Landrover Discovery 2 not getting power when I put it in grear

Hi

Its my first post in this forum and hope someone would be able to help as I am really fed up with the issue that I am having. It happened last week. Started my disco (auto 2001 adventurer with 108K millage) in the morning and it started OK. It drove for 100 yards and than lost all its power. Tried to push the gas pedal but nothing. Parked it on road side as engine also stopped. Tried to start and engine started ok but no power when pressing gas pedal. No revs at all. The amber engine light was sometime blinking for few seconds but not always. It started again and moved another 100 yards with same result. Tried several time and always engine was starting but no power. Sometimes the engine stopping as well. Sometimes engine stopping on moving steering. Left it there as was getting late from office. In the evening tried again and luckily started again and was able to bring it home and park properly. Next day tried again and nothing changed. Engine starting but no power. Checked air filter etc and nothing obvious. Started again after like 10 minutes so took it to mechanic which is at 3 miles drive. Another thing I noticed is that there was some black some whenever it was able to run. But not much I think. Nothing wrong while driving. There first thought was that it may be due to faulty fuel pump. Now its with them since almost a week. They have tested fuel pump and its pressure is ok. They have tested pretty much everything but not getting anywhere. Now they think it may be ECU although there isn't any errors when the run computer diagnostic on it. They say its up to me to decide whether to buy new ECU as they cannot confirm that it will work after ECU change. They say they have wiped and reinstalled ECU software but same result. Only difference is that now its starting, taking power and reving fine but as soon as they put it in gear, no power. Few more things. The car have cylinder head, head gasket done 4000 miles back. Fuel pressure regulator and most of cooling system (thermostat, radiator and pump etc) changed 1000 miles back. Not sure its worth to spend money on ECU as already fed up spending so much on it. The mechanic is specialist in landrover is this area.

Have you checked the Turbo hoses . They can start to delaminate , and collapse under load (sucking closed) hence as revs pick up car losses power ? . Could also be throttle position sensor but you prob have a error code if it was that ! And have you check the red ecu plug for oil . This to can make car run odd . And welcome

Thanks for the reply Vanmancan. Turbo hoses seems fine. And it's not getting revs at all when in gear. Yes there is no error code at all which is making it more confusing. I will check with garage about the oil on ECU plug though I think they may have checked that. Also since last month or so occasionally starting car I was feeling that it's not getting power for like 3 to 4 secs but everything fine afterwords. Not sure it's related to this issue or not.

So it revs well when in park and neutral ! And has played up when steering has been turned ? Wonder if it's a earth prob . Maybe try getting the auto box xyz switch checked even just unplug it clean the connector and plug it back in .

Thanks. I will ask garage to check this as it's still with them. Fingers crossed.

I suspect the throttle potentiometer, especially that the MIL came on for a while, IMO they don't use a dedicated LR tester and a generic one will not show any faults... but if the tester is D2 compliant then the ECU is suspect as well... if their tester is compliant ask them to read accelerator tracks and if the sum of track 1 + 2 is not = with supply and track 1 doesnt grow when pushing the throttle the potentiometers(or it's circuit) is the fault ... if they can't check that then their computer diagnose is irrelevant too as that tester is not Reading the D2 ECU at all

Sierrafery thanks for the advice. I guess they would be using LR tester as they just do landrover and agricultural ones. But I will check with them and ask them to do the test as you mentioned.

zmmahmood said:

Sierrafery thanks for the advice. I guess they would be using LR tester as they just do landrover and agricultural ones. But I will check with them and ask them to do the test as you mentioned.

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Not connected, but there was recently a P38 with a similar problem, no power when D selected. Turned out to be a problem with the FIP which is electronic on the P38 diesel.

Datatek said:

Not connected, but there was recently a P38 with a similar problem, no power when D selected. Turned out to be a problem with the FIP which is electronic on the P38 diesel.

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actually for the described symptom the fuel pump is the first suspect for D2 aswell but but

zmmahmood said:

...There first thought was that it may be due to faulty fuel pump. Now its with them since almost a week. They have tested fuel pump and its pressure is ok. ...

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so, @zmmahmood ... If theyr tester is proper and the throttle track readings are good the question is where did they actually put the gauge to read the pressure, where it is relevant, i mean in the FPR instead of the FT sensor?...and got nice steady 4 bar there? this must be double checked cos the fuel delivery system is not covered by diagnostic(except the pump relay) so would not throw a fault code

also does it still have EGR cos a blocked closed or fully clogged one would do that as well

@sierrafery not sure about EGR as just got this last year and not been done while its with me. I will check all this tomorrow as they were closed today. They are expecting to have similar disco next week and their initial plan is to try its ECU and see if it works before spending money on new ECU but I will ask them to check the things that you guys have mentioned.

Got disco back from garage yesterday afternoon. They said that the ECU is fine and there was some oil on the ECU red plug. They have also flushed and changed engine oil and put a new diesel fuel filter. Not sure all this was necessary as the problem may be just due to oil on ECU red plug. Did a 170 miles round trip to work and it seems ok. Bit annoyed with the garage bill but anyhow is running now. Thanks everyone for useful tips as I don't know much about these.

i had the exact same issue recently. M&S lights blinking, engine was running. but no torquer or reaction from engine when gas was pressed. when i did get it going (which was very sporadic) the engine would stall and check engine light came up.

Same initial diagnosis as yours - faulty fuel pump. so that was changed but problem persisted.

turned out that there was a problem (which apparently is a common problem) with the injector harness and oil penetrating the wire insulation, causing a short. this was the problem on my car. changed the injector harness and everything was OK again. may be worth looking in to if problem returns...