Not starting & petrol smell 4.6HSE

Well the dream of landrover ownership lasted all of 36 hours before the problems started. My 1995 4.6HSE is now stuck in the company car park refusing to start. After a quick blast at lunchtime yesterday, it failed to restart (it was quite hot under the bonnet but temp gauge showed ok). The engine span quick enough and there was a strong smell of petrol vapour. It started a couple of hours later when on gas, but my tank is empty (last dregs used on this start) and switched to petrol ok. An immediate restart on petrol was also ok, but not when repeated 2 minutes later.

This morning after leaving in the car park overnight it fired up on petrol - a bit rough sounding and very rich exhaust gas, but soon smoothed itself out. This lunchtime it was having none of it again. Just spinning and smelling of petrol.

After checking through many forum threads I could draw several conclusions, but am not really certain where to start. Here are the facts:

Immobiliser ok - as the engine turns
No Engine Check light at ignition position II - but engine has started on both petrol and gas
No warning comments on display
Checked Air mass flow sensor - it is connected (can't say more than that).
Strong petrol vapour smell after cranking
Slight water leak into passenger footwell from sunroof A-post area (read there is a link to BECM failuire from this)

Can anyone shed light on this or give me a few pointers about what to check next.

Also, can anyone pass comment on KMotors in Leyland, Preston - they may be my next port of call if all else fails.

you may want to recheck the air flow sensor, check the connections, i had this on mine (minus the smell of fuel) and it was a bad connection to the air flow sensor!

If it is the air flow sensor you can get the correct cleaner (i found the stuff again)

Maplin > Isopropyl Alcohol

Dopey said:

If it is the air flow sensor you can get the correct cleaner (i found the stuff again)

Maplin > Isopropyl Alcohol

Click to expand...

thats the stuff, i have 2 tins, one at home and one in the range rover boot.
give everything a spray and a few second for the crap the evaporate before reconnecting though

I have just been told

"It's the basis of the de-iceing solution you use on the windscreen.
You can also add 10 to 20 mls to your fuel, as it "mops" up any water in the fuel (petrol or diesel).
It's good because it's kind to car paint and it's not that toxic, but it does burn."

Thanks for the info. I've got a guy from work to look at it tomorrow - he's got the full Rover diagnostic software and tools - used to work as auto electrician at TVR! May shed some light on the matter.

The latest is: we think it is leaking injectors. These flood the engine when switched off for more than a few seconds. Once running it runs silky smooth. Left overnight it starts again. Starting on gas proved successful. Going to try and measure the fuel rail pressure after switch off to see if there is a rapid decay. Does anyone have a good source of new injectors or know of a good injector cleaning company?

holymojo said:

The latest is: we think it is leaking injectors. These flood the engine when switched off for more than a few seconds. Once running it runs silky smooth. Left overnight it starts again. Starting on gas proved successful. Going to try and measure the fuel rail pressure after switch off to see if there is a rapid decay. Does anyone have a good source of new injectors or know of a good injector cleaning company?

Click to expand...

i got some from paddock (i think) for £30 each.......