Hi Guys
My Freely has just started to show an intermittent starting problem. Foot on brakes, press starter button. Goes thru normal starting procedure/display but no starter motor. No clicks or whirrs or anything. After moving gear selector back and forth a few times and back into Park, away she goes.
I have an idea there may be a micro switch on the gear selector or something, but haven't been able to throw anything up when searching. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this

MY 2013 SD4 XS with 125k miles

Many thanks Steve

Hmmmm well judging by the lack of response, I guess this is not a common issue with Freelanders. In fact the problem has not reoccurred since my post and i am beginning to wonder whether it was just "operator error" all along. I have been a little more precise selecting park and applying the brakes since, so maybe that is the solution

Steve

Yes it could well be,a hard reset is always worth a try too.

jenks1950 wrote:

Hi Guys
My Freely has just started to show an intermittent starting problem. Foot on brakes, press starter button. Goes thru normal starting procedure/display but no starter motor. No clicks or whirrs or anything. After moving gear selector back and forth a few times and back into Park, away she goes.
I have an idea there may be a micro switch on the gear selector or something, but haven't been able to throw anything up when searching. Has anyone got any ideas or experience of this

MY 2013 SD4 XS with 125k miles

Many thanks Steve

Hmmm well after no re occurrence of my original problem since November, it happened again yesterday and I am certain that it was not "operator error" then

Normal starting procedure. Everything appears as normal, just the starter motor does not operate. After fiddling around for about 10 minutes. Ignition on/off. Moving the gear selector. foot on/off brake etc it started and has continued to operate correctly since!!

Is this something that would likely show up in the fault codes??

Steve

Quote:

Is this something that would likely show up in the fault codes??

It may not help, but my 2007 manual had a starting issue a few years ago. Was very random.
It took an indi LR garage 3 says to find the problem.
The tech found a broken wire berween ecu and a midule in the dash, they said it was an amazing lucky find to make as they were close to giving up!
They replaced the wire and been perfect since! 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

OK well I think I can wrap this one up now

The non cranking issue has gradually become more frequent since it first started, though I was always able to get going by a combination of moving the gear lever and switching the ignition on and off.
Decided it was time to get it sorted, so took it to local non Land Rover indy who ran diagnostics which showed "brake and inhibitor switch fault"
Two switches replaced. Cost of parts £10 plus a couple of hours work. All now seems to be good

Steve

Good to know you have it fixed.
Sorry but I know nothing about automatic cars.  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

Hi Jenks 1950,

I'm having the same problem with my 2011 FL2.

Have you got the part numbers or details of where you sourced the switches from. This seems like a sensible option to try

Nik

jenks1950 wrote:

OK well I think I can wrap this one up now

The non cranking issue has gradually become more frequent since it first started, though I was always able to get going by a combination of moving the gear lever and switching the ignition on and off.
Decided it was time to get it sorted, so took it to local non Land Rover indy who ran diagnostics which showed "brake and inhibitor switch fault"
Two switches replaced. Cost of parts £10 plus a couple of hours work. All now seems to be good

Steve

Nik
Sorry, I don't have any information for you. I put it in to the Indy and they ran a scan and then replaced switches. I have looked at the Invoice and all it says is "Scan System - Replaced brake and inhib switches". so I don't even know where they were located

Sid
The advice and knowledge on this forum is second to none

Steve

I see that I started this thread nearly two years ago and I am hoping that I am reporting the final solution for my problem!!

This intermittent starting/non cranking fault started about two years ago. I always managed to get started within 5 - 10 minutes by fiddling with the ignition/gear selector/central locking etc, which is "sort of" good because i have not been left stranded, but bad because no one can identify what the fault is

First up, put the car into a very good local non LR independent. They changed a couple of inhibiter switches and car was absolutely fault free for 6 months but then problem started to reoccur. put it back to the same garage who said they could not identify what the problem was but suggested that it may be the steering lock

Put the car into a specialist LR independent. They said that nothing came up on the diagnostic and installed a software update on the steering lock and instrument cluster modules, on a just in case basis and said see what happens. All was well for the next 7 weeks and then the fault started to re-occur again

Last week, car failed to start and stayed that way!! Whatever i did.........no cranking. arranged for it to be recovered back to the Landy independent who called today to say it is fixed. New starter motor!! He said that when it came in he tried to start it and from the noise made could identify exactly what the problem was. I think that actually it is a solonoid problem rather than the actual starter

Anyway, I am hoping that this really will be the final solution for my long running problem (and not just another problem which has appeared alongside the first. It is amazing that over the two years this has been going on, I have always managed to start the car and when it did finally fail, it was on my drive at home!!

Everything crossed Steve

Hi jenks1950

Glad you got it fixed. I thought you may be interested in my experience of the same problem.

Like you, my Freelander 2 (2.2 SD4 2014) intermittently refused to turn the engine when trying to start. Brake down, in Park, ignition on, press start and the dials responded and there was a slight click from under the bonnet. As with yours, it also started if I moved out of Park and back again. The battery is excellent, the wiring good the ECU seemed to be behaving properly, although this was just an educated guess as testing is difficult and expensive - an OBD 2 test showed no faults. I also read through lots of unhelpful posts on forums which got me worried about all kinds of dreaded ECU faults. I then thought, ’what would I think if this was an old, pre-computer, car?

The car did everything it’s supposed to do on trying to start - when it did start, the starter motor was strong and everything else worked fine so I decided it must be the solenoid and, more likely (having heard the ‘click’ of the solenoid), the connection across the solenoid terminals not allowing the starter motor circuit to receive power. Having the confidence of my convictions (and crossing my fingers) I went for the relatively easy job of changing these and bought a cheap repair kit from eBay. Here’s what I found after removing the starter motor ...



From left: the inside of the solenoid housing showing the terminals and plunger barrel hole. The old plunger contact ring showing serious wear/corrosion. Old and New Plungers compared.

When the start button is pressed the plunger is pulled down the hole so the copper ring around it can hit (bridge) the two terminals at the bottom of the housing making the connection for the starter motor.

Below: the old and new terminals. Some more serious corrosion!



The terminals are badly worn away. Comparing the old against new it’s obvious that the old ones have lost a substantial amount of metal. I’m convinced that this explains an intermittent connection across these terminals when the starter was pressed - the plunger was still pulling down but rotating a little too so intermittently unable to make contact. Sorted - and no ECU involved!

Hope this is a useful addition to your post and will also help anyone else having the same problem!

Nice photos & a good explanation - thank you.

Not having any starting problems with my FL2 presently (fingers crossed), but those photos are going in my memory bank just in case I encounter similar problems in future.



Cheers
Brian