Engine just died - Aberdeen

Hi all,

History: left home last night got about 1/2 mlie from house and the engine just died and the engine management light came on (yellow one with ! in the middle). Dispite waiting and trying again the engine turns over but will not start.

Ended up walking home and getting the wife's Freelander and towing my one back.

I appreciate there is little anyone can offer in assistance with what the problem might be as there are no history or noises etc, I was wondering if there was any fellow members who are up in the Aberdeen area who might have a Hawkeye reader for the freelander (or another type that works for them) who could assist in the initial investigation?

Does anyone have any ideas of where to start looking?

Short of that its buying one and or towing it to a garage.

Any offers of assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Matthew

timing belt?

td4 has a chain

Hi Mattie,

You haven't given us much info, have you?

The most common reason for the engine dying as you describe is fuel pump failure - on all models.

What is it? Year, model, petrol/diesel, age?????

When was the fuel-filter last changed?

Can you hear the fuel pump running when you first switch on?

Giving the pump a whack with the handle of a screw-driver has a high chance of starting it as a short term fix.

Good luck.

S.

Hi,

Freelander 53 plate Td4.

I gave it a full service about 4 months ago - all filters, including fuel, crank case etc.

The Freelander has been running fine without a single hint of anything wrong - was away for xmas and put about 1K on it, then back a forth to work for the week, then the pizza run on Friday night and engine stops.

Wasnt able to go about listening for the fuel pump by the rear wheel arch last night as was on a pitch black country road trying to avoid local loons out for a blast. Will put ignition on and check for the faint wurr of the pump when i get back tonight.

When you say give the fuel pump a whack - which one do you mean?

Many thanks

Matthew

if your battery is good then i would go with a fault in the fuel system

The wheel arch fuel pump on my Freelander has never yet had an issue - that said it was only last week that i changed the wheel arch fuel pump on the wife's 53 Td4 as that was making a din of a noise.

That one i replaced with a LR pump and thats all wirring away now nicely - but mine has always been wirring away nicely no advese noises.

The wife's Freelander has covered about 85K and mine has done about 90K. Dont know otherwise but would think mine is still the original pump.

I mean the awkward to reach low pressure pump alongside the fuel filter at the rear wheel arch. If you've changed the filter yourself you'll know how awkward!

If you can't hear it running for a 30 seconds or so when you first switch on the ignition, then you have have found your fault.

As I said a whack directly to the pump itself might just get it running - purely as a temp measure.

Don't be tempted to get a cheapy off eBay - they have a high failure rate and a shorter life than the 'real' one from Town & County.

Battery is good, turns the engine over no problems.

Have strong belief its a fuel or sensor issue.

Thinking i might disconnect the fuel line that comes into the engine bay tonight and see if i am getting fuel through.

Otherwise, could it be a wiring issue with the fuel sensor on the rail?

What other things might prevent the ECU from allowing the engine to run? - assuming I am getting fuel through?

Is it common for the fuel pump in the rear wheel arch to just fail like that?

Thinking about it, if it did, it would then starve the main fuel pump of the engine - so yes could be a good pointer.

I can second the "Dont get cheepie fuel pump off ebay" i did originally fit a said cheepie to the wife's Freelander and you could hear that one surging trying to keep up with the demand - plus it made more noise than the failing LR one that I took off. Hence that one was off and now used as transfer pump for general liquids, and proper LR one fitted - Lesson learnt!

Mattie said:

Is it common for the fuel pump in the rear wheel arch to just fail like that?

Thinking about it, if it did, it would then starve the main fuel pump of the engine - so yes could be a good pointer.

I can second the "Dont get cheepie fuel pump off ebay" i did originally fit a said cheepie to the wife's Freelander and you could hear that one surging trying to keep up with the demand - plus it made more noise than the failing LR one that I took off. Hence that one was off and now used as transfer pump for general liquids, and proper LR one fitted - Lesson learnt!

Click to expand...

The answer is Yes! - it can fail just that like - mine did - no warning whatsover - fine one day - then absolutely zilch the next.

No warning light either - not even the one my wife says is a helicopter with an exclamation mark above it!

Too many Vietnam war films warps the brain.

S.

Hi,

I bow to your knowledge, just got back home and in the piece of my garage I switched on the ignition and no wirring of the lp fuel pump. After a few seconds there is a short wirring from the engine bay but that's it.

Based on that I believe you are right and that my lp fuel pump has failed.

I shall try giving it a thump, in the meantime I shall order a replacement LR pump.

It does surprise me that there was no initial warning or tell-tale noises. The wife's lp fuel pump was making a loud noise before it started to fail.

Just a further thought, I think I remember reading somewhere that the lp fuel pump has a life of about 75k.

Don't know if there is any truth in it, but having two Freelanders and now replacing my second lp fuel pump. One at 95k and one that was making noises at 87k.

There might be some truth in it after all.

Mattie said:

Hi,

I bow to your knowledge, just got back home and in the piece of my garage I switched on the ignition and no wirring of the lp fuel pump. After a few seconds there is a short wirring from the engine bay but that's it.

Based on that I believe you are right and that my lp fuel pump has failed.

I shall try giving it a thump, in the meantime I shall order a replacement LR pump.

It does surprise me that there was no initial warning or tell-tale noises. The wife's lp fuel pump was making a loud noise before it started to fail.

Click to expand...

Hi there Matt,

I was surprised too at getting no warning of any kind.

I checked everything I could think of before coming to the conclusion that it was the pump.

My Scangauge OBD reader didn't give me any fault codes with mine so I was dubious.

But it seems that lots of them fail like that.

Dealer in Aberdeen seems always to have 10 or so in stock, my pal in Parts there tells me - fast moving stock they call it. Very common fault.

Having said that - its only a 'highly likely' - not a '100% certainty' that's your problem.

Good luck,
Singvogel.

Mine failed at under 50k and at 4 years old - like yours fine one minute and dead the next but hitting the pump (under wheel arch) got me home. I fitted a non genuine pump to start with it was so noisy, later I fitted a new Land Rover pump and quiet was restored.

Just to update you.

Had the wheel off this afternoon and confirmed that the fitted pump was not working.

Tried giving it a thump, nothing. Then I remembered I had the cheepie eBay one that I had fitted and removed on the wife's freelander.

I fitted the old pump and all sorted not, freelander running again. Will swap it out for a proper LR one soonest.

Many thanks for your help.

mine did that it was the pump in the tank td4 auto

Hooray!

Hoo ah!

Just reading my earlier post....I fitted the old pump and all sorted out ........ Don't you just auto correct.

Mattie said:

Just reading my earlier post....I fitted the old pump and all sorted out ........ Don't you just auto correct.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean exactly - but everything seems fine - to me.