ECU? Immob? Wiring? What's Gone Wrong?

Hi all,

Following on from my previous post regarding my failing 2002 TD4, it died on Saturday... luckily right outside my local LR specialist (I just made it when it conked and wouldn't go again)!

The guy plugged it into his AutoLogic thingamagik and it came back with an immobiliser fault. He disabled the immobiliser via the programming and it still will not start.

He says it looks like the ECU isn't getting a positive signal to say that it's allowed to start. It will turn over all day now (it sometimes wouldn't before) but it just will not fire.

He (and I) is hoping that it's just a corroded terminal, or snapped wire, or something similar, but he reckons it could be a new ECU.... £750!!! Although he did say that this is VERY rare...


Anybody had a similar experience that I could let him know about??

immobiliser fault would stop it from turning over all together.

would be looking to cam position sensor maybe...

Hi optimus... he's disabled the immobiliser now, but says the engine is not getting a signal that it can start despite this.

I don't think camshaft sensor is showing up as a fault...

Is it possible a faulty camshaft sensor could be stopping the ignition without showing up as an error?

It worries me that you say you broke down outside your LR specialist and you are having to ask questions about simple (to a specialist) diagnosis on here............

Seems to not be that simple, Droid. His autologik is telling him that no "ok" signal is reaching the ecu from the immob.

I'm on here because he' very busy with pre-booked stuff, so it's taking a while to trace the fault, so he just said all input is helpful. He's a good guy and well respected by the LR community in the North West!

Spoke to him this morning and he wants to try an ecu and immob unit. He says used parts can be reprogged, so I'm going to speak to ECU-EXPRESS.CO.UK - Home as soon as he lets me know the part number. Would be interested if anyone has used these guys before, or any other ecu specialist.

Right... we decided to go the cheap route and buy an ECU from a breaker (£85)... he's tried it and it won't work as he can't recode the ECU... needs a specialist to do that. Am going to get a recoded ECU from ECU express which will have a 1yr warranty.

Question is... what's caused the ECU to fail?

LR Specialist says he's never known one conk out on a TD4!