Hi rnlsg,

You are quite right ... there are good dealers out there.

On another point, I recall, whilst on a motorcycle police course, the police instructor told us that it costs councils loads of money to put in place the road signs. This being so, we should take proper note of road signs ... there is a good reason they are there! Getting back to the FL2, a lovely car, I was surprised to hear that Land Rover had installed an additional earth strap to the production vehicles from 2011(?). There was ,clearly, a reason for this mod. Let me guess ... the then current 'earthing' design or materials were NOT SATISFACTORY !!!

I would have been impressed with my local dealer and or Land Rover, I they had told me about this MOD at they time of my services and visits to them to discus the issues I had in cold weather... but they did not, and should have. That is what great customer service is all about, surely.

I do hope that Land Rover and LR dealers read this site ... they might pick up a few tips!

At -6 I had to jump the car after it failed to start and showed HDC fault. I fitted the earth strap on a cold afternoon a couple of weeks ago, today at -3 and after sitting for three days it started without a hint of sluggishness.
A great cheap fix that I wish I would have done during the spring as I had a couple of sluggish starts last winter and didn't know what the cause was.
Get it done while you can would be my advise , thanks to this forum for making it easy to sort.

just had to bite the bullet and buy a new battery,mine is the original,so after six and a half years probably due for replacing.as it is a stop start model I have got an AGM type battery, 85ah with 800cca,so should do the trick,got it on ebay for £95 with a 5 year warranty also free delivery,so happy with that.

good price for halfrauds

Nice tidy job there !

So, I'm back from the Alps for a few weeks .... whilst there my battery did the job , -1 to -7 in the mornings, so a bit warmer than before. I also took the precaution of warming the car up for 40 mins to warm up the fuel filter, since I suspected a small level of waxing. This concerned me as I had used the most expensive fuel I could find ... guaranteed to -24oc, to which I added some Bardol anti-gelling agent .... maybe I got an adverse chemical reaction! Anyway, with a warmer up engine compartment I shall do this tomorrow or over the I have no stalling or spluttering upon acceleration.

So, back in Chippenham, I have ordered a 1 metre earth braided lead, 10mm and 8.5 mm eyes online and bought from Halfords a 60 cm braided lead. One will go from the battery negative to the 10mm hole in the Haldex (?) casing and the other from the Haldex casing to the upper bolt on the starter motor. I shall do this over the weekend as we are due some bad weather, I hear!

When I pop back to the Alps .... we shall see if it all works ....

Parking rules applied!

PS . Many thanks to all of you guys and gals on this site ... much much appreciated.


Mine is the Freelander on the right, not the Disco next to it ... that start fine , but with loads of smoke

Click image to enlarge

nice pic

can I Have your ROG plate off the FL2 please

Hi after over a 6 weeks of first time start it let me down,the day before I had used the heated screen for the first time.is the screen timed and where is the fuse and or relay for it.
Thanks Bob

Hi after over a 6 weeks of first time start it let me down,the day before I had used the heated screen for the first time.is the screen timed and where is the fuse and or relay for it.
Thanks Bob

I seem to recall reading on here somewhere that the extra earth was fitted from factory on certain MY FL2 onwards... is this correct ?
will my 'new' 2013MY have it fitted ?

TIA

RogB

True! I guess yours is ok. You can always open the bonnet and take a look of course.....

Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

Interesting thread, will check mine out tomorrow, I have quite a few earth wires from the R40 diesels I had, hopefully one will be long enough, I had to have my starter refurbished a few days ago due to the earth pole snapping clean off when I removed the starter to do my belts.

Follow on from the above, I found the earth straps I had saved but did not have one long enough for the modification of adding an extra earth to the FL 2.

I did however find a positive strap which was/is long enough so I used this but added a black sheath to it, thereby covering the red outer sheath, so not to confuse things in the engine bay.

Fig 1a the strap
1a

I am hoping and almost sure that my model is ok for this modification of adding an extra earth to the starter motor, below is how routed the strap from the battery earth to the starter motor.

Before I started the FL 2 had only one earth strap going from the battery terminal to the inner wing, Fig 1
1

Earth bolted to inner wing Fig 2
2

I decided to route the new earth strap through the black plenum cover right of the battery Fig 3
3

I drilled a 25mm hole which is big enough to take the cable & rubber grommet which the cable can go through also. Fig 4
4

Hole drilled and trimmed so no sharp edges with 25mm rubber grommet Fig 5/6
5

6

I cut an hole in the rubber grommet to allow the cable to go through Fig 7
7

I passed the cable through the black cover Fig 8/9
8

9

The cable was then bolted to the battery earth point/pole Fig 10/11
10

11

The cable is then routed from the black cover down and behind the air filter case Fig 12/13
12

13

The cable then enters the engine bay inside the inner chassis arm from the rear of the air filter case Fig 14
14

I then threaded the cable through & behind an existing cable sheath Fig 15
15

The cable then goes to the starter motor bolt Fig 16.
16

Right at this moment the cable as been cable tied away from the starter motor and the battery terminal until such a time I am 100% sure that my FL2 needs and is ok to add this extra earth model is late 57 HSE TD4.

Any or all opinions most appreciated cheers Arctic

I have been thinking a bit more about the extra earth strap over the last day or so, because my FL 2 already had an earth from battery to inner wing/body of the car, do I really need this extra strap to the starter motor ? as above it is in place and routed but not connected until I am sure, any opinions at all on this please.