Cutting out then refusing to stop!

I have a K reg tdi200 disco.
Everything has been fine for a while but now it cuts out intermitantly whilst i'm driving then the engine starts again as i'm coasting along.
This first happened two days ago and when I got it home I parked it up and switched off the ignition and the engine kept going!!! I had taken the key out of the ignition barrel but the engine kept going. I put the key back in switched the ignition on and off a few times and eventually i stopped.

I have checked for dirt in the deisel filter and it looks nice and clean. I suspect the fuel cut off celenoid may be failing but I don't know where to find it and I wouldn't know where to start testing it.

also, when I took the deisel trap off it was only half full. I undid the bleed screw, used the lift pump to fill the trap then tightened the screw and let my beautiful land rover tick over for a while.
When I undid the trap again, it was half full again.
is this normal? (I don't mean calling my land rover beautiful, I mean the half full fuel filter :-D) or could air be getting into the fuel system somehow? I can't find any evidence of any fuel leaks.

Thanks in advance for any help


tr1cky

I have a similar problem with my mates L reg 200tdi when you switch the headlights on it stalls the car. Obviously because your driving the car self bumpstarts. I also had the engine continue to run even though I had the key in my pocket. It was because the hazard lights were on at the time. The problem seems to be the stalks and ignition switch.

redhand said:

I have a similar problem with my mates L reg 200tdi when you switch the headlights on it stalls the car. Obviously because your driving the car self bumpstarts. I also had the engine continue to run even though I had the key in my pocket. It was because the hazard lights were on at the time. The problem seems to be the stalks and ignition switch.

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Could that not be related to the spider??

I am unsure as to whether the problem is electrical. The only thing I had on at the time was the radio and thats allways on. I drove it last night to try to recreate the problem and the bloody thing never missed a beat. . .

The only other thing is, there is a switch on the dash that a previous owner must have put on. I presume someone had it fitted cos I've never seen a similar switch on another landy. it's positioned next to a little red light which flases 2 or 3 times when the ignition is switched off. it has a little red light on it that never lights up regardless of the position of the switch. I've played with the switch in the past to figure out what it does but got nowhere. I have pulled the switch out and it is wired up but it seems to do nothing.

I don't think this has anything to do with the problem and if it did I wouldn't have a clue where to start tracing it back to see where it's terminated and what it does. I don't fancy taking the dash out when it's most likely going to be a wild goose chase and anyway, I don't know enough about auto electrics to make sense of it.

It's all a bit

Tr1cky

It sounds to me like it could be the ignition switch itself but it brought to mind a similar fault (engine kept running with key removed) I had a few years ago, It was with a petrol not diesel but it could be something similar. I had been driving in very wet weather and pulled in to refuel, I had the lights on becuase it was raining, stopped at the pump and switched off, engine continued to run until I took my foot off the brake pedal. When i put my foot on the brake pedal after that all the lights on the dash came on.
What was happening, The tow socket was half full of water and because the lights are fed from the live (unswitched) side of the ignition and the Brake light is fed from the dead (switched) side, he current was tracking through the water in the towing socket and bypassing the switch keeping power to the ignition coil untill I took my foot off the brake pedal of switched the lights off. Draining the water and a dose of WD40 cured my problem. A similar water prob somwhere perhaps???

tr1cky said:

I suspect the fuel cut off celenoid may be failing but I don't know where to find it and I wouldn't know where to start testing it.

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a think you might be right

the solenoid is attached to the injection pump which is located (on the engine block) to the left and will have a single wire connected to it