Car won't start

We have a freelander TD4 52 plate. We have been having problems with it starting once warm, it will go for days without any starting problems then it will go for days when it takes 3 or 4 attempts to start it. It always starts from cold. Yesterday when my husband got into it from work it was completely dead, the lights, central locking are all working but when you turn the key absolutely nothing. He had to get a row home. We r not sure if we are dealing with 2 separate problems or if the problem is connected. Anyone any ideas ? Anne

If you're not mechanically minded you could always try a garage to sort it out for you.

Ha ha yip your right I'm not very mechanically minded, it was really just to get ideas to pass on to the garage and also to get an idea of cost as we have already spent over 2K on this car this year. The mechanic I use is an independent guy who has a garage at the back of his house. He thought it was some fuel cable thing , I'm sure you will know what I mean, and he changed that. Now he thinks it may be a sensor. Just trying to get an idea of what I'm deing with and if we have one problem or 2. Anne

Hi Anne

It sounds like a fuelling issue, maybe the filter is blocked, or the pump is failing.
The filter is relatively cheap, the pump less so

For today's non start I would check battery and starter motor.
For the intermittent starting .....camshaft sensor would be the first thing I would check and then check the contacts on the fuel rail pressure sensor are clean.

the car opens fine with the remote and the dash lights up when you put the key in but when u turn the key .... Nothing. The breakdown guy checked the battery and connections and it's fine.

Fair enough....but a duff battery can still have enough juice to run everything else but not enough to turn the engine over.
We've had it many times on here where people are sure the battery is ok and it turns out to be duff.
If you have another car and some jump leads try starting it this way.If you still have no joy I would then be looking at the starter motor and checking all the fuses and relays.......after that it could be a faulty ignition switch.

I'll pass this on to mechanic, the breakdown guy checked all the battery and tried jump starting it. Could it be anything to do with the fob/key. When you turn it it isn't even clicking, no sound at all ?

Hi Anne, welcome to the forum.

Easy bit first, the car is NOT supposed to bleep at you when you unlock it, it is telling you that the battery in the remote fob needs replacing. Battery is CR2023, and is available from loads of places, maplins, boots to name but two who are cheaper than halfords.

Secondly, in the middle of the dash instruments, between the rev counter and the speedo at the bottom is a red led (light). When the vehicle is locked, this is the red led that flashes.

When you unlock with a fob with a failing battery, as well as the beeps, it will flash faster than normal.

When you unlock normally, it should just stop flashing and then you start the car. If the red led stays on then it is indicating that the immobilser has well, immobilsed the vehicle.

Is it manual or auto ? If it's auto, check dash display for which gear it's in, as it will only start in park or neutral.

Also been a few instances of ignition barrels going faulty.

good luck with this, keep coming back to us !