Engine will not start.

Hi Everyone.
I am new to this site, i am from Zimbabwe and need some technical help on my freelander.
I have just imported a Freelander 2.5i V6 auto GS model Year 2000 from the UK. It was delivered to me after driving all the way from Namibia over 2000km. Upon delivery it was leaking coolant from the thermostat housing. I ordered new themostat housing and O rings and replaced the themostat . After bleeding the system the car ran fine. Have done over 350 miles with it until today. Before i go on i must mention that it arrived with the Traction control light on, as well as the Hill descent light on and ABS lights on.

Today after dropping my wife off at work 8 miles down the road, all of a sudden the engine just cut out and i coasted to the verge of the road in neutral. I tried to start the vehicle again but it would not and the engine malfunction light was on as well as alternating flashing of an F and a 4 in the LCD display. I checked the fuses and found a 20 amp fuse blown that is F2 Fuel injectors & ignition coils and engine management control unit.

I tried replacing the fuse with a 20 amp and 25 amp spare fuse and each time i cranked the motor the fuse blew. After getting the vehicle home with a breakdown recovery truck . I tried the fuse again and it blew. I then disconnected the battery and reconnected the battery. The alternating flashing of F and 4 have gone and the gearbox is displaying all its symbols from Park through to 1 when selected. I then bridged the problem fuse and started the vehicle. It runs but revs very slowly. The engine malfunction light is off. I then checked that the gear bow was selecting reverse and forward which it is doing.

Sorry for the long story, but thought as much info as possible would help.
Has anybody else experienced this kind of problem?
What would cause the F2 fuse to blow out all the time ?
If anybody has an idea of fixing this fault pleas help.

Regards FrankZim

You need to check the engine wiring harness for chaffing. It's not unheard off. Were all the harnesses to the coils and injectors put back correctly after the thermostat was changed?
I think F 4 (severe fault) is flashing because there is no communication between the engine Ecu and gearbox Ecu. The box will be in Limp Home Mode although it's irrelevant as the engine won't run anyway!! There is no power to the engine Ecu with fuse 2 blown , hence the gearbox error.

Thanks Nodge68.

Will go through all the looms and see if there is a bare wire somewhere. I really hope it is a bare wire and not something else 1000 times more expensive to solve.

FrankZim said:

Thanks Nodge68.

Will go through all the looms and see if there is a bare wire somewhere. I really hope it is a bare wire and not something else 1000 times more expensive to solve.

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I suspect it's wiring issue created by the thermostat change.

Back again.
Well i have removed the battery and battery holder as well as removed the Fuse panel and had a look at wiring looms from the fuse panel back towards engine. Have checked the Gearbox looms and connecters as well has all wiring to the VIS unit ignition coils and injectors. Cant seem to find any fault. Have put everything back together and replaced the 20 amp fuse that blew with a 30 amp fuse. The engine now starts, and the flashing F and 4 warning has gone. No other waring lights are on except for the 3 Amigos. The engine will not rev freely though. Drove it out my garage just now and it sounds like it is pinking when you accelerate. Everything else seems normal except the engine will not rev. It picks up revs very slowly like it lacks power.

She has done 90 000 miles and from what the service records tell me she has never really had any issues. The VIS unit was replaced about 20 000 miles ago but generally it has been the usual services brake pads etc. Just how good is the KV6 motor.?
I have heard so many horror stories about the 1.8 petrol and diesel models. This is my first Landy that i have ever purchased. Although i have driven series 3 , 110 pickups and Defender TDi's all diesel models. This is the first petrol model landy i have ever driven.
Any suggestions as to why the engine is now not revving would be welcome. The nearest diagnostic centre is 180 miles away.

FrankZim said:

Back again.
Well i have removed the battery and battery holder as well as removed the Fuse panel and had a look at wiring looms from the fuse panel back towards engine. Have checked the Gearbox looms and connecters as well has all wiring to the VIS unit ignition coils and injectors. Cant seem to find any fault. Have put everything back together and replaced the 20 amp fuse that blew with a 30 amp fuse. The engine now starts, and the flashing F and 4 warning has gone. No other waring lights are on except for the 3 Amigos. The engine will not rev freely though. Drove it out my garage just now and it sounds like it is pinking when you accelerate. Everything else seems normal except the engine will not rev. It picks up revs very slowly like it lacks power.

She has done 90 000 miles and from what the service records tell me she has never really had any issues. The VIS unit was replaced about 20 000 miles ago but generally it has been the usual services brake pads etc. Just how good is the KV6 motor.?
I have heard so many horror stories about the 1.8 petrol and diesel models. This is my first Landy that i have ever purchased. Although i have driven series 3 , 110 pickups and Defender TDi's all diesel models. This is the first petrol model landy i have ever driven.
Any suggestions as to why the engine is now not revving would be welcome. The nearest diagnostic centre is 180 miles away.

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I'd put a 20 Amp fuse in first off. It's dangerous to put a larger fuse in. If it doesn't blow then maybe a coil has failed short circuit which has now gone open circuit? Are the all the coil and injector plugs on the rite places? It's not common to get a misfire that doesn't put the MIL on. Electrically the KV6 is pretty reliable. They can pop head Gaskets, even multiples off them, mostly caused by an ineffective cooling system as I well know due to my recent engine change but other than that and they are ok. I love the KV6 it's a good engine, even have one ready to fit into a hotted up classic. You fault does sound electrical though. Do you have access to an OBD2 reader? It would help if any faults are logged.

Hi Nodge.
Well been through the wiring harness again today. Removed the VIS unit to acess the wiring looms , ignition coils, injectors on the rear bank of the V. Found two squashed wires leading to No5 injector. Cut out the squashed section and replaced wires and soldered into place. Also tested the injector which seems okay. Put everything back together and she still running the same. Does not sound like she is missing or not firing on a cylinder. Same problem as before will not rev properly. I am looking for someone who might have a code reader to see if we could find what the cause of the fault might be.
Is there any way the timing might have jumped a tooth especially as i was doing about 60mph when the engine cut out?

FrankZim said:

Hi Nodge.
Well been through the wiring harness again today. Removed the VIS unit to acess the wiring looms , ignition coils, injectors on the rear bank of the V. Found two squashed wires leading to No5 injector. Cut out the squashed section and replaced wires and soldered into place. Also tested the injector which seems okay. Put everything back together and she still running the same. Does not sound like she is missing or not firing on a cylinder. Same problem as before will not rev properly. I am looking for someone who might have a code reader to see if we could find what the cause of the fault might be.
Is there any way the timing might have jumped a tooth especially as i was doing about 60mph when the engine cut out?

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So you found some damage to the harness then. Is the MIL on?
If not you need to test the ecu output the the injector which had the fault. Use a Noid light for this. The ecu is protected against a short but only up to the fuse rating (20Amps) It's possible the switching circuit in the ecu can be damaged at higher fuse ratings. The injectors are fed with a live (+12V) via the ecu but they are triggered by the ecu switching the injector to negative with a drive circuit. A misfire can be hard to spot on a V6 as they are so smooth but that's the most logical explanation. Can you post some video of the running ?
If the belts are within there time and distance and were fitted correctly then I can't see them jumping a tooth, the system is to good for that!!

Hi Nodge, No MIL light is not on. The Belts were changed in the UK at 77 000 miles and still look in good condition. Will try and post video of the motor running. I think there might be a fault with the ecu now, but will wait for a diagnostic test to see. It might just be me, but she is very sluggish below 3000 rpm once she passes 3000 rpm she seems to rev like she did before all the drama.

Hi. Have added this Siemens MS43 Engine Management System maybe it can help someone one day.

FrankZim said:

Hi Nodge, No MIL light is not on. The Belts were changed in the UK at 77 000 miles and still look in good condition. Will try and post video of the motor running. I think there might be a fault with the ecu now, but will wait for a diagnostic test to see. It might just be me, but she is very sluggish below 3000 rpm once she passes 3000 rpm she seems to rev like she did before all the drama.

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You could get an ecu posted out to you easy enough but you are best getting the alarm unit sent from the same car to save messing about with re-coding the ecu. Look forward to seeing the video.

FrankZim said:

Hi. Have added this Siemens MS43 Engine Management System maybe it can help someone one day.

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The Siemens MS43 ecu it fitted to export V6 Freelanders and is different as it uses a drive by wire throttle body UK spec Freelanders use the Siemens S2000 ecu

Hi Nodge.
Thanks for the info, what would a used ecu and alarm unit go for in the UK ? Have a relative coming out to Zim soon. So thinking of getting one even if this one is okay. Always good to have a spare part. thanks for the advice on the Siemens ECU system.
Have done a video but it will not play properly if i compress it for uploading. Still working on it.

Hi. Here is a small video of starting the engine on my Freelander KV6. Slow revving below 3000rpm and idle speed tends to hunt a bit. Use FLV player or Applian FLV player to open.Quality not that great i had to compress from AVI.

Now i am told its an invalid file grrrrrr

You can use a host like YouTube or Photobucket

Diagnostic Test run on Saturday, Hoping nothing serious is wrong

Well Freelander had a Diagnostic Test today. Does not look to good!! Injectors 6,4,and 2 faulty, VIS butterfly valve always open. After clearing all the fault codes from when the incident happened these faults still come up. The Technician also seems to think the ECM could be faulty as well. Have posted the images of the results here. If anybody has any idea of where to start to fix this bloody thing, advise would be most welcome.

Where do i start, ? New VIS unit? New ECM ? New Injectors?

The vis code is common on these as it doesn't put the MIL on. If the fault keeps logging then a vis motor repair or replacememt is required although a fail vis won't stop the engine running correctly and most owners don't even notice. The injector fault could be the wiring especially as they are all on the same bank as the coil wire short.

So you think it could be the injectors? How could i test them , besides a multi meter on continuity ?