freelander TD4 low power

Hi all, my 52 TD4 developed a loss of power at low revs and struggled up hills. Took it to a local indi garage who said it was the MAF sensor, had this changed but still no better. All hoses and pipes ok, waste gate ok and other valves ok , to be honest they seem to be lost. Looked on here tonight and saw about disconecting the maf and seeing if it runs ok . I know nothing about cars but thought I would try it. When I took it off ( The new maf is still in at the mo) it runs great and has plenty of zip, connect it back up and it's flat again. What are the chances of the new one being a duff? or is there something else this is pointing to? thanks for reading and open to help.

atvb Paul.

Hi Hippo. . . . . .yes the Maf they have fitted is u/s ,the best test for the MAF is to disconnect it ,you can run without it but yer mpg will be ****e, are you shore that they changed it ? . . . . .any how its an easy job, you might want to check out a Rover Ron gismo aswell. . . . .BEST OH LUCK

Shropshire Hippo said:

When I took it off ( The new maf is still in at the mo) it runs great and has plenty of zip, connect it back up and it's flat again. What are the chances of the new one being a duff? or is there something else this is pointing to? thanks for reading and open to help.

atvb Paul.

Click to expand...

Courtesy of Rover Ron's website, he seems to know a thing or two;


COMPATIBLE MAF WARNING. Personal experience and feedback from owners has shown that the 'clone' mafs widely sold in the trade and on Ebay are neither reliable nor predictable. You MAY be lucky and get a good one, but the chances are you won't, or it won't last for long.

Chaser said:

Courtesy of Rover Ron's website, he seems to know a thing or two;



COMPATIBLE MAF WARNING. Personal experience and feedback from owners has shown that the 'clone' mafs widely sold in the trade and on Ebay are neither reliable nor predictable. You MAY be lucky and get a good one, but the chances are you won't, or it won't last for long.

Unfortunately, you would quite reasonably assume that the new maf is working properly but if you still have performance or fuel consumption issues, you may be inclined to waste money looking for other causes. When in fact, non exists - it is still a maf issue.​

I think you have proved this point!​

Take it back to the garage.​

Chaser.​

Click to expand...

Hey chaser, you beat me to it again. your too good at this...


Hippo, get your money back from the garage & order up a pierburg maf with a Mafam from Roverron (total cost around £115), & fit it yourself, it's not difficult though you sometimes need a special tool to remove the Maf. Looks like a female Torx but has a stud in the middle. I've heard them referred to as tamperproof torx. Link to Roverron below. Good luck.

lseries2

Thanks for the help guy's , They are going to swap it for another MAF and see if there is any change , keep you posted.

atvb Paul.

Right , just got the new genuine landrover MAF , was there when unpacked and low and behold ........ know different ! thats two so surely they can't all be duff ? back on the computer and no faults found. Any ideas guy's ?

atvb Paul.

Have a look on the injector rail for the high pressure fuel rail sensor. Remove the plug off it and have a look at it. If it has turned green or brown, clean it up by scraping and applying contact cleaner. Gently prise the connectors a little to tighten em and refit. Try starting your landy. I went out to a TD4 the other day and found the dirty sensor connections. and it did the job. Rang my mate today who works for landrover assistance and apparently it is a common fault and doesn't show up on diagnostics neither. Let us know how you get on.

Still getting no where . Any one had MAF like probs that turned out to be something else ? had two fitted and no different . No faults on the computer but below 2500 it is really flat , once above this it takes off . Unplug the MAF and low end is back again Any help would be great , the garage seem at a dead end .

atvb Paul.

Shropshire Hippo said:

Still getting no where . Any one had MAF like probs that turned out to be something else ? had two fitted and no different . No faults on the computer but below 2500 it is really flat , once above this it takes off . Unplug the MAF and low end is back again Any help would be great , the garage seem at a dead end .

atvb Paul.

Click to expand...

is the MAF giving a reading on a diagnostic?

freebie gremlins.burn the feckker and buy a V8

It did come up as a fault when it first went in but not while the two new MAF's have been fitted .

Shropshire Hippo said:

It did come up as a fault when it first went in but not while the two new MAF's have been fitted .

Click to expand...

If it has ben on a propper diagnostic it should be able to bring up both fault codes AND be able to bring up a live scan to show things like the amount of air drawn into the MAF.

They are a Landrover garage but are indipendant , they have had it on the computer a few times with no faults found . The last time I drove a few miles while the mechanic sat alongside watching the moniter and looking at the readings . The only thing he comented on was that the revs dropped right down when I changed gear , right down ! then takes an age to build back up again .

Shropshire Hippo said:

They are a Landrover garage but are indipendant , they have had it on the computer a few times with no faults found . The last time I drove a few miles while the mechanic sat alongside watching the moniter and looking at the readings . The only thing he comented on was that the revs dropped right down when I changed gear , right down ! then takes an age to build back up again .

Click to expand...

is it manual or automatic?

If you don't change gear, and get up speed in one gear and then slow back down, do the revs rise faster the second time around when you stay in that gear?

If you get it in to the garage for another session, get em to record the test drive on the diagnostic. They can then view it over and over again without needing to repeatedly see your car. If I am scanning a vehicle I tend to record it just in case I get a query later on. I can then recall the last 20 vehicles and view the saved footage.

It's a manual , if you keep it inthe same gear and slow down below 2500 then it is just the same as when changing gear . Many thanks for taking the time to help out,

atvb Paul.

Shropshire Hippo said:

It's a manual , if you keep it inthe same gear and slow down below 2500 then it is just the same as when changing gear . Many thanks for taking the time to help out,

atvb Paul.

Click to expand...

No probs.

I am new to management systems diagnostics myslef. I haven't had mine too long and mine is only an entry level unit. I can't charge for using it at work so couldn't justify the next one up at £2500. I wish I could cos that also lists the common faults.


Like I say if you had a MAF sensor fault I would check the readings first. Just cos the fault was MAF it doesn't mean it was the actual unit. It could be anywhere between the MAF and ECU. I would have thought that the fault would come up though if it was still present.

Did you check the connection on the high pressure fuel pump?

What is your temperature guage doing while all this is happening? Is it getting hot or staying normal?
How is your temperature during all this? Is it showing as normal?

not sure if they have checked it , temp is fine all the time . Been to Leeds from Shropshire today, all round trip of 240 miles and no probs with temp . When up to speed pulls well , 70-80 up over the moors no problem but when you merge on the moterway , say dropping to 40 or 50 in fifth gear or fourth to get round a large corner when you come to accellerate to join the flow of traffic it really struggles to get up to speed .

Shropshire Hippo said:

not sure if they have checked it , temp is fine all the time . Been to Leeds from Shropshire today, all round trip of 240 miles and no probs with temp . When up to speed pulls well , 70-80 up over the moors no problem but when you merge on the moterway , say dropping to 40 or 50 in fifth gear or fourth to get round a large corner when you come to accellerate to join the flow of traffic it really struggles to get up to speed .

Click to expand...

It does sound like a sensor issue rather than an actual engine fault. Does it feel like it is holding back (as if the brakes are on) or just that there is no oomph in it?

no oomph most of the time but when I change gear for a second it does feel like it's holding back before starting to slowly build speed till it gets to around 2500 then it takes off as normal

Shropshire Hippo said:

no oomph most of the time but when I change gear for a second it does feel like it's holding back before starting to slowly build speed till it gets to around 2500 then it takes off as normal

Click to expand...

It sounds like the ECU is not obtaining the correct signal from a sensor so the ECU os putting the engine in a form of limp mode and using a default signal to override the signal that is actually being given.

This should bring up a fault.

Translated into English for you. If for example the MAF sensor was faulty and causing rough running or loss of power, unplugging it would make it run better but at a non damaging level. It is the computer adding substitute signals rather than you when it cannot obtain a signal.