story so far

well last w/end i decided to fit the new fuel filter [thanks the Zip&the Tig] what a pig ,warning to anyone attempting this job ,use penatrating fluid for bout a year before,however after gently pulling out filter using finger and thumb[tee hee]fit new one. . . well she refused to start[b****] pulled of the out put hose and got this orrible foamy fuel out, kept ingition on till it got a bit better,and put hose back and hey dingle ,she started,took her on a test run and sweet as a nut. . . well i ran her most the week and twas feeling a little bit cocky, you know like dont you play up with me cos i know how to sort you out[big mistake] . . . travling on A4 bout 55mph and that horrible ems light came on, engine stopped steering like a tractor brakes like a skoda , and a skid mark on my leather seat, started again after 15min wait and has ran since this u/date , well folks she's done me ,i drove past a scap dealers to try and scare her, but think she's to smart for intimidation,think i might have to swallow my pride and book in to lr and pay the piper, unless someone has been here before and can help. . . a broken Ming

You say she has ran alright since, does the fault only occur at speed as i think you said in your earlier post that you where on a dual carrigeway when she last failled.

The reason i ask is it may be a fuel pressure regulator thats on its last legs as when your speed increases so does the requirement for fuel and if its failling this is when you are most likely to see it as town driving doesnt require so much pessure.

Zippy

let me know what the symptoms are again

Well it always seems to happen at about 55 to 80 mph and about 1/2 to an hour of constant speed, has never yet done it round town, and i always get the ems light up, and will refuse to re start until left for 15 to 20 mins and even then i have to put my foot half way down on peddle, its done me bout six time in 3 weeks ,however since changing the filter , it starts first time , if i listen i can hear the fuel pump , on the rare times it wont start first time i cannot here it [or it could be my weird imagination] might try a Basil Faulty on her. . .

Ming, have you checked all the connections to the fuel pump as you have said you can hear it when it does start and not when it doesnt also check the fuel pump relay.

Since you have changed the fuel filter you say its starts easier which may indicate the fuel pump is weak as the new filter is allowing the fuel through easier than the last one and not requiring so much pressure from the pump.

It will be interesting to see what Tiga has to say.

Zippy

hi zippy hi ming well i have read your piece again,now the fuel pump should start when the ignition is turned on to position 2 it will only run for about 20 secs until the pump then recieves a signal to run continuosly from getting crank signal over 200 rpm and other feed dater all sorted by the engine ecm,if the car has been running better because of new filter,this is 1 because the filter is not blocked reducing any flow making life easier for the pump,2 if the pump does not run on first turn on i dont believe its because of an electrical fault i would say that your pump is sticking causing no fuel pressure,the only way to check this is by turning the ignition on and off to see if the pump starts everytime,if you turn ignition on and pump does not start you need to just tap the pump to see if this unloggess it self this normally works. i used to be a great believer in that if the pump runs when turned on it cant be the pump WRONG,i have changed at least 20 td4 fuel pumps that just stop everynow and again sometime on a run they seem to get hot and stick inside and when they cool down they run again,just check this as best you can i know its awkward but a new pump is about £200 pound so i dont just fit these willy nilly,but looking at all your symptoms and of course there is only 1 pump on newer td4s so when they stop working the car stops the older td4 used to keep going until you changed the the fuel fiter then they would not restart,the fuel pressure sensor as such is built into the fuel pipe just by the side of the inertia switch below the E box,if you disconect this it just sends a signal to the ecm to push full pressure through to the high pressure pump at a default of 440kpa this will bring the mil light on dash until reconected but the pump always pumps full speed regardless it is not ecm controlled,apart from turning it on so all i can say is keep trying ignition switching and hope pump jams or if it breaks down see if pump will run then,this is about all the advise i can give at the moment with trying these ideas out hope this helps tiga

Thanks the Zip & Tig taken note of your thoughts , think you might be close on this tig, cos when it starts first wham i can always hear that lift pump a grumbling on the very few times she takes time to start i cannot hear that grumbling noise, however that said since changing that filter the starting has improved no end, at this time i cannot get it to fail . . . but i feel sure it will return , and if and when i will now know to put on that ignition and feel the pump, will keep ya posted . . . a feeling a bit better Ming

Thats what we are here for Ming , its so annoying when you dont know the cause but at least you have a place to look, otherwise it would need you to take it to a LR dealer who will change everything and pull your pants down in the process

I look after an old RR Vogue 3.5 V8 and it too used to just stop for no reason and guess what it was, a sticking fuel pump, changed it and all was fine.

Zippy

only one thing ming you said the pump makes a grumbling noise,does it really! if so change it it should sound like a busy bee,just buzzing away tiga

Cheers lads might try and get the part / and fit , got nothing to loose at this point, my lr warrenty ran out 2 weeks before i got this fuel problem[do'h] changing the subject i changed the oil last week +filter and had to chisel off those stupid rivets holding the cowling up put in stainless bolts for quick release[why did they put those stupid rivets in] and how the hell have they changed the oil? its beyond me. . .

OH ming you made the same mistake a lot of people make you have to unbolt the under tray not grind the rivets off,the undertray makes up some of the rigidity of the cars overall strength,from underneath there are 2 13mm bolts in each rear corner of undertray and 1 13mm bolt at the front of undertray sometimes 2 depends on model also 2 philips screws holding front valance to undertray and there might be 2 philips srews on the front side of undertray holding an end plastic tounge on and last but not least there are 2 10mm bolts towards the rear of undertray with metal tounges,yes i know how many bolts these all go through the ali undertray so you cant get it wrong,what we do as we get fed up is if its a td4 we only drop the 2 rear 10mm bolts cut a 5 litre can in half to make a funnel/drip tray and take out sump bung and drain oil into another container underneath i hope this helps for next time ming.

Well she done me again , went up a steep hill, she spluterd a bit got to the top and wham she stopped[i'm getting used to it now]thought well just chill out ming, so walked to a local paper shop, read the paper ,walked back after bout 20 mins [this is the normal time for a re start] tryed to start the b**** na she was being her usual snotty self phoned for R A C assist 1hr later rac man pulls up [they all know me now] tells him the story. . . he puts his lap top on [no code faults] pull off i/p pipe to the lift pmp no fuel , puts a vacuum puller on pipe no fuel , say's lets get some fuel, i say but gauge says half full , he say's it could be lying [this man is now my hero] so stick fuel in , try again,na ,he makes technical phone call to a mate who's the bees knees on l/r's ,he says your pmp in fuel tank is kaput mate ,i said do'h ,he say's can tow you their and he can fix it,i said lets go man,. . .to cut a very long story short it twas the internal fuel pmp u/s bout £200 Quite a common problem . . . have to take the carpet up in the back to gain accsess ,the pmp and fuel sender is one unit if you get a new one [bout an hours job] they changed to just one pmp on the 2003 model i think, however i'm hopeing this has sorted it and posting this in case somebody has a the same sort of problem. . . would like to thank the Zip & the Tig for there helpfull i/p, if she keeps on purring for me might treat her to a wash and vac [i know how to treat a lady]. . . will keep posted on how she behaves.

sorry ming feel i let you down thought yours only had i pump because you never queried when i said about doing fuel filter would have told you then 2 listen for pump in boot you are right the changed over in2002 some only have i pump so it does get a bit cheaper when they go wrong as only i pump 2 buy happy motoring treat her to a wash and vac bless her tiga

Cheers the Tig , and yes you were correct bout the cowling i had another look [silly ming] but i quite like my mod it's not silly and quick to release , and maintains the strenth,dont worry bout pmp least your hart twas in right place, other people might learn from my story,and i'm begining to learn bout the inards,so all is cool. . .