Thanks for that Mechanicolee, I really appreciate the work you're putting in to this problem. It's frustrating that I don't have the kit to do the proper tests on the injection side of things. I should be able to get a shot of an inductive current clamp from work to test the current draw. From memory the voltage from the battery drops to about 10.8v on continuous cranking. current draw, I have no idea though. I still havent had a look underneath to gauge what sort of mammoth task changing the starter will be anyway. Ive been holding off fitting it for the very reason you said. I could go to all the trouble - hours of labour and find that its a leaking valve inside the HP pump or something.
I shall get a shot of a current clamp when Im back at work on Monday and will test the current draw on a hot and a cold start and see if that gives me a better idea of the health of the starter. Are there different start protocols for a hot start and a cold start? ie would the car want to have a higher rpm to start from hot than it would from cold? maybe the hot wires and windings in the starter at 90 degrees increases the resistance enough to sap what power it does have. Certainly its hot starts are getting more laboured as time goes on, even the cold starts sometimes take a bit of cranking.
In your opinion,if you were me and you didnt have the equipment to properly test/prove/rule out the injection side and the starter tests showed a high current draw from the starter, would you think it reasonable to look into changing the starter? Cost isn't an issue as I'd be doing the work myself and I already have the motor but its going to be a big job, I'm definitely going to lose my temper with it several times and there are no gaurantees. I'd love to think that its just a case of swapping a sensor and everything will be fine but I have no belief that it will be the case.
Off on a similar tangent to your disco 4 story. My friend has a defender 90 with a TD5 engine. He was having similar problems although his just never started full stop. would just crank and crank till the battery was dead but would start perfectly with a bump start. He had it scanned and it was a sensor that supposedly detects wear in the crankshaft by picking up vibration. The front bearing on his starter motor had worn so that when it was cranking it vibrated making the sensor think the crank bearings were gone.
I like my old series three. it only has four fuses, which are mostly for the lights. Everything is completely mechanical and i can tell what needs fixed or adjusted just by ear. maybe I'm too old fashioned for such a complictaed car!
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