Freelander 1 Cold Start up issue

Hi there,

I picked up a Freelander 1 Auto TD4 2005. I have noticed that when the vehicle is cold I am having a lumpy idle issue. After the car has heated up it does away. I have attached a video of what I am experiencing below:

https://youtube.com/shorts/zyJbpi2widM?feature=share

I have ordered a crank case breather mod and a EGR delete. I am thinking of getting it carbon cleaned too. I am hoping this will help.

Is there anything else I can do? I’m just hoping it isn’t an injector issue.

Thanks.

Don't waste your money on a carbon clean, just doing a 100 mile motorway drive with a bottle of Comma Diesel Magic in the tank will give the same results.

That's an interesting issue, but it could be hard to trace.
I'd be looking at the fuel pressure live data first, both low and high pressure fuel rails.

Thanks for the advice, I will pick up some comma magic diesel in Halfords. For the sake of £8 it’s worth a try.

my neighbour has a snap on code reading so I will see if I can get some live data from the pressure fuel rails. I know these have common issues with the fuel pumps. I’m thinking I should change the fuel filter too.

Hi,

You can get a icarsoft reader for about 100 bucks, reads all the live data.

For your issue, can be a fuel leak in the fuel line, or the hp fuel pump, or an injector.

For the egr valve, never had an issue with it, no need to blank it.

Does it start on the button or it takes 2 or 3 seconds ?

I started it today and there was no lumping idle

I have purchased some comma diesel magic from Halfords. It was on offer for 7 pound. I will throw that in tomorrow when it open.

it started in 2 seconds today.

Hi,

At least 20 minutes at 3000~3500 rpms, it will clean the egr valve and a lot of the Carbon in the engine. But no bottle will fix an injector or leaking pump.

The engine should start on the button, even if it has already a lot of miles.

No smoke, no fuel or unburn’t diesel smell when starting ?

I will take it for a run later.

I recorded the start up this morning with the exhaust fumes.

There is some white smoke on the rough idle then goes away.

So this is the start up


This is the smoke on exhaust at the same time
https://youtube.com/shorts/uMUdiDo5gI8?feature=share

I haven’t had chance to use a scanner yet to see the live data of the fuel pressure.

Hi,

For the turbo :

Check if there is no cracked turbo hose.

For the fueling :

Check first if there is any fuel leak, no cracked fuel pipe ...
Then you can check the HP pump and the Low pressure pump values.
You can also test the injectors return flow.

So I changed the crack case breather mod today.

I noticed it already had one fitted. But the seals were leaking oil. So I changed it for a new one and put new seals in. For the sake of the money I paid for it, I may as well.

The Air Filter looks very new to be fair. I will change it anyway when I get round to servicing it with a Mann Filter. When I get paid.

I changed the EGR today and wanted to have a nose inside.

This was the old EGR inside


Then inside the engine was this


So I give them a good clean and put a EGR Delete on it because I already had it here. It started up straight away with no lumpy idle. If anything it accelerates quicker now and not so sluggish. I guess the real test will be in the morning. Because I have been out in it today so it wasn’t completely cold.

Altered tech, I checked all the hoses and there isn’t any leaks of what I can see visually and nothing under the car.

I’m still waiting for my neighbour to bring home a reader to test all the live data. I will see how that gets on, when he brings it home with him.

I suppose the next step for me now if there is no joy with the rough idle. Is to carry out an injector leak test and carry out the live data test.

I also have seen online mentioning that the glow plugs might need changing and can cause issues with rough idle on cold start up?

In the video below:


What is your thoughts on this?

If that’s the case I will take it to the garage. I don’t fancy my chance with one of them snapping on me. I also have no idea if they were ever changed in the past.

But thank you all for your help! It’s been very helpful. I am also loving the freelander and fixing its little issues on the way.

Did you remove the inlet manifold to clean out all that goop?
Even the intake ports will be choked up, so a scraper and workshop vacuum will be needed to clean those.
Lots of people use oven cleaner and a pressure washer to clean the intake manifold internally.

Hi,

According to the last video, I definitely think that is a bad injector.
That smoke certaintly smells like unburnt diesel, or bad combustion, very unpleasant to have that odor in the car.

Do a fuel flow return test.

For the glow plugs, if you see the indicator, and the battery drops around 11,5 volts, they are good. I will leave them alone.

There is too much carbon, even in inletet manifold.
Try 3000~3500 rpm on the freeway, it will certaintly clean most of it. But the engine needs to run good before.

I had a leaking fuel pump, a bad injector and a leaking return pipe.
I hope the 3 remaning will leave me alone for a long time, a new one cost 300 bucks, you also need the high presure pipe.

R17YS said:

I also have seen online mentioning that the glow plugs might need changing and can cause issues with rough idle on cold start up?

Click to expand...

if the weather were mid-winter near-to-freezing ..
without g.p.'s at all .. i'd expect extra crank time .. white smoke in exhaust .. rough idle for a some seconds.
i doubt very much that the 'fluctuating idle rpm' are related to the glow plugs.
more like ... small fuel pressure changes .. be the culprit ..
as the issue goes away once warmed up, i'd suspect an injector fault.

also .. be sure to keep the fuel-rail-press.-sensor plug contacts,
clean, and free of corrosion.

Try starting the car before the glow plug light goes out, just turn the key right away, maybe take out the cam sensor and wipe it clean, same with the crank sensor, when you cleaned the manifold out was it cleaned completely, also did you clean the MAP sensor on the side of the manifold.
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make sure it's super clean.
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Nodge68 said:

Did you remove the inlet manifold to clean out all that goop?
Even the intake ports will be choked up, so a scraper and workshop vacuum will be needed to clean those.
Lots of people use oven cleaner and a pressure washer to clean the intake manifold internally.

Click to expand...

I didn’t think to remove and to clean the inlet manifold. But I will definitely will take it off now when I give it a service soon.

If I am honest it’s running much better.. ‘touch wood’ I am not having the rough idle issue at all.

I personally thought it was a fuel issue too, but I guess you don’t want it to be the most expensive thing .

I will run a flow test on it now when I am off work. But it’s running much better just after that clean up and it’s a total different car.

I will see if I can get at the cam sensor later and give it clean to to be on the safe side. I have been getting it to running temperature and giving it a blast down the motorway at 3500rpm. This car was used a lot for short distances before me having it. So I’m hoping it’s just a build up of goop causing the issue I have been having. But I will check the injectors to be on the safe side. Thank you all for your help.

Hi,

it's normal that is running much better now in the end of april. You will not have cold start issue from may to september ...
But your car will use more fuel because of a fueling issue.

No need the clean the cam sensor, nor to change it, it is useless and it's not a common fault on that engine.
Changing the Injectors and HP pump are very common on the TD4 engine.

Regards

Also, if you have unburnt fuel smell, it well get worst and worst, and it very unpleasant to have that parfum in the car.
And no, an old diesel should not have a smelly exhaust ...

I’m thinking it’s a injector issue.

I bought leak off test and connected it up.

Turned on ignition and it’s ****ing out of 1 and 4 on the black pipe in the photo. I assumed that was the fuel return pipe

Is there something I missed here are doing it all wrong.

R17YS said:

I’m thinking it’s a injector issue.

I bought leak off test and connected it up.

Turned on ignition and it’s ****ing out of 1 and 4 on the black pipe in the photo. I assumed that was the fuel return pipe

Is there something I missed here are doing it all wrong.

Click to expand...

Lift out the injectors and had new copper washers, also replace the leak of hoses and plastic T joints with the brass ones you can buy of ebay,
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Thanks for the advice.

I done the leak off test and clamped the hose for now.

I ran for 2 minutes, I think injector 2 is leaking.