Disco 2 Engine cut out/fuel problem diagnosing

Hi all,

So it seems to be one thing after another at the moment. Driving 60mph, approaching a hill w/dual carriageway, put my foot down to overtake a couple of lorries... acceleration... 65...70.. then it's like I hit a wall (like I had a speed restrictor fitted). Then a fairly slow, gradual loss of power. I kept going for maybe 90-120 seconds before I was down to 40mph and pulled on to the hard shoulder. At this point the engine just shuddered and laboured when revved, and sounded pretty rough on idle too. On restart it barely fired and conked back out. I figured fuel pump (I've had one go before in similar circumstances).

I was just past Preston on the M6 (heading back to London from Scotland) and it was 22:30 - yes I called the AA, and yes, that's another story. I managed to get the Landy towed to my girlfriends parents flat in Liverpool by around 4:30am, where I stayed, and I grabbed a new fuel pump from LR center LTD (conveniently close). I'm still here, and probably will be until I get her running again.

So, a brand new fuel pump fitted (the expensive one), but annoyingly same symptoms. I've checked air filter, MAF, removed fuel filter (which is about 3 weeks old - not an expensive one, I should add), emptied and checked for dirt, seemed ok, cleaned the sensor, checked the pump relay (switched it with a few others) and bled the fuel system for probably 20 minutes in total. I'm still getting the same thing:

Sometimes she fires, and even idles (rough), but revving seems to cause a lot of fuss - shuddering, shaking, noises from the engine, and she eventually dies.

Also worth mentioning I changed the FPR about 6 month ago - kinda similar symptoms actually, but the FPR was ****ing out fuel, and it's bone dry at the moment.

Another bit of context is that in the last few months she's fluctuated from performing super well (like she's had an engine remap - which as far as I know she hasn't) to feeling very flat and unresponsive. This was a fairly noticeable difference, but not enough that I didn't question myself until the second time it happened.

I've already read in a few places that changing to a decent fuel filter can have miraculous results - so that's the next thing I'm gonna try. But if any of you guys have any thoughts, I'd really love to hear them! I will be probably be stuck in Liverpool until it's resolved, one way or another.

Cheers!

Robb

I had almost exactly the same thing happen 2wks ago with same symptoms.
Car died on Slip road. RAC flatbed to get home.
Checked fault codes with nanocom, none.
Checked Ecu plug, oily.
Put new injector loom in and cleaned plug out next day and car ran intermittently better.
Next day car died again in almost exactly the same place, slip road on A38.
RAC Flatbed home again.
Nanocom showed no faults.!
Then realised that I couldn't hear fuel pump whirring when trying to start car. Checked fuel pump relay, fine.
Tested voltage at pump, fine.
No noise from pump so I replaced it and after a bleed sequence it started, ran a bit lumpy for about 30 seconds and then smoothed out and been perfect since.
Air bleed valve and injector o rings and washers were replaced with LR ones last year so I new they weren't likely to be the cause.
Check your ecu plug for oil and get a Nanocom or Hawkeye plugged in and check for fault codes would be your best start.

Some one will be along in a minute who will probably have a better idea of what could be the problem.

Cheers mate. Checked for oil in the loom after I wrote the post - it was oily! rinsed it out with brake cleaner and tried again - still wouldn’t fire. But the battery power is definitely low so I won’t know know for sure until I’ve charged it.

Haven’t checked the o rings or washers yet - will add to my checklist. Where’s this bleed valve?

It's screwed into the rear of fuel filter housing. The outside rear pipe if I remember correctly connects to it.
I don't think all discos have them fitted though if I remember correctly.
Also I have a feeling I remember something about the ECU throwing a wobbly if battery voltage is too low.
Hope this helps.

Can you hear the pump running?

sierrafery said:

Can you hear the pump running?

Click to expand...

Yeah - it whines as it always has. One thing I noticed when I was doing the auto bleed today was I could hear the fuel, sort of like a trickling noise, from inside the fuel cooler (or around that aprx area)