Td4 starting problem

:welcome2:hi all im gaz and new here and when i sort my problems ill post the fixes:welcome2:

Right i brought a freelander Gs TD4 HB excellent condition i payed £2,600 from a garage in cheshire BUT unfortunetly someone forgot to tell me that it has a starting problem. :doh:
Here Goes:-
it drives very smooth no misfire no smoke no bangs and it starts 95% of the time, but when it doesnt start it can take upto an hour to get it started, this obviously isnt doing it any good.
for all the 5 weeks ive owned it, it starts 1st time every morning without fail.
Say i drive it for any amount of time at least 20mins and leave it for around 1-2 hours it usually wont start and when it does start it sometimes will not start again if i have to turn the engine off.

Over Friday and Saturday it wouldnt start after 30mins of engine being turned off, so the only thing i could put this down to is that the fuel tank was down to 1/4 of fuel so i filled it up and got stuck at the fuel station this was very imbarrassing.

Fuel pumps run for exactly 1minute, there is a noise like something spinning or maybe fuel going through pipes which i can hear around the dipstick area.
before cranking if i open my drivers door i hear a high pitch wining noise coming from rear pump i think its normal but dont have another freelander to confirm this
No fuel leaking back through the injectors.
Injector cleaner 2 weeks ago and was still using same fuel until Fri/Sat.
Previous owner recently had crank sensor replaced theres no receipt to say it was new.
I cleaned the egr, top intake cover and pipes they were covered with just under half an inch of oil and cr*p since ive done this its started all the time but it started every time for the last week and half until Friday and Saturday where it seemed to of got alot worse.

It really does try to start, it starts then dies immediatly but when it starts its like 1st turn of the key in the morning no hessitation.

I was lead to believe these td4 engine where great, i was gonna spend a grand less and go for the l-series i really wish that i did now.
I was looking into cutting my losses and getting a 2.5 p38 until i found thats another bmw engine i dont know if they are any better
300tdi superb engine

i have read so many posts about fuel pressure pump but im not sure that its the cause as it start every day 1st time.

any help will be much appreciated when im confident that ive found the fix ill post to let everyone know.
cheers gaz

Do a leak of test!
The injectors are rubbish!!

Camshaft sensor? A faulty one will show up when trying to start a warm engine.

Okay ive done leak test with and without cranking

without cranking no fuel coming back through

cranking all injectors are leaking out fuel at the same pace 0.4ml every 20secs
put back together engine starts fine 2cranks and fire

if cam sensor was going duff would the ecu light up
i occassionally have the desent control light up but never ecu

As best as i know the light wont come on for cam sensor, for hill decent light check out the three amigos thread...should be a sticky at the top of the freelander homepage.

My 2001 TD4 decided to start playing up on Saturday. Was in a multi storey car park, went to start it and it wouldn't catch, tried again and the engine started then died. Started it again, went to drive off and it died. Kept turning it over and it started, got to the bottom of the multi storey, over a round about, up a slip road and upto about 40mph and then the engine just stopped. I free wheeled onto the side of the road and tried starting once again. No joy. I called the RAC out and he tried tapping the fuel pump on the right hand side of the engine bay, that didn't help. He tried connecting his laptop to the OBD socket on the car but it came up with nothing. He tried spraying a bit of easystart into the inlet manifold (which I have since read is not a good idea) and it sort of started and then died. He then went to tow me to a diesel specialist, we got there and they were closed and no where to leave the car safely. Towed home. I have been out to the car to see if I can find any symptoms. I have put more fuel in the car - not the problem. I have listened to the fuel pump in the rear wheel arch, I can sort of hear liquid moving but doesnt make the high pitched noise that was mentioned earlier in the thread. Problem? The pump in the right hand side of the engine bay is making a gurgling sort of noise. Is this normal? Can anyone advise?

You do not have a pump in the rear wheel arch on a 2001 only 2003 onwards have one pump. The primary pump is it the tank which may have failed from your description. just disconnect the pump in the engine bay and remove the inlet pipe and see if you are getting a flow from the rear pump.

oh, ok. I have looked under the carpet in the back of the car and there looks to be 2 wires going to the top of the fuel tank. i would have thought that would be the fuel sender unit.

So do you think that there should be a high pitched noise coming from the pump in the fuel tank?

I have just been out and removed the cover plate to the fuel pump (metal one accessable from inside of car under rear seat) and listened to it once the ignition was on. I could hardley hear anything. When I put my ear really close, i could just about hear something. Would this normally be fairly audiable?

Remove the the 6 screws and then the access plate above the pump/sender unit. turn on ignition and listen and feel the unit to see if it is running. If not then i would put my money on a failed pump. Its a easy job to change but the down side is that not a cheap fix. Just read your last post to finally check remove the outlet pipe prior to lift pump in engine bay and see if you get a flow from pipe

I have been out and removed the pump access panel and can hardly hear anything and also cannot feel any vibrations or anything. I had a look at removing the fuel pipe prior to the lift pump and am not sure about it. Can anyone describe what a known working fuel tank pump sounds like?

the rear pump makes a high pitch whining noise, you can hear it if you sit in drivers seat turn ignition on and open your door. you will know if its working as you can clearly hear it if you go under the tank

Td4 starting problem Fixed MJRimmer (THANK YOU) was correct it was the camshaft sensor.

always starts from cold, gets problems starting sometimes when warm.
it feels like its going to start but dosnt, it nearly starts but dies, feels almost like an immobiliser stopping it. just imagine the ecu being the immobiliser because the camshaft sensor isnt sending the info.
if anyone reading this suffers the same problem note that if your engine just cuts out whilst driving and dosnt restart i would say this has nothing to do with your camshaft sensor as you can unplug it whilst engine is running and everything will be fine but the sensor is needed to start engine
when engine is starting ok disconnect the sensor plug and try starting the engine (we know its not going to start) and see if it behaves in the same way as when you cant get your engine to start. if it does behaves the same this is more than likely your camshaft sensor.
now buy some freeze spray from maplins or somewhere much cheaper and keep it in your landy until it wont start.
when you get your problem freeze ithe cam sensor all over and get it really cold and you will find your landy will more than likely start 1st time try this a couple of times. everytime i tried it my engine started 1st time everytime when it wouldnt start at all.
i even had this problem 5 hours after parking up i opened the bonnet and everything was still a little warm i freezed sensor and yes it started 1st time.
hopefully this post will help some people out

My problem has been sorted now. Put into garage, they diagnosed what I did. Fuel tank submersible pump knackered. £397 fitted. Feel done! But at least it is working now. Just waiting for the next thing to go wrong with it now.