K series Freelander Non start

Hi Chaps,

Sorry to make my first post a request for help but I am asking for a mate

He has a very clean and tidy 1.8 W plate, 102k, been running fine for the month he has owned it.

Two days ago it just cut off when driving out of work and will not restart.

It starts and wants nto go but won't catch.

We have had the fuel pump out, cleaned the little guaze filter that really wasn't that dirty, air filter again is clean, so we looked at the plugs bit manky, changed them, new HT leads, coil (original part), distributer cap and cleaned the rotor arm as it was in good nick.

Net result is that it now tries to catch a little better, but still won't start.

Or at least it won't with all the plugs in, but when we were checking for a good spark we discovered that it will run with a plug removed!

Put the plug in with no HT lead, no start, this works for any plug?

We are getting it recovered to a garage but I thought i would post a question up here to give the garage a direction or two to check.

We are thinking coolant sensor or ECU maybe.

There doesn't appear to be a MiL light illuminated when you start, we have no handbook or Haynes as it is a new purchase, I have seen on the later Freelanders that the MiL is the standard engine shape, but what is it on the W reg Freelanders?

We suspect that maybe the bulb might have been removed perhaps?


Any pointers welcome as he is very impressed with the comfort and the way it drives for a relatively cheap vehicle.

The only thing he did to it before it died was on the way to work 10 hours earlier he filled from half a tank to a full tank of unleaded at his usual Tesco petrol station.


Any hints welcome, feel free to have a laugh at our expense:welcome2:

Have you tried easy start just to check internals?

bigjl said:

Hi Chaps,

Sorry to make my first post a request for help but I am asking for a mate

He has a very clean and tidy 1.8 W plate, 102k, been running fine for the month he has owned it.

Two days ago it just cut off when driving out of work and will not restart.

It starts and wants nto go but won't catch.

We have had the fuel pump out, cleaned the little guaze filter that really wasn't that dirty, air filter again is clean, so we looked at the plugs bit manky, changed them, new HT leads, coil (original part), distributer cap and cleaned the rotor arm as it was in good nick.

Net result is that it now tries to catch a little better, but still won't start.

Or at least it won't with all the plugs in, but when we were checking for a good spark we discovered that it will run with a plug removed!

Put the plug in with no HT lead, no start, this works for any plug?

We are getting it recovered to a garage but I thought i would post a question up here to give the garage a direction or two to check.

We are thinking coolant sensor or ECU maybe.

There doesn't appear to be a MiL light illuminated when you start, we have no handbook or Haynes as it is a new purchase, I have seen on the later Freelanders that the MiL is the standard engine shape, but what is it on the W reg Freelanders?

We suspect that maybe the bulb might have been removed perhaps?


Any pointers welcome as he is very impressed with the comfort and the way it drives for a relatively cheap vehicle.

The only thing he did to it before it died was on the way to work 10 hours earlier he filled from half a tank to a full tank of unleaded at his usual Tesco petrol station.


Any hints welcome, feel free to have a laugh at our expense:welcome2:

Click to expand...

Sounds like the engine may be developing backpressure and leaving a plug out is allowing the pressure to be vented/reduced.

As ratty says unless it is turning over too slowly

Thanks for the comments chaps.

Any idea what could cause the build up of back pressure?

It was mentioned to me years ago that when a K series HG is on the way out it can cause issues with the hydraulic tappets meaning the engine won't fire up.

Is that what is meant by back pressure?

The car was running fine, had just started from cold and cut out whilst driving out the car park.

If it was not being such a pain, it seems a very nicely kitted out vehicle, leather seats, removable roof at the back and nice LR alloys.

Just wish he had bought the diesel as I had advised, LOL.

Any more bits of advice welcomed.

I am looking to get a 4x4 soon as i miss my old Sportrak. I definately feel the ned for something like the Freelander.

when you took a plug out was it wet with water?, back pressure from a head gasket leaking will force coolant into cylinders.

No, plugs weren't wet, no sign of water in the bores, not mixing oil and water, both are clean.

I did have a 216 Rover blow the HG just after an oil change, went to start it to move it and it wouldn't start, not dissimilar to the way this car has acted, however when I checked the oil it was mayo central!

The 216 never overheated or anything, just it's time to die I suppose.

Though I think the K series engine gets a lot of flack, they are reliable if looked after and the new chinese funded fix with an uprated bottom oil rail and the new multilayer gasket should hopefully sort all the issues even better than the uprated HG fitted to the Freelander.

Interestingly has anybody noticed more and more petrol Freelanders dissappearing from our roads recently?

The reason seem to be the ease with which the Freelander can be converted from RHD to LHD in Africa, BiL has bought 3 and sent them to Ghana, I have been telling him to go for the TD4 or older diesel, he says the K Series is a much better price so he gets them.

He reckons Ghana is full of British Freelanders with the K Series and V6 engine converted to LHD.

It doesn't surprise me - i've been saying for years that with £200 worth of mods the K series engine can be cured of it's HG failing ways and if you want a cheap runaround then it actually makes financial sense to have one. Might be worth getting a compression test done on it to test for HGF. Presumably it's getting a good spark, etc?