Broken down in France!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all,

My Disco 1998 300TDI Auto has a misfire which progressively got worse and the engined stalled on nuerous occasions until eventually it wouldn't start. It was fully serviced 2 months before we went on holiday - new filters etc and M.O.Ted a week before.

It looks like an electrical fault as one of the symptoms that crops up when it stalls is the glow plug light in the instrument panel won't illuminate. When it does illuminate it starts first time.

Fortunatly we had recovery insurance and were given a hire van for the rest of the holiday and the Disco was trailered to a 4x4 'specialist'. At the end of the holiday the 'mechanic' says it was an electrical fault but not sure which one and was unable to fix it.

At the end of our holiday we went to pick up our car which still hasn't been fixed and found out the 'mechanic' has gone on holiday for 2 weeks, with our car safely locked away until he comes back.

What I intend to do is have the Disco taken to another workshop when he gets back and with any good info. tell them where to start looking for this intermittent fault.

We're back home now (without the Disco), and a good tip for any Land Rover enthusiast that breaks down on the continent (particualy France) is to check if the workshop closes down for summer holidays. Also the ferry companies will not accept a broken down vehicle on their vessels, it has to be trailered on or driven on under its own steam. Also I would recommend you take out recovery insurance - it was the best £89 I spent - even if the international operators drove me mad with blunder after blunder.

If it makes you feel any better, my V8 died in Bordeaux last summer full of kids, wife, bikes etc, Land Rover dealer keen to help but as a petrol version, they had no engine parts in stock! Traced to a faulty distributor which I managed to limp home with although no tickover meant I had to push the damn thing through the toll booth at Nantes. Unless there's a better option, I'd get it to a dealer, might be a bit more costly but at least there's a fighting chance they might decode the problem. I was with the RAC and no problems at all.

Yes I have learnt to ensure we have adequate cover...

Here in the uk we have green flag ,, so we have no complaints about getting home while in the uk....

Last November my wife and son went to Germany for a weekend...on the way back in Belgium the transfer box caved in... 35 miles from the ferry port...

it's then we found that green flag do not have european cover they did pay a huge fee to get it towed to the ferry port.. which would only allow it on if it drove on and off....

Now the good part is Norfolk line were helpful and they got it back to Dover.. however when they called greenflag they refused to help as it was an existing fault from europe....

they were only saved by the fact that my sons friend went with them and he was in the RAC who eventually got them back to Luton...

an expensive lesson allround!

my sympathy's go to you!

fourcandles said:

Hi all,

My Disco 1998 300TDI Auto has a misfire which progressively got worse and the engined stalled on nuerous occasions until eventually it wouldn't start. It was fully serviced 2 months before we went on holiday - new filters etc and M.O.Ted a week before.

It looks like an electrical fault as one of the symptoms that crops up when it stalls is the glow plug light in the instrument panel won't illuminate. When it does illuminate it starts first time.

Fortunatly we had recovery insurance and were given a hire van for the rest of the holiday and the Disco was trailered to a 4x4 'specialist'. At the end of the holiday the 'mechanic' says it was an electrical fault but not sure which one and was unable to fix it.

At the end of our holiday we went to pick up our car which still hasn't been fixed and found out the 'mechanic' has gone on holiday for 2 weeks, with our car safely locked away until he comes back.

What I intend to do is have the Disco taken to another workshop when he gets back and with any good info. tell them where to start looking for this intermittent fault.

We're back home now (without the Disco), and a good tip for any Land Rover enthusiast that breaks down on the continent (particualy France) is to check if the workshop closes down for summer holidays. Also the ferry companies will not accept a broken down vehicle on their vessels, it has to be trailered on or driven on under its own steam. Also I would recommend you take out recovery insurance - it was the best £89 I spent - even if the international operators drove me mad with blunder after blunder.

Click to expand...

Hi there, I live permanently in France. Where is the vehicle currently?

Is there anything I can do to help?

It sounds to me like it's either fuel starvation due to a blockage in a filter or the fuel sedimenter or (recent personal experience) it's a problem with the feed to the fuel solenoid.

I just had to do this repair on my wife's tdi 200.

Send me a pm if you want some help.

Cheers
Dave