Freelander TD4 wont start when warm

My freelander (2001 TD4 - which is currently living on a limited lifespan due to the number of faults recently ) has developed a fault where it will not start within up to 30 mins of turning the engine off. The engine turns over but does not start.

Any bright ideas (other than trading in for something else )

I'm sure I heard of this being classic symptoms of a sensor problem. Can't remember if it was a crankshaft or camshaft sensor & don't have my manual to hand but I'm sure one of the other guys will be able to help.

This is the Camshaft Position sensor, easy to replace - about £35

Cheers Mark, thought it was something like that.

Thanks. Out of curiosity why would the sensor only cause the issue when the car has just been switched off but not when it is running?
How can I verify it is the sensor?

The sensor checks the position of the camshafts with reference to the position of the Crank from its sensor when the ignition is first turned on, so that correct fuel timing is applied by the "brain" according to whether the first cylinder is on a compression stroke or an exhaust stroke (4 stroke engine)

Once established at the beginning the ECU carries on from this start point, and only needs the crank sensor to maintain engine timeing.

Cam sensors seem to fail in a way that makes them work when cold but not when hot.

Thus, having started from cold, the engine will run perfectly well until switched off.
If an attempt to restart is made whilst the engine (and sensor) is still warm it is unable to make that first reading and you'll just spin the starter in frustration.
Leave it for half an hour or so and the engine (and sensor) will have cooled enough for it to surprisingly work.

This happened to me at a railway crossing !!,
and completely foxed an AA man after 15 mins of twiddling injector and glow plug connections my TD4 just started again.

pop_fr said:

Thanks. Out of curiosity why would the sensor only cause the issue when the car has just been switched off but not when it is running?
How can I verify it is the sensor?

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Dunt arsk stupid quechuns un just change it, du' ya fink' wer awl'
stupid on here or summik!!!

Greenie said:

Dunt arsk stupid quechuns un just change it, du' ya fink' wer awl'
stupid on here or summik!!!

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Just what I wiz gonna say

Couldn't have put it better meself

i'm sayin nuffink

Thanks.
Stupid questions habit from work. Surprised how many times asking the stupid quesion sometimes gets you a different answer.

next stupid question,,,is it fixed??

No, good question....
No its not. Been using the wifes car most of the time. But while driving back from cornwall in the freelander I started having trouble changing gear. It looks as though either the masetr/slave cylinder has gone or the clutch (though there is no slipping).
LR wants £1000+ for fitting new clutch, Mr Clutch will do it for £370. I'm just checking the clutch msg threads at the moment to see if it is something simple (and cheap).
At the moment £1000 is about half the price of the car.

Just bought an '05 TD4 with exactly these symptoms. Will swap a replacement in next weekend