Herewith a tale of woe, I hope you have sympathy! It started a few days ago when I was preparing to go to a car show. I cleaned it and decided to top up the fuel. When travelling to the filling station, I thought the brake pedal travel was longer than normal! On the way back, the pedal travel gradually became longer until I had no foot brake at all! I got home, slowly by using the hand brake. I checked the fluid level and it was low, I topped it up but it made no difference. There was no sign of brake fluid anywhere. So, the problem had to be the master cylinder! I purchased new seals and set to work. The master cylinder once loosened would move alittle but was caught somewhere, so out came the whole brake assembly to access the dust seal end of the master cylinder. This simple operation entailed removing the battery and the front driver's seat inorder to get under the steering wheel and at the seven nuts that held the bracket in place. The snagging part was the dust seal. Having stripped the master cylinder, replaced the seals and re-assembled the array of parts previously disassembled, I set to and bled the hydraulic system. All was good and I had a good brake pedal. I'll take it for a drive to test the brakes. NO YOU WON'T! The vehicle refused to start. In both N or P there was a sound coming from the bulkhead area as if the starter relay was working but the started would not turn the engine. Attempting to push the car back into its lair was very difficult, as if the car was in gear. So, after all that, is it possible that I have disturbed to gear selector cable, or some other component? I cannot get the car onto a ramp, and jacking it up will only lift it so high and certainly not high enough for me to squeeze under, although I did try. Alec G.

 

if that happened to me, i'd assume that i bumped a battery cable and lost connection to either the positive or negative cable ends. so i'd check both ends of both cables first. ...it's easy enough.

 

Doubt very much that you would have disturbed the inhibitor function. If the car is in drive and you hit the button there would be no noise as there is no power going through the starter button. If you are hearing a sound on the bulkhead and you removed the battery this is where I would start.
Does the battery have a full charge. A weak battery would cause this sound.
Do you have a good earth from the battery to the bulkhead.
Do you have a good connection between the cable heads and the battery terminals? Make sure they are clean and tight.
Obvious question but have you mounted the battery around the correct way?

 

Make sure that the earth braided cable that jumps the LHS front engine mounting from body to block is in good order.

 

A bit of fault finding as follows.
Make sure the battery is fully charged
I suggest you disable the engine by disconnecting the spark lead from the coil, so you don't inadvertently start the car in gear.
With the ignition turned off get under the bonnet and manually operate the starter solenoid. The other option is to use a heavy jumper lead from the live battery terminal to the starter side of the solenoid.
The starter should turn over. If it doesn't you have a starter problem.
If the starter does turnover. then you may have a starter solenoid problem. (They can fail)
PS don't forget to replace the spark lead into the coil.

 

All seems to be correctly connected and I have 12.3 volutes at the battery terminals. I have rigged up my battery charger to get to maximum power. I will try to start it later today!

 

Try volts!

 

After 7 hours “on charge” attempted to start the engine! I had exactly the same sounds, but a bit more vigorous, but no engine turn over! I have left the charger on and will have another go tomorrow! I am thinking of jacking the front end up as high as I dare and look at the position of the gearbox gear selector at the gearbox end and the state of the starter motor/bendix? See you in the morning! AlecG.

 

I think your solenoid on the firewall is faulty.
To by-pass it, jump the two large terminals using your jumper cables.

Be sure and have it in park or neutral with the hand brake on.

If it still will not turn over, then take you jumper cable again (use one side only) and bypass the battery cable that leads from the battery to the solenoid.
Connect the jumper cable from the battery to the cable that's connected to the starter at the solenoid. It should turn over.
This will tell you if the battery cable to the solenoid is faulty.
That cable was disturbed when you removed the battery.
Make sure that all the cables at the solenoid are snugged up as well _ be careful not to overtighten things here, you don't want to strip the copper terminals on the solinoid.

 

On the S Type there is an inspection panel on the left side of the gearbox tunnel under the carpet held in place with 6 cross head screws. This allows access to the side of the gearbox and the selection lever. Not sure if the Mk2 has the same but worth a look.

Again though I doubt very much if you have an inhibitor problem if you are getting a reaction/noise at the solenoid as the inhibitor stops power going to the starter button on the dash and there for no power to start the car. If you hit the solenoid on the bulkhead and get the same reaction then definitely not the inhibitor as the solenoid bypasses the starter and the inhibitor so by pushing the solenoid on the bulkhead the engine should turn regardless of whether the car is in gear or not.

 

Are your battery cable terminals the crimped type? Or have you the sort that rely on two screws crushing the cable? I had the screw type and sometimes just got a click when operating the starter. The screws were fully tightened but not fully gripping the cable which caused it to spark with a clicking sound. Changed them for crimped type.

 

I am still getting the noises from the starter solenoid, but no attempt to turn over the engine. I have bypassed to solenoid by joining up the live terminal cable to the starter cable, absolutely nothing. I have jacked up the front end and crawled underneath to inspect the gearbox linkages. all seems OK. I am thinking of dismantling the starter motor to ensure the bendix is doing what it should. I will attempt to purchase a new solenoid when the bank holiday is over and the traders open again. Fingers crossed.AlecG.

 

I would take a good look at your starter motor. It might have no brushes left. Remember you might have more than 1 issue at the same time.

 

The starter does seem to need servicing, probably as Glyn says, but test the starter on the car before removing it.
Don't assume it's grounded well either, use you jumper cables to ground the starter directly when testing.
You may even want to use another battery.

 

If after testing it and finding it faulty I would change the starter to a high torque modern starter motor. It would cost as much to get your old starter fully serviced or rebuilt as it cost to buy a new high torque model.
If it is the starter your hardest job is going to be getting it out. It is a bitch of a job. First the nuts are hard to get to then manhandling the starter out through the small gap between the block and chassis leg is tricky not helped by the weight of the starter motor. Some say you can take it out under the carbs and through the gap above the distributor but to do this you need to remove the distributor and the top hose from the inlet to the radiator. You also need to negotiate past all the carb springs and linkages plus the oil filter and oil sender unit whilst leaning over the top of the wing holding this lump of metal with one hand. You need two hands to pick the thing up off the floor so you can imagine how hard that is. The new high torque starter on the other hand can be picked up with one hand, easier to fit as it is smaller and turns the engine over like you forgot to put the plugs back in.


Old verses the new.

 

Well I managed to get the starter motor out from underneath. I then applied 12.7volts to it -and nothing happened. I have now partly dismantled it and have ordered new brushes for it that should be here by tomorrow. If that does not work, I think a new starter is required. S N G Barratts quote me £200. does that seem reasonable or what is the cost of one of those new high torque jobs? AlecG.

 

There are several companies that supply the high torque motors but they possibly all buy them from the same place as the prices are generally the same give or take.
I would highly recommend getting a new high starter. I run a wedding car business so my S Type is starting and stopping several times a day at weddings. In the summer when it was hot the old starter really struggled to turn the engine over and it was quite embarrassing some times sat outside the church, bride and groom in the back waving to everyone and the bloody engine was struggling to turn over. Replaced it with a high torque starter and it felt as if I had left the plugs out as it turned the engine over so quickly. Does not change a concours car that much as the starter cannot be seen from the top of the engine anyway. Here are some suppliers you can check out. I bought mine from Powerlite.
https://www.autosparks.co.uk/powerli...-starter-motor
https://www.powerlite-units.com/starters/rac302.html
https://www.sngbarratt.com/English/#...ter%20motor%60

 

Apart from mechanical problems with the bendix I find the majority of problems in starters comes down to worn out brushes.
There will be some, where the starter has been overheated with insulation break down in the fields and damage to the commutator.
There may also be a bearing failure resulting in "poling" of the armature.
At 250 pounds for a new light weight starter I would give the brushes a go first up.
.I'll lay bets it's the brushes.

 

You and I Bill!

 

Well, I have decided to get a new high torque motor. Awaiting delivery! AlecG.