I have a series 2A 1969 swb fitted with a V8. The current engine came from a mid 80's RR and currently has the Lucas M3100 starter fitted.


Although the starter works, it is a bit slow and if the engine does not start right away, it struggles and drains the battery.

So my question is..... Has anyone any experience of the high torque starter motors? They are nearly double the price but claim to do a far better job and since my starter is probably needing replaced, I thought I would ask the forum for advice.

Thoughts please......

get the battery properly tested

Yeah I second that. Got same set up more or less. Thought battery was good till I fitted a new one. 100 amp and about 600 or so cranking amps . Turns over like New. Also check engine earths.

I have 2 new batteries (Yuasa Pro 700CCA and 95Ah) that I use when working on my Landrover and since it's in a lock-up I always bring them home with me and recharge if needed. I think I can rule the battery out based on this. Initially the engine spins well but as I said if it will not start immediately you can hear the starter slowing.

I always give it a breather in between cranking so it is not continuous.

The new type smaller starter is very very good.

Got mine off britpart about 18 months ago for around £100 and has been excellent.

Just gave it it's first strip clean and its spinning over like new again, super quick fire up.

A simple way of testing if it's the starter or the battery is to a try starting it with the headlights on,if they go very dim when it struggles to start it's the battery that's faulty and if they stay bright'ish when it's starts to turn over slow it's the starter.
I've never fitted a High torque starter so can't comment but any decent new one will be up to the job,if you do replace the starter make sure it's for a rangerover because the solenoid is on the side,if you fit one from any other rover v8 the solenoid is on the bottom and with a V8 in a series the prop can knock it off when offroad.

Good shout about the solenoid!!

Thanks guys,

I guess at this stage I guess I'm blaming the starter due to it's age and what with having new batteries, but will check everything else first.

Wont be able to get out to car till next week, will check earths and do headlight test.

When firing the engine up for the first time I had issues starting it, no spark so I swapped out the Mallory distributor it came fitted with and put my old one in and it eventually started.

To my delight the engine sounded fantastic, just had to set the timing up but never had my light with me so just moved it around so it would start.

In cranking it for a while the starter did slow down so I connected the battery up to my car whilst running and it turned over fine for the duration it was connected. In hindsight, this would point toward the battery I suppose but I then went home, re-charged the battery and brought my spare battery which is a new version of what I was using and the same slowing down process happened.

My train of thought at that stage was the starter had internal winding issues and was draining the battery the more it cranked the engine. My concern with this and the engine not starting was compression and was it getting enough to fire up.

The engine I just fitted came with the smaller starter which when I tested it, it appeared knackered. The engine had sat for 2 years apparently so since I had the Lucas M3100 on my old engine and it worked reasonably fine, I used it instead. I may now strip it down since you say the smaller unit is good.

I will do all the checks and post back.

Any further comments appreciated guys, thanks.

Mr Noisy said:

Good shout about the solenoid!!

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I found this out the hard way!

I had the same problem as you on my V8.

I put 2 new batterys in and it made no difference.

I replaced my starter with a high torque unit and its been brilliant.

Steve_R1979 said:

I had the same problem as you on my V8.

I put 2 new batterys in and it made no difference.

I replaced my starter with a high torque unit and its been brilliant.

Click to expand...

Out of interest, which starter did you buy, where from and if you don't mind me asking, how much did it cost?

I have not had time to get back out and try the aforementioned fixes prior to replacing the starter.
In the meantime I stripped down the smaller Lucas unit that was originally on the engine I bought but was not working. Turns out it was just seized and after a real good strip down and clean it works fine on a bench test.

Thanks for that prompt Mr Noisy. I now have another working starter to try!

I got it from London Essex Auto Electrics

105quid

01992-523660