It won't start!

Well, this is a conundrum! I have owned my 03 Td4 for about three years and it has never missed a beat, starting first turn of the key everytime. Yesterday I drove it about 30 miles stopping and starting on a couple of occasions, no bother. On returning home I parked up outside my house as usual and left it there.

This morning I hopped into the car expecting its usual faultless reliability and it won't start! There is plenty of fuel in and plenty of charge in the battery. The heater coil light is illuminating and going out correctly and the starter motor is spinning the engine just as it should. However it's not even trying to fire. It's almost as though there was an immoboliser fitted, but I am not aware of one!

Despite being fairly handy with classic vehicles, I'm not really that up to date with more modern stuff or diesels, and really have no idea where to start with it. All the fuses seem to be ok, but any handy hints, tips or suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Simon

hi there is a imbolisser fitted to it

cremator said:

hi there is a imbolisser fitted to it

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That makes sense then.

The only thing that I did differently was I forgot to lock it last night. Would that have triggered the imobiliser? If so, how do I turn it off? I have tried locking it and unlocking it using the r/c key fob and starting it using both my sets of keys. Is there something else I need to do?

Mosin said:

That makes sense then.

The only thing that I did differently was I forgot to lock it last night. Would that have triggered the imobiliser? If so, how do I turn it off? I have tried locking it and unlocking it using the r/c key fob and starting it using both my sets of keys. Is there something else I need to do?

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not locking it would not make any difference no mine did same and it was the fuel pump under the bonnet mine is 02 td4

Do thetd4 have crankshaft and camshaft sensors ? If so it could be one of them.

It may be a leaking injector, fairly common fault, do a search on here about how to test. One easy way is to spray easy start into air intake, if car starts and runs fine nearly sure it will be the injector.

You also should check/listen if the Lp fuel pump/s are running when the ignition is turned on. If not try giving them a tap, sometimes that's enough to get them running.

Good advice, but from the 03 onwards only one fuel pump in the rear wheel arch, same pump as on the range rover and tend to be a bit more reliable

All good suggestions, thanks guys. But one thing confuses me. Would any of these things cause the car to fail between me parking it up last night and getting in it again this morning? It was running fine yesterday and if the problem was a dicky sensor or fuel pump or something would it not have developed as a minor or intermittent fault and become progressively worse over a period of time?

Thats why i suspect a injector leak back. Fine then bingo. Not too get to technical but with a injector leak back the rail will not pressurise to 8000psi which the sensor requires to send a message to the injector to open. Regarding the fuel pump, sit in car turn on ignition and you should hear the pump working

booboodag said:

Thats why i suspect a injector leak back. Fine then bingo. Not too get to technical but with a injector leak back the rail will not pressurise to 8000psi which the sensor requires to send a message to the injector to open. Regarding the fuel pump, sit in car turn on ignition and you should hear the pump working

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Just tried sitting in it with the ignition on and I can hear the pump whirring away fine. I'll give it a go with some easy start tomorrow and see how I get on! Thanks

did it beep and flash the alarm led twice if so possibly key fob batteries try resynchronize fob by pressing unlock or lock 5 times in quick secession by drivers door

mystery said:

did it beep and flash the alarm led twice if so possibly key fob batteries try resynchronize fob by pressing unlock or lock 5 times in quick secession by drivers door

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I tried both my main key and also the spare this afternoon just in case the problem was batteries. Neither would start it.

just remember with the easy start, take the air pipe off the other side of the inlet manifold, once started and if it runs fine, you can also bump it off on a hill.
But the down side is about £150 per injector and they can be a pig to get out, we have done all 4 in a hour but also have taken us all day to get 1 out,

would deffo go with booboodag. not an immobiliser fault or starter wouldn't turn.

had exactly this with my td4, was fine one moment, next no start. traced to faulty injectors.

Just as an update and by way of thanks...

It turns out that the problem was number 3 injector had failed exactly as you suggested. Luckily the local independant Landrover specialist (Simon Huntington in Wigton) had one in stock. The good news is that while I was at work yesterday he called round the house, recovered my car to his premesis, did the whole job in a couple of hours (including running a diagnostic to test for any other possible faults), and the car was waiting for me all fixed and running again when I got home from work!

The bad news, as suggested, was the cost. Ouch!