What did I do wrong to mess up my fuel pump or ECU??

So, My Defender 110 TD5 with 120,000 kms on the clock now, took longer than usual to start after being parked over night and it bothered me alot.

So for no apparent reason I replaced the injector seals and washers successfully with genuine LR ones, This was around 2 years ago but the problem remained. I rarely use this car.

Then I decided to remove and clean the gauze filter between the head and FPR and while refitting I overtightened one of the two fuel nozzles and broke the thread part on a perfecctly good genuine FPR which I got aluminum welded to have a temporary fix since a new one was not available to me, which worked well on idle and a short test drive, I had it then parked for almost an year.
Now 6 days ago, I installed a new battery did the 5 throttle bleed as a precaution and it started first crank let it idle for 2 mins and I turned it off and removed and replaced the repaired fpr with a new brit part unit with a new gasket and O rings, then I replaced the One way valve in the fuel filter housing with an LR genuine part and I also installed the little black nozzle in the fuel nozzle in the filter housing on the chassis side facing the rear of the car, mine did not come with one originally. I bought this car new and I am the only one who works on it.

Then I did the 5 times throttle bleed and it started fairly easily and I let it idle for 20 minutes and did a 1 km test drive and all was well.

Yesterday i decided to go for a wash since it had been parked for close to an year. 10 Kms into the ride, it died all of a sudden, I stopped and checked the fpr and fuel filter housing and all looked good. Cranked again and it ran and died 200m further and then it was dead for sure. Couldn't hear the fuel pump, checked relays and fuses and all looked okay.

So, is my pump dead for sure? If it is, did it die a natural death or did I do something wrong to kill it?

Apart from the fuel pump, do I need anything else to do a perfect job? Like any seal or O rings that need to be replaced along the pump? Please share the part numbers if possible.

Many thanks for your valued input.

Have you checked you have got 12V at the fuel pump?

Cheers

I did hear a loud shrill noise from under me when it died (LHD) so I just check and found out that the positive battery terminal had been in contact with the wall, red arrows point to the point of contact, since the battery was not secured. I also checked that the wall is aluminium and a poor conductor. Seems like it is poor now because the noise was kinda loud and I thought some stone hit the underside.

The picture is after I have re positioned the terminal on the battery.

Does that mean the ecu is shot? I dont hear the fuel pump and no glow plugs indication on the cluster. I disconnected the ECU and I still have the same number of lights going off on the cluster as with the ecu connected. Is there a way to check the ecu? I checked ALL the fuses and they are fine.

Anyone??

Left parked for a year won't help. Shorting out the battery positive to earth may have damaged the ECU through voltage spikes, particularly if the ignition was on or the engine was running/trying to start. Is there any way you can get it plugged in to a computer to check it?

Raider td5 said:

Anyone??

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Has the old fuel been in it for nearly a year too?

That's what l was thinking. Does diesel "go off" the same as petrol?

lightning said:

That's what l was thinking. Does diesel "go off" the same as petrol?

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Yes, especially the modern stuff. It can just gum up the works if it old enough.

Raider td5 said:

I did hear a loud shrill noise from under me when it died (LHD) so I just check and found out that the positive battery terminal had been in contact with the wall, red arrows point to the point of contact, since the battery was not secured. I also checked that the wall is aluminium and a poor conductor. Seems like it is poor now because the noise was kinda loud and I thought some stone hit the underside.

The picture is after I have re positioned the terminal on the battery.

Does that mean the ecu is shot? I dont hear the fuel pump and no glow plugs indication on the cluster. I disconnected the ECU and I still have the same number of lights going off on the cluster as with the ecu connected. Is there a way to check the ecu? I checked ALL the fuses and they are fine.

Click to expand...

Have you checked the basics first? Battery connections all tight? All fuses OK? Fuel in the tank? Oil in the engine? Pull the relays one at a time and check connections are clean and tight. Find the fuel pump relay and make sure it is not faulty. If you know what you are doing power the fuel pump with fly leads and see if it actually pumps.

I have no idea why you may think aluminium is a bad conductor as all metals will conduct very well. You were lucky the battery never exploded or you had an electrical fire.

A loose or missing battery clamp is a recipe for disaster as you have just discovered. Also a cover on the +ve terminal is recommended. I would be highly surprised if the ECU is damaged but it is possible. You need to plug a Nanocom or similar in and see if there are any eroor codes recorded.

Try a new battery, I shorted battery on mine and had similar symptoms, changed battery and all good

lightning said:

Left parked for a year won't help. Shorting out the battery positive to earth may have damaged the ECU through voltage spikes, particularly if the ignition was on or the engine was running/trying to start. Is there any way you can get it plugged in to a computer to check it?

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It was running when it happened.

Turboman said:

Yes, especially the modern stuff. It can just gum up the works if it old enough.

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Diesel does not go off like petrol does.
We dont have the modern diesel here. The fuel in tank from 1 year was less than a quarter and I added about 15 litres of fresh fuel. So old/bad diesel is not an issue to focus on IMHO.

Shifty1962 said:

Have you checked the basics first? Battery connections all tight? All fuses OK? Fuel in the tank? Oil in the engine? Pull the relays one at a time and check connections are clean and tight. Find the fuel pump relay and make sure it is not faulty. If you know what you are doing power the fuel pump with fly leads and see if it actually pumps.

I have no idea why you may think aluminium is a bad conductor as all metals will conduct very well. You were lucky the battery never exploded or you had an electrical fire.

A loose or missing battery clamp is a recipe for disaster as you have just discovered. Also a cover on the +ve terminal is recommended. I would be highly surprised if the ECU is damaged but it is possible. You need to plug a Nanocom or similar in and see if there are any eroor codes recorded.

Click to expand...

Yes, I have checked the basics. Fuel in tank, oil in engine, ALL fuses are good all relays and nice and tight, negative battery terminal was a little loose which I have fixed now. I thought aluminum was a bad conductor because while trouble shooting I tried to short the battery positive with the same location on the wall using a wire and there was a tiny spark which I had to pay close attention to notice. And also because the test like wouldn't work when the negative is hooked to anything aluminium.
Is there any thing else I can check? Why don't I see the glow plugs indication on the cluster? No one has nanocom here. I will have to get it to the main dealer to get the diagnostic plugged in which is my last option since the dealer is... well a bunch of retards and to top it off, thieves too!

johnlad said:

Try a new battery, I shorted battery on mine and had similar symptoms, changed battery and all good

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The battery is fine. It cranks alright!

Raider td5 said:

Yes, I have checked the basics. Fuel in tank, oil in engine, ALL fuses are good all relays and nice and tight, negative battery terminal was a little loose which I have fixed now. I thought aluminum was a bad conductor because while trouble shooting I tried to short the battery positive with the same location on the wall using a wire and there was a tiny spark which I had to pay close attention to notice. And also because the test like wouldn't work when the negative is hooked to anything aluminium.
Is there any thing else I can check? Why don't I see the glow plugs indication on the cluster? No one has nanocom here. I will have to get it to the main dealer to get the diagnostic plugged in which is my last option since the dealer is... well a bunch of retards and to top it off, thieves too!

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I strongly recommend that you don't short your battery under any circumstances - especially if you have a test lamp. My best guess based upon what you have described above is that you have an earth fault to the body affecting the ECU. The earth to the motor is fine because you say the engine cranks.

Raider td5 said:

Diesel does not go off like petrol does.
We dont have the modern diesel here. The fuel in tank from 1 year was less than a quarter and I added about 15 litres of fresh fuel. So old/bad diesel is not an issue to focus on IMHO.

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You have obviously never had diesel bug. And I can assure you the fuel we get in Britain does get problems with age.

And you are very lucky you do not have the modern fuels. The stuff we get here has up to 10% biofuel, and is a very thin dry fuel, which does not lubricate pump components as it used to.

However, in view of what you say about the fresh fuel, I agree that it is unlikely your issues are to do with old fuel.