Cold start problems

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BarriKuda

Member
Posts
31
Location
Peterborough
Had a problem starting my Freelander 2 this morning, put key fob in and pressed stop start button got all lights up and waited a few seconds till usual lights go out, depressed clutch and pressed start, truck didn’t attempt to start and all lights went off, I then took fob out and went through same procedure again, same thing happened, did it a third time and it spun over fast and started ok. It was quite cold this morning probably 2 degrees, am I doing anything wrong with cold starting, to be honest I’ve never seen a glow plug light showing in the 6 years I’ve had vehicle, it’s a 2008 freelander 2 HSE manual, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks
Barry
 
How's the battery health? they can be quite heavy on power use. Do you know when the glow plugs were last changed??
 
How's the battery health? they can be quite heavy on power use. Do you know when the glow plugs were last changed??
Battery is less than a year old and seems to hold a charge ok, spins engine fast when it starts, I have a voltage readout and that doesn’t drop at all when it turns engine over it didn’t even attempt to turn engine all the lights went off as if I’d stopped car and removed the fob, I did try a second press of start button before I removed fob but nothing happened, lights didn’t come back until I removed fob and pressed start button again to get ignition lights on, once I did get it to start and it had warmed up there wasn’t a problem restarting it again, don’t know if glow plugs have ever been replaced I certainly haven’t replaced them and I’ve never seen a glow plug light come on and I’ve been through 6 winters with it, thanks for a quick reply
Barry
 
Battery is less than a year old and seems to hold a charge ok, spins engine fast when it starts, I have a voltage readout and that doesn’t drop at all when it turns engine over it didn’t even attempt to turn engine all the lights went off as if I’d stopped car and removed the fob, I did try a second press of start button before I removed fob but nothing happened, lights didn’t come back until I removed fob and pressed start button again to get ignition lights on, once I did get it to start and it had warmed up there wasn’t a problem restarting it again, don’t know if glow plugs have ever been replaced I certainly haven’t replaced them and I’ve never seen a glow plug light come on and I’ve been through 6 winters with it, thanks for a quick reply
Barry
No worries I am not as well informed as @Nodge hopefully he will clock this and give you some help.
 
Yes love mine too, I’ve invested a small fortune in it, new transfer box, flywheel and clutch, haldex and diff bearing, wheel bearings, steering rack and power steering pump, it’s now cost me more than I paid for it but it’s an old car 2008, I don’t think the mileage is correct I plugged in my code reader and it says odometer tampered, not sure if it reads that if an attempt to alter mileage or whether it’s actually been altered, I’ve checked the MOT history and nothing stands out so not sure
Barry
 
Could be but only done it since it’s got very cold, I’m thinking about taking it to Freelander specialists in Methwold, they’ve done all my big jobs so far
 
Yes love mine too, I’ve invested a small fortune in it, new transfer box, flywheel and clutch, haldex and diff bearing, wheel bearings, steering rack and power steering pump, it’s now cost me more than I paid for it but it’s an old car 2008, I don’t think the mileage is correct I plugged in my code reader and it says odometer tampered, not sure if it reads that if an attempt to alter mileage or whether it’s actually been altered, I’ve checked the MOT history and nothing stands out so not sure
Barry
Yep mine had new clutch and flywheel last year 3 days b4 Xmas. Mines an 07 SE.
 
Could be but only done it since it’s got very cold, I’m thinking about taking it to Freelander specialists in Methwold, they’ve done all my big jobs so far
You might aswell do the easy stuff, check the battery terminals are both clean and tight.
Let's us know how you get on.
 
Just gone out to start it and it’s started first time a treat, go figure ha!, not quite as cold this morning, I forgot to mention I checked battery terminals and put it on charge just in case when I first got it started yesterday
Barry
 
I know it's not the same, but I've had similar symptoms on my bike. Usually it would soon over as normal and start first go.
Other times it would either spin over a compression or 2 and stop it just click and do nothing and the dash lights would go out, then start as normal a few mins later.
A new battery would 'fix' it for a while.
Never fully got to the bottom of it.
If it's a dodgy connection or a bad cable then you'd expect it to gradually get worse over time.
The only thing i can think in my case is a few minor things that add up, a less than ideal connection somewhere starter cable a bit on the thin side and a small battery that's only just good enough when it's new.

All that said and out of the way, measure your volts before you turn the ignition on, measure the volts at the battery while the ignition is on and again when you turn the key to start the car.
Report back with all 3 numbers
 
I know it's not the same, but I've had similar symptoms on my bike. Usually it would soon over as normal and start first go.
Other times it would either spin over a compression or 2 and stop it just click and do nothing and the dash lights would go out, then start as normal a few mins later.
A new battery would 'fix' it for a while.
Never fully got to the bottom of it.
If it's a dodgy connection or a bad cable then you'd expect it to gradually get worse over time.
The only thing i can think in my case is a few minor things that add up, a less than ideal connection somewhere starter cable a bit on the thin side and a small battery that's only just good enough when it's new.

All that said and out of the way, measure your volts before you turn the ignition on, measure the volts at the battery while the ignition is on and again when you turn the key to start the car.
Report back with all 3 numbers
Was that the gixer?
 
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