Ran out of fuel? Now won't start

Hi,

I'm sure this has been discussed before, so I'm just looking for a bit of assurance. Whilst being away, my better half took the Defender (1999 TD5 90) out, I told her that it'll probably need some fuel, and she was driving towards the fuel station and on a downhill the Defender died. As if it ran out of fuel. She put the spare 5l that I carry in the back in the tank and cranked, then did the 5-presses-on-the-throttle-magic to prime the system. It still didn't start. So eventually she called recovery and the got the car back to our place. She's tried looking at things, charged the battery (due to all the cranking), checked the ECU plug for moisture, etc. Nothing seems wrong, but it just doesn't start. She's done the fuel priming procedure several times, and put another 5l into the tank, it's also parked on flat ground.

So now when I get home on Thursday, I expect to start fault finding on the Defender to see if I can get it running. I'm suspecting a clogged up fuel filter or some such (I have a new one that came with the service kit that's to be fitted).

Ho hum!

Any tips or encouraging words from the esteemed panel?

I'd double check that it's pulled the fuel through properly. First time i replaced my fuel filter I had some issues bleeding it through because I didn't fill the new filter up. In the end I filled it, and opened the bleed valve at the top, got it started and then closed. Worked fine after that.

Take a look and you may find it down to that

Ah, brilliant, some hope at last! I'll have a look at that. Thanks! :clap2:

Went out to the car. Did the 5-presses-on-the-throttle fuel priming thing. Let it run for quite a while. The pump was very noisy at start and when finished still noisy but not too bad. When it was done, I climbed into the cab, turned the key, held the throttle to the floor and cranked it over. At first it was totally dead, then a few splutters, a few more, and then it fired into life. Big cloud of blue smoke, then settled down to running perfectly. No problems at all. Sweeet!

holding the throttle to the floor is the correct starting procedure after running out of fuel