And so it begins! :(

So I'm on my way down to the Alps and we have stopped in Dijon for the night.

The Freelander is now running pretty rough, curiously idle is perfect, always has been, but off idle I'm getting a horrible clacking and much reduced power - no smoke though of any colour although I do get a white puff on starting. Motorway speeds of 55mph plus are fine, but pulling away from tolls is interesting!

MAF? Injectors? What do you think?

Bit more info TD4 or L series, Clacking continuous under load or intermittent.

TD4, very light throttle is OK, clacking under load on acceleration until around 2k then it quietens down and speed picks up.

Clacking as in pinking (diesel knock) type noise ???

If so it does sound like an injection problem - injectors - pump ?????

Yeah I think so. I'm hoping it's not some sort of engine knock to be honest as it had an oil change (5w30) by a Land Rover specialist, before which there were no issues.

Could also be a dirty fuel fill up

did you check the oil level ?

Yeah, checked oil level and it has been marginally over-filled... nothing to write home about.

Fuel wise, I always fill up from a local shell garage on Nitro+ so I would hope it's not that. It has also continued since filling up in France on BP Ultimate.

The noise seemed to improve today completely randomly, I was going up a hill behind a tanker and had to shift down into second and floor it, after which the clacking quietened down for almost the rest of the journey. However, I now have next to no power below 2000rpm, and the turbo sounds like it takes ages to spool down when I dip the clutch at speed...

I stopped in at a garage on the way, a guy who services and looks after most of the Landy's in our valley, and he rekons injectors are fine as it idles perfectly and it starts from hot every time. He rekons it wouldn't start if injectors were faulty... any thoughts on this?

He said to wiggle the fuel pressure sensor wiring about, but it has been replaced with the new loom and green plug at some stage in its life.

I am going to change the oil, just for peace of mind, carry out a leak-off test and check the new BMW PCV that I asked the garage to fit. Alarmingly, for a so called specialist with a very good reputation, the proprietor had no idea about the BMW cyclone part being fitted in place of the standard LR PCV...

Anyway, I will revert once I've had a play about with some plugs.

Dirty fuel filter?
Check your vacuum pipes too they do become perished especially the turbo ones.

I prefer a 40 weight oil too ..either 5w40 or 10w40. I just don't trust a 5w30 oil.

You don't mention the MIL light coming on - so presumably it didn't, but I wonder if its worth putting a code reader on it to see if the car can give you any advice?

Sorry, meant to say that there was no MIL light at all, and yes I have confirmed it is working when switching ignition on!

I have one of those ELM OBD2 readers and there are no faults according to this. How accurate this is I don't know...

I'm going to pull it apart tomorrow, carry out a leak-off test and check that the PCV has been fitted correctly. I'm also going to clean up the connector to the fuel pressure sensor and see if I can get the MAP sensor out for a clean too.

Cheers for the input.

SnowTrippin said:

Yeah, checked oil level and it has been marginally over-filled...

I am going to change the oil, just for peace of mind,

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Keep an eye on the oil level.
Checked the oil on my td4 when the engine started running roughly and found level high. Local independant LR garage found a seal on injector pump had failed, allowing diesel to pass into sump.

Boost valve not working or vac pipes perished?

Rob Anybody said:

Keep an eye on the oil level.
Checked the oil on my td4 when the engine started running roughly and found level high. Local independant LR garage found a seal on injector pump had failed, allowing diesel to pass into sump.

Click to expand...

Will do, thanks. Can't do anything today, tipping down with rain but weather is looking better tomorrow.

roccotune said:

Boost valve not working or vac pipes perished?

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Where is the boost valve located and how can I check it's operating properly?

Are all the vac lines easily accessible to inspect?

SnowTrippin said:

Where is the boost valve located and how can I check it's operating properly?

Are all the vac lines easily accessible to inspect?

Click to expand...

Down behind the turbo, best seen from underneath of through the drivers wheel arch. It's a little back plastic valve that's electric. It controls when the VNT on the turbo operates by allowing vacuum or not.

You may also want to Mach sure that the VNT mech on the turbo is working fully, you should be able to move it up and down with your finger or by joking a spanner over it, give it a good work out once in a while to keep it working.

There are not many vac pipes in a td4 so best check them all, most start on the right hand side of the engine from the vac tank

Rob Anybody said:

Keep an eye on the oil level.
Checked the oil on my td4 when the engine started running roughly and found level high. Local independant LR garage found a seal on injector pump had failed, allowing diesel to pass into sump.

Click to expand...

Hi Rob,

So I've had a chance to look at the car today, and although it is parked on slightly uneven ground the oil level looks way too high.

I'm going to carry out a leak off test, bur can you let me know which pump seal failed on yours because I am going to get the car recovered to a garage as I don't want to drive it.

Cheers, Paul.

just thought I'd add that I've never had any hot start issues at all, it fires up first time every time, hot or cold, and idles perfectly.

Does this sound more like a pressure/pump issue than injectors?

At high speeds on the autoroute it was fine; plenty of power, would pull past 80mph easily with no noise or smoke, but it would rattle (like injector knock) and have no power below 2000rpm when stopping at the tolls

I'm going to hold on the oil level diagnosis for the moment as the car really is more uneven than it looks - just had a level to the sill and it is more nose down than I initially realised, and the oil doesn't smell at all of Diesel so hopefully if I move the car to flat ground the oil level should look better...

On another note, I found this 15mm split on the vac pipe from the little one-way valve to the EGR vacuum solenoid. The pipe to the EGR valve is fine. Am I ok to cut this just after the one-way valve and plug it?

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/attachment.php?attachmentid=72665&stc=1&d=1434631820

Also, what is this bit where the hard vac hose goes into? Top of the inlet manifold/cylinder head or something to do with the fuel system?

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/attachment.php?attachmentid=72664&stc=1&d=1434631820

Ok, been playing with the car and here's what I've found:

1.) Disconnected Inlet Air Temp sensor as I'd cleaned this before departing the UK - No difference, Torque App showed air temp at 41*c, whereas with it connected it was showing at around 32*c

2.) Disconnected MAF - rev's now build properly in neutral whereas before they would rise slowly and lumpy. Throttle response MUCH improved but lots of black smoke when revving. No black smoke with the MAF connected. Over 2000rpm performance seems dulled vs with the MAF connected, but that is to be expected. Boost builds nice and smoothly to 12psi then tapers off to flat, whereas with the MAF connected boost would spike before dropping and levelling off. Engine rattle is more pronounced throughout the rev range with the MAF disconnected.

3.) Whilst I had the air cleaner cover off I decided to make sure that the garage had actually fitted the BMW PCV that I'd given them. It turns out they have, however they didn't fit the o-ring onto the cover, and the PCV itself wasn't seated fully

Could this be the real cause of my rattle? Is the o-ring critical to the operation of the PCV?