TD5 Defender won't start after clutch change

Just replaced the clutch on my 2004 TD5 and it won't start. Immobiliser disarms and engine cranks, can hear fuel pump priming, all warning lights work as normal. The engine light did start flashing but i think thats poss where i was pumping the pedal.

I've rechecked all connectors, small earth on side of transfer box was loose and causing probs with the lights but made no difference to starting

fantom said:

Just replaced the clutch on my 2004 TD5 and it won't start. Immobiliser disarms and engine cranks, can hear fuel pump priming, all warning lights work as normal. The engine light did start flashing but i think thats poss where i was pumping the pedal.

I've rechecked all connectors, small earth on side of transfer box was loose and causing probs with the lights but made no difference to starting

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My first suggestion would be to check the crank sensor as you may have damaged it or dislodged the connector. If you open the bonnet and look into the engine bay from the driver's side, right at the very back of the engine it is mounted where the bell housing joins the back of the engine. The wires become very brittle due to the heat in the area and they break very easily. No sensor = no startee enjun

P.S. - the plug is the exact same as the one for the bonnet alarm sensor

Had it out and checked for damage yesterday in case it got a whack when the box was going back in but not a mark on it, cleaned and refitted and still no joy. Plug looks to be fine, no broken wires or damage to the loom.

fantom said:

Had it out and checked for damage yesterday in case it got a whack when the box was going back in but not a mark on it, cleaned and refitted and still no joy. Plug looks to be fine, no broken wires or damage to the loom.

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I did a bit of work on my TD5 last year and everything had been running fine beforehand .... but somehow I managed to break one of the wires for the CKP sensor just where it goes into the plug. On brief inspection the wires looked ok, it was only when I took the original sensor out and fitted a new one that I noticed the wire's copper core was broken but the plastic insulation still held everything together (see PS at the bottom.) Before I noticed the bonnet plug was the same, I simply cut the plug off the loom and carefully cut away enough of the plastic of the plug body to get access to the pin, I then soldered two fresh pieces of wire onto the pins and soldered them to the original wires in the loom. I used heat shrink to insulate each wire individually and a bigger size of heat shrink to hold everything neat, thenh I wrapped the exposed bits of my new wires with kitchen tin foil for screening. The signal coming from the CKP sensor is so small it is very easy for it to get "scrambled," hence why I screened it with tin foil.

I don't want to sound pedantic, but check the wires at the back of the plug again, very carefully, you just might be as surprised as I was when I found the break.

Hope this helps,

Ron.

I cannot remember the fault code that my Hawkeye displayed, but it sounded like something really, really very serious, but it turned out to be the CKP.

Ahhh, I just re-read my old post about this very subject ... the original problem I had with the wires for the CKP was cracked insulation and the way the plug is twisted a little to fit the sensor was allowing the exposed copper wire to short out the sensor. It was while I was trying to insulate the wires that I broke one of them off etc etc.

Thanks for that will have a look tomorrow. Puzzling thing its it I can't read it with my scanners. Got a MAC euro mentor, an omniscan and a little hand held obd tool, all of which usually read everything to a certain level but none of these will communicate with the ecu

fantom said:

Thanks for that will have a look tomorrow. Puzzling thing its it I can't read it with my scanners. Got a MAC euro mentor, an omniscan and a little hand held obd tool, all of which usually read everything to a certain level but none of these will communicate with the ecu

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Sorry cannot help you on that one, I only know Hawkeye ... but if you think your ECU is confused, try disconnecting the battery anhd letting it sit for a few minutes? hours? and try again.

When I first got my TD5 (defender) I went through 4 months of absolute hell with mysterious cutting out, for absolutely no apparent reason then it would refuse to start for 36 hours, I did everything imaginable to get her to start but she wouldn't. But, if I left her alone, totally undisturbed, for 36 hours she would start first turn of the key every single time and run like a train until the next time. In the end it was a build up gunk in the tank which was blocking the fuel pump intake, but in the process of finding this out, I really got to know my TD5, intimately.

The moral of my story is, keep at it, you will find the problem and even if it takes a while, it is worth it. (But I still think it's the CKP sensor plug/wiring so I wait with bated breatyh to hear what it was in the end, please do let us know, too many people come in and ask for help then leave without saying what solved it in the end.)

fantom said:

Thanks for that will have a look tomorrow. Puzzling thing its it I can't read it with my scanners. Got a MAC euro mentor, an omniscan and a little hand held obd tool, all of which usually read everything to a certain level but none of these will communicate with the ecu

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Snap-on diagnostics will read em, as will testbook, hawkeye, nanocom. TD5's are NOT OBD2 compliant hence the problems with normal code readers.

snap on won't unfortunatly, my mac one reads more than the snap on equivilant.

Luckily for me i found the prob this morn, ecu under the seat, red plug had come loose, still looked to be in but removed it and pushed it right home and all is well again

fantom said:

snap on won't unfortunatly, my mac one reads more than the snap on equivilant.

Luckily for me i found the prob this morn, ecu under the seat, red plug had come loose, still looked to be in but removed it and pushed it right home and all is well again

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Glad you got it sorted.

Out of curiosity what snap on diagnostic have you used? I've had an ethos and a solus pro and am currently on a modis and they have all read TD5's with no problem

fantom said:

Luckily for me i found the prob this morn, ecu under the seat, red plug had come loose, still looked to be in but removed it and pushed it right home and all is well again

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Och weel, it's not often I'm right, but I was wrong again

It was a modis I think, a mates one not mine. Nothing would have have read it with the ecu unplugged !! They all read it now