First breakdown

Four days before the second anniversary of buying the P38, it broke down for the first time. I've had other things go wrong, of course, but nothing that stopped the car completely.

BTW, it's a 4.6 V8, no LPG conversion.

Wife took the car to the supermarket, and it wouldn't start for the return journey - it turned over nicely, no messages on the dashboard, but not even an attempt to fire up. She tried it several times, then called me. Took the Transporter to rescue the defrosting shopping, and tried to start it several times myself - battery still fine, engine turns over, but nothing else. Called Green Flag, and the car sprang into life on the mechanic's second go. Turns out he's a LR fan, got a Discovery Td5, so must have the magic touch! It's started OK ever since.

The only other symptom is that over the last couple of weeks, the car has very occasionally done something odd when waiting for traffic lights. With foot on the brake and in gear, the car would suddenly surge forward for a split second, as if you'd accidentally brushed the accelerator. It's only done this once while I've been a passenger, and never as the driver, but the wife is denying it's her fault. Anyway, I could swear that the revs dipped slightly before the car surged forward (when obviously they rose). So, maybe the surge is an engine management compensation for the dip??

Car is due for a service on Monday (independent Jaguar specialist), but just wondered whether anyone has any idea what could be wrong? Fuel filter, maybe (don't think it's been changed recently)??

Car started on the button this morning, so took it for its MoT and service. On the way, the revs again surged at some lights - and they definitely dipped beforehand (dipped to 500, rose to 1000, then settled back to normal at 750, all within about a second).

Mechanic drove car to MoT station and back - fine. But next time he tried to start it - nothing. There are no sparks at plugs, and no smell of petrol when cranked over for a while (i.e. injectors are probably not firing), so mechanic reckons it's the crankshaft speed sensor. Does this make sense?

Get on the diagnostics. Crank sensor is one possibility.

I'm thinking that getting a Faultmate would be a good idea, as mechanic doesn't have LR specific diagnostics. I guess choice is an FCR at £228.85 and an MSV-2 (NANO) at £497.25. Apart from the FCR being locked to a single vehicle, what are the advantages of getting an MSV-2 (i.e. what extra do you get for all that money)? Thanks!

awillemsen said:

I'm thinking that getting a Faultmate would be a good idea, as mechanic doesn't have LR specific diagnostics. I guess choice is an FCR at £228.85 and an MSV-2 (NANO) at £497.25. Apart from the FCR being locked to a single vehicle, what are the advantages of getting an MSV-2 (i.e. what extra do you get for all that money)? Thanks!

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FCR is, as it's name implies a Fault Code Reader. The Faultmate Nano or Extreme gives you the ability to Re-sync, read live engine data, excercise door locks, check/excercise HEVAC functions, SRS, EAS,the list is endless in fact every system in the car. Extreme can be used stand alone or with laptop, Nano requires the use of a laptop

Mechanic did do a diagnostic, but I'm pretty sure he's got Autologic with Jaguar dealer-level stuff, rather than LR. Anyway, no error codes showed up on the diagnostics. Crank sensor has been replaced and mechanic says car is running and starting OK. Picking it up tomorrow, so we'll see how things go...

awillemsen said:

Mechanic did do a diagnostic, but I'm pretty sure he's got Autologic with Jaguar dealer-level stuff, rather than LR. Anyway, no error codes showed up on the diagnostics. Crank sensor has been replaced and mechanic says car is running and starting OK. Picking it up tomorrow, so we'll see how things go...

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I think Bearmach do a version of Hawkeye that covers the P38 now at a good price.