TD5 starting fail.

so I've had my 1999 td5 90 for a few months and I've not stopped fixing it! Finally got close to having the perfect landy then she let me down in the worst way.
Parallel parked in the middle of down and it wouldn't start, 3 hours until we leave for holiday.
It has a factory immobiliser which seems to be working ok but I am suspicious of it.
So normal routine is to get in switch ignition on, press button on fob, indicators flash, ignition to position 3 and off we go. This time the starter will just not spin up, I don't hear the click you get with a flat battery or anything. Much messing around checking the wiring, fuses and relays and nothing. Eventually got it started by shorting the power and start signal cables together.
Any ideas where I should start looking once I get home? My initial thoughts are ignition barrel and immobiliser. Ruled out the starter as it appears to work fine. Possibly coincidental but I've been getting a rattle kind of noise from the steering column area occasionally but it's been getting progressively worse. Cheers.

Hi,

You say you have ruled out the starter. BUT.

The TD5 starters are notorious for 2 failure points.

1st, the ( lucar ) spade connector that goes to the solenoid comes loose or gets dirty and makes intermittent contact.
2nd, The solenoid contacts wear out and start to fail to connect. , very easy £13 fix.

Cheers

neilly said:

Hi,

You say you have ruled out the starter. BUT.

The TD5 starters are notorious for 2 failure points.

1st, the ( lucar ) spade connector that goes to the solenoid comes loose or gets dirty and makes intermittent contact.
2nd, The solenoid contacts wear out and start to fail to connect. , very easy £13 fix.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Thanks, what I meant was I ruled out the solenoid/relay on the starter because I managed to get it to start, would it start with a knackered solenoid? I've heard about the spade connector issue, I pulled it off and on a few times but will get a multi meter on it when I get back.

Knackered solenoid contacts start to fail slowly and get worse.
The copper ring wears away to the point that contact is no longer possible. If nothing else I would rule it out.

Cheers

Hi mate sounds like your starter is knackered

Buy new not reconditioned

Cheers