Daisy doesn't want to start.

Daisy is a 2004 TD5 Landmark Manual with 166000 miles on her clock. In recent weeks she has shown her first ever reluctance to start. The trick seems to be to leave the ignition on for about 20 secs then churn the engine for up to about 10 secs and she will fire. There seems to be more noise than usual coming from the fuel pump. Last week I stalled her in some motorway roadworks and she would not restart. The recovery man squirted some start fluid up the air intake and she fired right up; that was the only flat refusal. Once she is flashed up she refires easily after a short stop. I don't have a nanocom so I'm fault finding the old fashioned way. I have changed the fuel filter and pump but against expectations that hasn't cured it. The engine is serviced every 6,000miles, the starter and injector loom have been changed in the last 3 years but apart from that the engine is as Solihull intended. I replaced the seals on the fuel pressure regulator 2 years ago and there is no smell of diesel or any damp patch under Daisy in the morning. Fuel consumption has not increased, neither has the oil level in the sump so I am reasonably confident that the injector seals are ok. I have not yet checked the glow plugs (that's this weekend's job) but we are in Australia and it's currently pushing 30C by day. My reading so far suggests that the starter, injector seals, crank sensor and FPR are all on the suspect list. Any ideas?

In my opinion, injector seals are the problem in the morning. Had the same with mine and was recommended that it was those.
Have you checked for oil at the ecu red plug?
When the car stalled and wouldn't start was the engine turning over?

I wouldn't start either if you called me Daisy.

Injector washers

HenryTd5, yes the engine was spinning over very freely when she refused to start on the motorway. In fact the mechanic suspected a snapped cam belt until I said that the Td5 has a timing chain. She threw another wobbly this morning. On the way to work she suddenly would not accelerate but was holding her current speed if a little lumpy. I pulled over and as soon as I dipped the clutch, boom, nothing. I went into the routine for repriming the pump and that seemed to do the trick. I'll order some injector seals asap and get them changed.

Meego - we always name cars in our family, my previous Land Rovers were Polly (1983 SIII) and Dolly (1993 D1 200Tdi) and they both started every single time

I'd say fuel pumps on the way out

I had similar and it was the injector seals. I tried a few things on the way most mentioned here, except;
There's little valves coming off the fuel pump. I took those out and checked them, replacing the anti-drain back one.

I would be tempted to take the fuel pump out of the tank, check the strainer is clear on the bottom of the unit, then check the filter that sits on the fuel pump , you have to strip the unit down to get access to the filter !

henrytd5 said:

In my opinion, injector seals are the problem in the morning. Had the same with mine and was recommended that it was those.
Have you checked for oil at the ecu red plug?
When the car stalled and wouldn't start was the engine turning over?

Click to expand...

Henrytd5 - I looked at the red ecu plug and it was dripping with oil. I cleaned it all out and she hasn't missed a beat since - touch wood we've nailed it.

DaisyDriver said:

Henrytd5 - I looked at the red ecu plug and it was dripping with oil. I cleaned it all out and she hasn't missed a beat since - touch wood we've nailed it.

Click to expand...

Be prepared to buy and fit a complete new injector wiring loom. You've had the red plug fill with oil once, it WILL happen again - soon.
Check also that the oil has been cleared from inside the ECU too, it can find its way in through the plug and socket.

brian47 said:

Be prepared to buy and fit a complete new injector wiring loom. You've had the red plug fill with oil once, it WILL happen again - soon.
Check also that the oil has been cleared from inside the ECU too, it can find its way in through the plug and socket.

Click to expand...

+1.....You can remove the ecu after disconnecting the battery. Stand it up over night on some paper towel and hopefully any oil in it will run out.After fitting a new injector harness, spray loads of electrical cleaner down the wiring from harness end to ecu. Do this every day for a week or so and it should clean out the oil.

DaisyDriver said:

Henrytd5 - I looked at the red ecu plug and it was dripping with oil. I cleaned it all out and she hasn't missed a beat since - touch wood we've nailed it.

Click to expand...

Good news! Follow the other guys advice too. New loom is a great idea and draining the ecu is brilliant idea.. I clean red plug out every Sunday haha