The only time my 3.9 Classic (manual rather than auto) failed to start (apart from when the battery was flat and the starter would not crank) the problem was shorting out of the coil connections. My repeated efforts at starting resulted in very wet plugs. When it did eventually start (in the best RR tradition when I eventually called a recovery truck out to take it away) there were great volumes of dirty smoke. If you find your plugs dry when you have tried to start it (assuming you can get them out, not all of mine would shift) then fuel supply may well be the problem.

Consider also the possibility of contaminated fuel, water or whatever having accumulated in the tank. I have a recollection of someone telling me that older cars can be adversely affected by modern fuels with bio content, so something might have rotted and blocked a filter or line.

The only other suggestion I can make is that my 3.5 Classic for a while had a habit of cutting out, with no obvious reason. This followed the replacement of a steering arm which had required hard impacts on a very long bar to get things undone. I decided to open, clean and reconnect all of the electrical connections, as I thought something might have come loose. I didn't find any obvious problem, but the cutting out did not recur.

Good luck. Only Range Rovers since 1988

I have also had the coil short out, mine has a plastic bottle bottom over it.


Oh the memories all start flooding back



I checked tonight, the fuel inj fuse is the first 20A fuse on the drivers side in the engine bay, marked ob the fuse cover lid Regards
Royston

2008 4.2 Supercharged Autobiography
1994 Classic Vogue SE
1999 Rover BRM
1987 Rover Vitesse Twin Plenum

Thanks for the latest input Gents - i'll keep digging...

Interesting development.....

Placing a multi meter from batt =ve to the coil +ve or -ve LT terminals shows 12.4v. When the engine is cranked this drops to virtually nill (0.3V) is this correct? I though when cranking the voltage should remain healthy.

Could my ignition barrel be causing the issue?

 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

Wouldn't have thought it was the ign barrel, as its cranking ok.

Are you sure the coil is the crorrect type? Wouldn't have thought a drop to 0.3v is correct. Possibly a drop to around 9-10v given the draw of the starter.

If you have a multi meter check the resistance on the coils, check across the primary coil terminals + and - , it should read around 0.4 - 2 ohms then check the secondary coil +ve and centre terminal it should read around 6k ohms and 15k ohms.

Could give you a clue as to if the coil is good. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

That is a classic cold start problem, most Lucas systems that are pointless run the coil between 6 and 9 volts, but give it a little kick with 12 volts when starting..... It sounds like this has gone a bit astray.... but easy to fix..... you need to run a wire from either the starter motor energiser wire ( that will be the thin one on the starter ) or from the starter motor main feed on the starter side.... follow the lead from the battery to the starter, it will go to a large terminal, there will be another one with a lead going in to the starter, this is the one that you want..... with the lead attached to the starter end attach the other end to the coil on the + side, if your not sure which is which, it's the wire that stays live when it's removed from the coil.

Even if you treat this as a temp fix it should get you going as it will supply the coil with 12 volts when cranking, the fact that it's going to nothing during cranking means that the ignition switch wafers have fubar'd in position 3, not uncommon hence the by pass fix But for some strange reason the main wafers that do the actual starter motor never seam to ware out it's a Lucas thing not just a Range Rover  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

Just a thought, is the engine block earth lead OK? Regards
Royston

2008 4.2 Supercharged Autobiography
1994 Classic Vogue SE
1999 Rover BRM
1987 Rover Vitesse Twin Plenum

It reminds me of my first car a Triumph Herald. When it rained the ignition would stop working. The primary wire insulation had gotten sooo porous that it shorted to earth due to the water. Replaced the wire and all was fine. Also installed a new wire from ignition to starter motor relay due to the same problem (actually from a starter switch as the ignition switch gave me other headaches at the time).

By running new wires directly from the battery you can check if the fault is component or wire related.

By the way, years ago I bought a kit with strobe, contact point dwell meter etc. I also had a switch with two long wires to allow a single person working under the bonnet to start the car. I bet there are still these type of switches for sale or I hope so. That way you can start the engine while using quick start  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Thanks again all.

earthing seems ok but I'm not convinced I have found all the earthing point yet. Something for the weekend.

Miggit - your comments are the same as a mate of mine who mentioned the ignition wafers. Forgive my ignorance but are the wafers in position III part of a barrel which could be changed or the female component the barrel fits into?

I'll try the work around asap.

Thanks again.  405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

Hope you get sorted soon . Have you got an engine immobiliser fitted? Had sudden engine cut out on mine a few years back......

Thing is I dont actually know if an immobiliser is fitted.

Another option to look at.... busy weekend for me.  405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

The point about the immobiliser is a good one. I had forgotten that my 3.5 Classic's (aftermarket) alarm/immobiliser went wrong and I had the immobiliser removed. Well worth checking. Only Range Rovers since 1988

How does one know if an immobilser is fitted? Where is the magic black box? 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

Sorry, I don't recall where mine was. A local indy dealt with it without me seeing what he was doing. This would have been about 1990 and there were lots of different aftermarket alarm/immobiliser systems, not necessarily all working in the same way. I think mine was made by Cobra. There was a remote control fob that could be attached to the RR keyring. If you don't have anything like that then perhaps there isn't one, Only Range Rovers since 1988

Ignition wafers are part of the electrical side of the ignition lock..... it is made up of several components, the key / barrel, then the steering lock, and then the rotary electrical switch, which is turned by the key...... this is made up with several wafers that turn, and they have a conducting track on them that makes the different circuits operate depending how far the key is turned.... They are housed in a round plastic affair that is located the opposite end of the key side of the ignition lock I don't think that you can buy just the wafers / switch, it is normally part of the ignition lock assembly which is really annoying as you can normally buy the key side on its' own

As far as telling if you have an immobiliser.... do you have remote central locking with a fob? if the answer is no, I'd be 99% certain that you don't have one..... the fact that the engine is turning over on the key would suggest that there isn't one present as the starter is one of the first things that they affect..... but this is dependant on how it's been wired. From what I've read I reckon that the ignition switch has worn out a bit too much and you need to put the bypass in that I described earlier, and hopefully that will be the last of your headaches  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

This shows how a very basic one works.... and being a Range Rover .....

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge