Replacing the starter motor

[Richie C]

I’d been having occasional bouts of not wanting to start, just a click, so decided I may as well bite the bullet and upgrade the starter to the long body one. Job went well enough, however when I reconnected the battery and went to fire it up, the following happened:

- Disarm immobiliser. Fuel pump whirs
- Turn key. Click. No cranking

Odd. So far I’ve tried the following:

- Clean up the earths
- Checked big fuses
- Jump lead direct from the battery to the starter

No change.

Then I put a multimeter across the starter control lead, which showed zero volts when turning the key. Which sounds like immobiliser. But the red light is behaving normally, and the fuel pump primes.

What am I missing?

[Basil Brush]

I think there are 2 circuits through the immobiliser, with separate relays for fuel pump and starter motor, TVR having put the starter circuit through the wrong, smaller relay. Maybe one circuit is ok but the other not?

[Richie C]

We all know how frustrating it is when you have an issue, Google it, find a promising thread on Pistonheads only to find the OP never came back to update the thread with the solution. Well, even though it will make me look like a total tit, I'm not going to condemn those who come after me to that fate.

I had the starter solenoid wire connected to the R terminal, not the S terminal.

[Polly Grigora]

Nicely found

Earlier today nearly asked if you'd connected the solenoid cable to the correct terminal, thought to myself best not

Easily done, all's well that ends well