caused by a short somewhere which is reducing the cranking voltage and the start solenoid is not engaging correctly. There are 2 power cables connected from the battery to the starter and 2 cables from battery to earth. However the battery is staying charged OK with short trip use. I need to carry a jump start pack with me in case it fails which is only occasionally. As my wife sometimes uses the car I need to get this fixed. Has anyone any clues where to start looking for a fault as I have tried the obvious.
This problem has many baffled for months. When you turn the key some times the lights on the dash dim and the starter solenoid appears to jump in and out about every second. The motor turns over fractionally only. It will not crank over and start. If you try again later it could start and the motor turns over fast. Car was serviced and the ignition switch was replaced. No improvement. If you put a jump start pack on the motor will start immediately. I checked the voltage on the battery with a load type battery tester and it read around 12.4 volts. I had another spare battery that showed 13 volts so I decided to change batteries. It was worse. Once connected this battery showed 12.2 volts. The battery I removed now showed 13 volts. I noticed there was a reasonable spark when the terminals were again connected and this seemed odd as nothing was working. It appears that there is a voltage drop caused by a short somewhere which is reducing the cranking voltage and the start solenoid is not engaging correctly. There are 2 power cables connected from the battery to the starter and 2 cables from battery to earth. However the battery is staying charged OK with short trip use. I need to carry a jump start pack with me in case it fails which is only occasionally. As my wife sometimes uses the car I need to get this fixed. Has anyone any clues where to start looking for a fault as I have tried the obvious.
