Died at a junction, only starts once every half hour

Hi all, I've been poking around this subforum for a few hours now trying to find someone with a similar issue to mine but I'm coming up short.

I got my baby (05 Freelander TD4) in October, and basically immediately noticed a power problem. Took it back to the garage (warranty) and they replaced the fuel pump and filter (had to take the whole wheel arch apart, it was crazy) and then it seemed to run reasonably okay (struggled with power at ~70 but there's a sticky thread here that might help with that).

Fast forward to this Saturday and she just died while idling, kinda like a mild stall, at a junction in the centre of Croydon on a hugely busy shopping day (typical my luck) and then refused to start again. Managed to push her up on a pavement while I waited for the AA, but when they turned up 45 minutes later she started fine. AA guy looked at my 1/8th tank of fuel and determined that I'm a lady-moron that can't fill her tank, so made me drive over to the petrol station opposite and fuel up. Obviously the car then refused to start afterwards, and had to be towed home. (The AA guy ran a couple of little tests that I won't pretend to understand and diagnosed a problem with the fuel system.)

Sunday morning I went out to the car to try to move it to a sensible parking space (seeing as the tow guy just dumped it half a mile away) and it started fine and drove fine, but when I turned it off and tried to start it again it turned over but refused to catch.

Does anyone have any idea where I should start looking?

possibly injectors (leak off test) or cam position sensor might be worth a little look

Could be a dodgy connector on the low pressure pump( yes the one they replaced) doesn't mean they didn't bodge it back together.
Worth a wiggle. You should hear a whining noise from the rear when you turn the ignition on.
Mike

try the cam shaft sensor when warm or hot it will not start but will when cold .

crank sensor

Skinny Mike said:

Could be a dodgy connector on the low pressure pump( yes the one they replaced) doesn't mean they didn't bodge it back together.
Worth a wiggle. You should hear a whining noise from the rear when you turn the ignition on.
Mike

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You, sir, are not wrong. I turned the ignition and couldn't hear anything, so I got out and gave the side of the car a firm whack (I read that in another thread ), got back in and could suddenly hear the whirring. Started first time 5 times in a row. Now all I need to do is take her apart and get a good look, then I'll be able to take her out and know whether it's working properly or still stuffed! Fingers crossed it's that simple!! (Knowing my luck, it won't be that simple.)

Next up, fix the power loss at 70mph problem. Then the leak. Then the headlights turning on when I brake. Then the rear window randomly opening. Then the other leak. Then whatever else turns up.

I love you guys already!

Ta dah!!!!!

at least you will not have to buy a cam shaft sensor for nothing.is it a 5 or 3 door you have . also are the battery connection ok , reason I ask if for some reason you take the lead of the battery and go to reconnect then the rear window will drop automatically. so have a look , now for the head lights coming on when you break ,it could be a bad earth and the extra power wanted for the brake lights can lead to the earth going through the head lights I have seen it many times on the rear lights of cars but not effecting the head lights, but its a long shot.

teddywood1 said:

at least you will not have to buy a cam shaft sensor for nothing.is it a 5 or 3 door you have . also are the battery connection ok , reason I ask if for some reason you take the lead of the battery and go to reconnect then the rear window will drop automatically. so have a look , now for the head lights coming on when you break ,it could be a bad earth and the extra power wanted for the brake lights can lead to the earth going through the head lights I have seen it many times on the rear lights of cars but not effecting the head lights, but its a long shot.

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There's still time yet!

She's a 5 door, I'll take a look at the battery connectors tomorrow when I go out to dismantle half of the wheel arch. It would be nice if that were that simple as well!

I'm planning on having a go at working out the wiring once my Haynes manual turns up later this week. So far I've discovered that removing the interior trim is so ridiculously easy that I'm pretty confident even I can't stuff it up.

Is it weird that I'm kind of enjoying this?