2nd time 300tdi would not start just got towed

Oh the embarrassment.....this is the second time it has turned over fine but not started in the last 3 months the first time I left it for 15mins when the battery still had a bit left in it and it went, this time the battery went flat and I had to call the AA who also could not start it . In the attempt I have a horrible feeling they over heated the starter motor as in the end it would barely turn over on jump leads.

After the first occurrence of the starting problem I replaced the lift pump, glow plugs, fuel filter and cleaned the sedimenter which was fairly clean anyway all as a precaution given the starting issue did not occur again (until now) and since that work there have been absolutely no problems starting and it must have been started 100 times, it has to be given plenty of time for the plugs to warm up after which it invariably starts first time, except it just didn't.

There's fuel coming out of the 10mm af filter bleed screw and power to the glow plugs, and the battery tested out fine albeit almost out of charge by the time the AA guy tested it, and the AA reckoned maybe the alarm was on but I have never used the fob only the key. The central locking works and indicators flash twice so I guess the alarm is setting.

Any ideas please on what to check next please? I'm thinking it can't have fuel at the injectors but what could "randomly" cause that to occur? I've seen mention of a sticking fuel cut off valve when searching other posts but I don't know how to eliminate that as a cause?

I have the emergency key access code if needed, it's on charge at the moment so I'm not sure if it still won't start yet but either way I need to find out what's causing the problem.

Edit: it's an 96 auto with mechanical injector pump and no electronic EDC etc, just ABS and SRS.

air ingress in the fuel lines-blocked fuel filter-fuel solenoid not opening.
try cracking an injector nut to see if fuel is getting to injectors,whilst cranking.

check the solenoids getting a supply.
did it have the edc pump and has been changed?

Thanks guys. The fooking thing started first time this morning even though the battery was only just charged enough to turn it over!

I'll look up how to find/fix/murder the fuel cut off valve as the next step...it's much harder to find the fault of course when it's all working......

The engine number is 20L360x so comes w/o EDC as standard. It's "NZ New" which means less emissions stuff compared to the Jap import to NZ. It's got OBD2 socket under the dash but only the ABS and SRS can be diagnosed with that (I think).

I would lok at a sticky stop solenoid ..

if it came with non edc pump as standard, then the immobiliser may be the spider.
these were usually fitted to the one wire pump and suffer from dry joints, giving the symptoms you have.
if youve got the 3 wire pump, these are controlled thru the alarm ecu, and are a bit more of a #### to sort out.
reason i said earlier to check the solenoid suply, was cos i thought it had been swapped at some time, and someone has put in a new supply to it.
be good to check as it is tho, as it may be immobiliser related

I've just searched the Land Rover workshop manual for 95 onwards, I can't find info on the stop solenoid/cut off valve etc (except for the EDC/ECM models - not mine - and even that info. is really vague) but I guess there must be a electrically operated valve somewhere to stop the engine when the ign is turned off?

Is the valve part of the injector pump?

If it helps, EGR was never fitted to this model, and I'm almost certain there is no ECM module, as there is no EDC fitted as standard to this model either.

As I have the mechnical injector pump I did the turbo pressure "pump tweaks" a few months ago.

EDIT: I've also just read the section in the manual on the alarm system, I can't say i understood it all, but it does look like the immobilser side of things can be activated by "accident" even if one is just using the key and never the fob..maybe it's a mistake I've made not even trying to get the fob and alarm working properly. I thought to do so might be more trouble than its worth and just put the fob out of harms way when I bought the car. I don't remember seeing any alarm light on the dash (I'm not even sure which one it is) but maybe the bulb is not working.

yup the solenoid is part of injection pump-energises with ignition on (via immobiliser) and de-energises on ignition off.

Spider possibly?

Thanks again guys, I had good play with the alarm last night and whilst the fob does not appear to work at all, the ign key appears to making the alarm come on just fine when the door is locked. I noticed for the first time that the "LED" light in the bottom middle of the cluster is flashing as it should when it's (door) locked with the key, the other alarm light at top right of the cluster does not come on at all but the bulb checked out OK - but maybe it's not supposed to come on in normal operation.

I now reckon the manual is a bit confusing and it IS OK to just use a key to lock/unlock this car - as long as the fob is NEVER used to lock it.

If the starting problem occurs again I'll make sure I try locking/unlocking a door in case its the immobiliser has come on, as the manual seems to indicate it can be immobilsed "by itself" after 5 mins or less in other circumstances, all without locking the door.

BUT the big news is that I found a single black wire going attached to a male spade terminal on the rear of the injector pump (under the throttle cables)., under the spade terminal is a black plastic round lump about the size of a thumb, and I reckon that is almost certainly a solenoid, more to the point, disconnecting the wire meant the engine will crank but not start, so it's almost certainly the fuel cut off solenoid/valve.

Anyway, the male part of spade connector was filthy and the female part is also quite a loose fit on it, so I have cleaned it all up and HOPEFULLY that is the problem sorted, I'm not sure what else I can do unless the problem re-occurs. if that was the cause I'm surprised the engine did not cut out when going along but maybe I was lucky.

I cleaned up all the battery and earth terminals as well last night, and will get a new battery just in case, but I think it's fingers crossed now it does not happen again and I can carry on driving it.

Fingers REAL crossed, as it was the wife that got stranded when it would not start......not me :argue:

Hope you are sorted