Freelander 2 (LR2) Freelander 2 diesel starting on 3 cylinders, now running properly, after cylinder head change.

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
Jayridium said:
I find a certain irony in the way this story has unfolded, it stated off with a cheap FL2 running on 3 / misfire, which led to a partial engine rebuild because some twonk (not nodge) let the engine ingest a nut, and now it's a wall of Three Letter Acronyms and computer babble. I'm actually wondering if the twonk who dropped the offending nut in the engine, did so while the injectors were out as part of his investigations into the misfire we suspect is being caused by the ECU fault that Nodge is working on now? That would be ironic.
Click to expand...

Oh I'm sure I'm now chasing the original fault, which resulted in all the work done to this engine before I got it. I'm also convinced that the seller was more aware of the fault than he let on, and I'm also sure that he replaced a new matching tyre, with an odd bald one, and probably nicked 3 reverse sensors and the parcel shelf too, as it didn't make the money he wanted for it.:mad:

However it was very cheap, and once I'm through this issue, and got the rest of the jobs sorted, then it'll actually be a nice vehicle. :)
 
Nodge68 said:
Oh I'm sure I'm now chasing the original fault, which resulted in all the work done to this engine before I got it. I'm also convinced that the seller was more aware of the fault than he let on, and I'm also sure that he replaced a new matching tyre, with an odd bald one, and probably nicked 3 reverse sensors and the parcel shelf too, as it didn't make the money he wanted for it.:mad:

However it was very cheap, and once I'm through this issue, and got the rest of the jobs sorted, then it'll actually be a nice vehicle. :)
Click to expand...
Are you sure it wouldn't have been easier to electrify it Nodge? :p
 
Nodge68 said:
Oh I'm sure I'm now chasing the original fault, which resulted in all the work done to this engine before I got it. I'm also convinced that the seller was more aware of the fault than he let on, and I'm also sure that he replaced a new matching tyre, with an odd bald one, and probably nicked 3 reverse sensors and the parcel shelf too, as it didn't make the money he wanted for it.:mad:

However it was very cheap, and once I'm through this issue, and got the rest of the jobs sorted, then it'll actually be a nice vehicle. :)
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of the nicked bits, it was just the engine thing, misfire --> injectors --> inlet manifold off and injectors out = 3 holes per cylinder through which to drop stuff into the combustion chamber...

When I've had the injectors out on mine I always make "tampons" out of blue tissue and stuff the holes precisely for the reason of being paranoid about dropping stuff into the chamber.

They are lovely vehicles, and I fully trust and hope you thoroughly enjoy it once you've got it up to mustard. My neighbour has an FL2 and an Evoque, I used to enjoy taking my youngest to school and walking past our hippo, the Evoque and the FL2. Just need a discovery sport to complete the family tree for a photo op.
 
Jayridium said:
I wasn't aware of the nicked bits,
Click to expand...
Nor was I until I looked at the ebay pictures in detail.
Of course as soon as I went to contact them regarding this, they'd cleared out the yard, and closed the ebay account.
Jayridium said:
it was just the engine thing, misfire --> injectors --> inlet manifold off and injectors out = 3 holes per cylinder through which to drop stuff into the combustion chamber.
Click to expand...
The nut is I believe from the EGR connection flange at the throttle body. It looks to be the same design, and was probably dropped into the intake, while the engine was being worked on by someone completely unqualified to do so.
Jayridium said:
When I've had the injectors out on mine I always make "tampons" out of blue tissue and stuff the holes precisely for the reason of being paranoid about dropping stuff into the chamber.
Click to expand...
That's good practice, although it's difficult to drop anything in to the FL2 injector holes, as they're so small.;)
 
Jayridium said:
I think it's too expensive and too nice a vehicle to be experimenting on. Once the first EV is running and proven, it's learnings can form the basis of other EV projects such as an EV FL2.
Click to expand...
That is exactly what I am doing with my EV conversion. Couldn't agree more. :)
 
I decided to give up on my laptop - when i can just get away with it ( software) I didnt want to spend the weekend stressing about reloading windows or whatever over the weekend. gonna leave it into a guy this week hopefully.
What version of SDD have you got? when i looked into it there was tales of functionality dropping off after 138.
 
SWalker said:
I decided to give up on my laptop - when i can just get away with it ( software) I didnt want to spend the weekend stressing about reloading windows or whatever over the weekend. gonna leave it into a guy this week hopefully.
What version of SDD have you got? when i looked into it there was tales of functionality dropping off after 138.
Click to expand...

Alibro sorted out the laptop with a suitable hard drive already loaded with SDD and the Mongoose Pro clone drivers. Unfortunately I needed to actually make the Mongoose work, as Ali couldn't do that remotely, but I did it, eventually.

I've version 159, but not having the earlier version for comparison, I don't know what functionality is missing.

I'm hoping I can change my ECU with it though, although I didn't find that routine, before my battery showed a low battery warning.

So it look like an auxiliary power supply is necessary for any programming work. :(

Although I'm thinking that I might be able to connect some booster leads to another family vehicle with the engine running, which will hopefully achieve the same result as.:)
 
At the risk of sounding like a tight wad, but then again - I am Scottish, Lidl sell a cheap little smart charger, I say smart as it's maybe not fully intelligent, but its more sophisticated than the typical buzzy transformer box types of chargers from the eighties, these wee things are a godsend for GPS map updates, diagnostic sessions etc. Rather than faff about with jump leads and another vehicle, burning twa gallon of fuel, get one of these little inexpensive smart chargers, run an extension lead out and put the battery charger on the vehicle? And as luck would have it, they came back into stock over the weekend:

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/car-kit/ultimate-speed-car-motorcycle-battery-charger/p36894
 
Jayridium said:
At the risk of sounding like a tight wad, but then again - I am Scottish, Lidl sell a cheap little smart charger, I say smart as it's maybe not fully intelligent, but its more sophisticated than the typical buzzy transformer box types of chargers from the eighties, these wee things are a godsend for GPS map updates, diagnostic sessions etc. Rather than faff about with jump leads and another vehicle, burning twa gallon of fuel, get one of these little inexpensive smart chargers, run an extension lead out and put the battery charger on the vehicle? And as luck would have it, they came back into stock over the weekend:

https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/p/car-kit/ultimate-speed-car-motorcycle-battery-charger/p36894
Click to expand...

While suitable for charging the vehicle battery, those chargers won't help with module coding.
The the FL2 needs a 20 Amp auxiliary power source when coding ECUs or running electronic routines.

I've already got a 10 Amp smart charger, and it's not up to the task. I've also got a regulated bench power supply, but again it's not able to supply the power requirements.
A proper auxiliary power supply would cost more than the engine repair to date, which is why I think I'll use one of our other vehicles as the power supply. I've got a decent set of leads, and the cars are parked next to each other, so it's the easiest and cheapest option for me.;)
 
I was sure i posted a link before but cant find it,

here is a link to the sdd130 user manual - i go tthat wrong before, after 130 license keys are required for some functions

 
SWalker said:
I was sure i posted a link before but cant find it,

here is a link to the sdd130 user manual - i go tthat wrong before, after 130 license keys are required for some functions

Click to expand...


Very useful.
Thanks.

There is a way to unlock the "engineer" level functions on SDD, without any access codes, other than the last 6 numbers of the VIN.
 
Last edited:
Nodge68 said:
While suitable for charging the vehicle battery, those chargers won't help with module coding.
The the FL2 needs a 20 Amp auxiliary power source when coding ECUs or running electronic routines.
Click to expand...
This is the one I use: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1717580146#ProductDetails
I think it was £50 when I bought it on Amazon 18 months ago and it is a useful thing to have around - makes a decent battery charger as well.
 
Last edited:
Ok. Today I'm working on the FL2 misfire issue.

Step 1 was to configure a replacement ECU using JLR SDD, which I did without issue.
20201116_105640.jpg

Actually SDD seems pretty simple to use, but does require an auxiliary power supply, which I did, simply by connecting the FL2 battery to the wife's Fiat 500 battery, and left the Fiat idling while I programmed the new module.


The engine now seems to start from cold on all 4, and actually runs on all 4 while under light load. However I still have a problem with it dropping to 3 cylinders under higher loads, like climbing hills.

It seems that this engine really isn't going to give up its secrets yet. :(
 
Assuming, and it looks like the ecu was at fault is it worth going over the injectors again with the oscilloscope. And check cam timing is correct and not a tooth out.
It sounds like you're so close to perfect motor.
 
baby steps... i need to get my sdd up and running - left the laptop with a guy who re-loaded windows ( coulda done that myself) and it came back worse lol wouldnt download edge and he suggested win10, but win7 is what it came with and worked on!! see what he does this time round.
 
Well that wasn't the way I wanted things to go.

I adjusted the parking brake, as the lever was so high, it stopped me from buckling the seat belt (how people put up with crappie adjustment like this amazes me). I also fitted a replacement wheel which I had an identical to the other 3 but different name tyre (this is normal for a Chinese tyre) fitted.
20201116_141816.jpg
20201116_141911.jpg


So I'm moving in the right direction. The parking brake works perfectly, and I've 4 matching tyres.:)

Next came the cold-ish start, and guess what, it started on 3 cylinders. :mad:

So now at least I've eliminated the PTM/EDC/ECU (use whichever you choose) so where do I go now? Injector maybe? They're all reconditioned, but that doesn't mean all are good.
The issue is how do I find the faulty one? SDD doesn't say, as it appears there's no PID feedback for the injectors on this module, so it doesn't know that there's an issue.

In the past, if an injector was disconnected and the engine is started, a code was logged for that injector being open circuit. It logged the code this on all cylinders, but cylinder 3 seemed to be the one that made no difference to the running, so I assumed it was No 3. I swapped No 3 at the time, but it still made no difference, so I assumed it to be the driver in the PTM. :oops:

I'm going going to re-run the cold start injector unplugged test again, when the weather allows.:(

It's such a pain, as when the engine isn't under load, and its hot, it runs really well.:confused:
 
Last edited:
Wouldn't be the CPS failing would it?

Thinking back I had a MK3 Mondeo that had an issue very similar to this, and that was the culprit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
***Help please!*** I've got a misfiring 2 litre Diesel Freelander
Replies
12
Views
6K
thequeenscheese
thequeenscheese
B
I've got a misfiring 2 litre Diesel Freelander
Replies
3
Views
1K
wiltshire landyman
wiltshire landyman
hoarec
Rough Running On Cylinder 3.......
Replies
6
Views
2K
hoarec
hoarec
hoarec
Running Rough on Cylinder 3.....Help Please
Replies
13
Views
2K
hoarec
hoarec
W
2.5 N/A Diesel running on 3 cylinders
Replies
5
Views
7K
wingnut1033
W
Back
Top