Help! Suggestions and advice needed...

This is my first post, it's a long story but please bear with me.

I was recommended someone about 40 miles from where I live to replace the clutch and front discs and pads on my 52 plate Disco 2. I rang him and he gave me a good price so almost 7 weeks ago I took it to him to do what should have been at most a 2 day job.

Firstly, they sent him the wrong clutch. Then it turned out my DMF needed replacing as well. This done he then tried to get the gearbox back in. This apparently took him hours as it would quite go back in. It then turns out that this is only the second TD5 he's ever worked on. I was due to pick the car up when he rang to tell me that the clutch pedal had gone to floor and the master cylinder was leaking. After doing this the clutch still wouldn't work. He rang for advice and found out that he had put something in the wrong way around. i don't quite know what this was but apparently it goes in differently on the Disco 2 with DMF than the Disco 1 - may have been the plate itself(?). So, out came the gearbox again. He then had to charge the battery up because he'd had the doors open and it had gone a bit flat.

The car was finally ready over three weeks after it went in. Due to this we were a day late going on holiday with our caravan at half term and got caught in horrendous traffic. During the journey we noticed that the central locking wasn't activating on driving off, our trailer light on the dash wasn't working (or the trailer indicator 'bleep') and at one point we pulled into a layby and the wipers didn't stop even with the key removed until I turned off the switch.

15 miles from our destination the oil pressure warning light came on. Due to the road and traffic it was at least a quarter of a mile before I could pull over in a layby but the car was running fine. Recovery were called and the guy didn't check anything except the dipstick before telling me that my oil pump had gone and I couldn't drive it. I told him what work I'd had done and asked whether there was a chance that this was as a result of it. He said it wasn't. We were then recovered to our destination and 5 days later recovered home.

When we got home I decided to take a look for myself (my wife had been really against this while we were away). I found (some of you may have guessed!) that the wire from the sensor had been caught in the bellhousing and had eventually ripped it out of the plug and disappeared. I phoned the guy and he said he would fix it. I told him i would drive it over. Anyway, the car wouldn't start - it was turning over but just wouldn't fire up. I took the battery out and charged it fully overnight. It still didn't start the next day. Whilst I was doing this I also found a bolt half an inch out of the bellhousing and a 10mm spanner in the engine bay.

A few days later he came out with a booster and tried to start it again. He then said everything needed re-setting but he didn't have the equipment. Eventually about ten days later he came out again to fix the wire and run diagnostics. He traced the wire and said as he wanted to do a proper job he would take it to the garage(he had his trailer with him). He then went to plug in for diagnostics and found that the one he had got used a different plug. Anyway, he told me to try the key and the car started straight away(!).

Yesterday we picked the car up from his garage. He'd done the wiring, checked all connections and looked for oil in the loom. My wife had a 40 mile run home including a stop for fuel and a trip to Tesco. Apparently it ran really well with no problems. Last night she went to work and this morning the car wouldn't start - it's turning over fine but just won't fire.

The mechanic went on holiday this morning and we are so fed up. We're meant to be going away next Friday as well.

Please help!

i think you need another mechanic,he put clutch plate in wrong way round fair enough easy mistake trapping wire again easy but you allways check, before giving back to customer, i would see if you can get dignostic kit on it,maybe some one on here might be near you,its worth getting your own hawkeyey it will save you money in long run, he would have had to remove crank sensor to remove gearbox is it fastened in properly ,is battery a bit low ,enough to turn over but not for ecu ,i would definately find different mechanic you should have been pirority since he made mistakes

Where abouts are you? Then, someone can hopefully recommend a good mechanic.

Thanks James. I've spoken to a couple of people but they don't want to touch it - probably see it as someone else's problem.

I replaced the battery this morning as when I took it out to recharge it recently it did look very old. However, still no joy. Where is the crank sensor?

Mikey, I'm jst outside Dover in Kent.

A further update to this...

My mate had a look today. He has a TD5 defender.

On turning the ignition on he said he would expect to hear the fuel pump priming. We couldn't hear this. The car wouldn't start. You could just about hear the pump working with the carpet and boot floor cover removed.

We checked that power was getting to the pump, it was. On removing the pump/sender unit from the tank there was a strange fishy smell - someone has since said this could mean an electrical problem (?).

We took the unit out and and cleaned it, although there didn't seem to be much crud there. When we put it back I turned the ignition on the pump was hardly making any noise but the vehicle started. I have driven it home and it was fine.

Can a fuel pump that's on its way out work intermittently? As you will have seen in my first post the car would start then a few days later it started on the first turn of the key.
There may have been some crud there that we've dislodged today or is the pump on its last legs?

BTW, the pump and sender unit wasn't the original one, it had a date sticker from 2006 on top.

Any further idea or advice would be appreciated. Do I go and buy a new pump unit, bearing in mind they aren't cheap?