Fuel sensor problem - very confused

Hi. I'm very new to Land Rover. I have an 07 Freelander 2, 2.2 Diesel now and I've loved it since I got it.

But last week I hit a problem and I've searched the forum for help so apologies if this is old ground for any of you. Appreciate all advice though.

I was driving from London to Dundee and after about 4hrs the engine lost power. There were no warning lights but the "reduced engine power" message came on. It ticked over but there was no acceleration and with foot to floor it struggled on the M6 to keep up. Going uphill - no chance.

I stopped the engine at a service station for ten minutes and it was fine when I restarted. For about half an hour. I stopped again on the hard shoulder for a few minutes and it was fine again but not for long.

Within an hour the engine was cutting out and this is pretty scary when there's a poorly 14 month old in the back seat and you just want to get to Grandma's...

But after investigation the Land Rover mechanics can't find the problem. Diagnostics say that there is something up with the fuel pressure but the engine is running fine when it's tested and they can't replicate the problem where the engine reduces power.

Has anyone come across this, any advice would be very appreciated. Could it be the fuel pump? Fuel filters? A block? Anything?

Land Rover Assistance have been fantastic. Couldn't fault them at all and they helped out so much.

SOunds like a blocked fuel filter. Shuts the engine down to idle to help protect the HP Fuel Pump etc

I had a similar but occasional problem on a TDI Golf, stopping and switching off the engine then restarting would cure it. In my case it was like switching off the turbo boost.

I never did fix it - eventually sold the car but the common answer was a small air leak in one of the engines vacuum pipes, the engine management senses the fault and shuts off the turbo to prevent damage.

or fuel rail pressure sensor faulty

Thanks to all.

Blockage or fuel rail sensor seem to be the most likely. Will get them checked out

Ok, several months of forensic internet investigation later...

Land Rover couldn't replicate the problem.

A week before I had the fuel pump problem the fuel tank had been very very low. This most probably caused a block in the diesel injection to the engine. I learned that the diesel block on the Freelander 2 is a Peugeot block. The fuel pumps on Peugeot are very compact. The extra effort caused by the slight blockage caused in turn some movement which led to an intake of air in the pumps.

The transporter which took my Freelander from Perth (where it stopped working) to N.London (where I live) must have dislodged any blockage and it hasn't happened again.

The moral of the story is Don't Let Your Tank Get Empty.

think I also read (on here) that the freelander 2.2 reduces power / cuts out when the diesel level gets below a certain threshold so that the fuel system doesn't have to be bled/primed.