1999 Defender 110 csw engine light (Disco II auto engine)

Hi. My 1999 defender CSW 110 has a intermittant engine light. Would anyone know the reasons they come up?
I noticed it when I took the mechanic for a spin to have him listen to a noise (he thought it was the turbo) and he was revving it alot. The engine light didn't show again for a few weeks (yesterday), it stayed for about 10 minutes but seems to go when I got back to it after it was parked for a while. The only other thing I know that might be a problem with the defender is a possible short, possibily with the spots.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

1999 ?
A TD5 by any chance ??

You need an OBD reader.
Foxwell NT510 or iCarsoft to go the full Monty a Nanocom, or alternatively, a friend with one.

miktdish said:

1999 ?
A TD5 by any chance ??

You need an OBD reader.
Foxwell NT510 or iCarsoft to go the full Monty a Nanocom, or alternatively, a friend with one.

Click to expand...

Yes, TD5 ( a disco 2 automatic engine) I should have mentioned that!In hindsite I should have listed this as a Disco II auto engine light.

You definately need access to an OBD reader ....

miktdish said:

You definately need access to an OBD reader ....

Click to expand...

Cheers mate.

Yes, mechanics sometimes don't appear to have much mechanical sympathy with engines - they can thrash them rather hard at times. I've had several issues that put the yellow engine light on on a TD5. A duff crank position sensor can do it, especially if it's reved hard. I read on the internet that if the crank position sensor went wrong the engine wouldn't start at all. Not so. It's possible for them to fail in such a way as to put the yellow light on under hard acceleration, sometimes accompanied by the engine going into limp mode. It can be reset by turning it off for a little while and then starting it again. Sometimes this yields a 'high speed crank error' on the Nanocom. Failure of the MAF/airflow meter when travelling at speed. This can put the yellow light on, and give a mysterious range of faults on the Nanocom. The key diagnostic feature though is that it doesn't appear to have any airflow. When this happened to mine I replaced the MAF and cleared the faults and thy didn't come back. Finally, I've had this as a result of failures in the wiring loom between the accelerator pedal and the ECU, as the wires tend to chafe through and/or suffer from breakage of the copper core.

Don't forget, the TD5 isn't fully OBD compatible so some generic fault code readers may make little headway. The Nanocom is well thought of on here, and there's the Britpart Lynx system that you can run on a PC, so you get the advantage of a decent keyboard and screen.