TD5 Defender 90 sudden power stutter and temperature spike??

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Carpo1978

Carpo1978

Member
Posts
20
Location
Tutbury, Derbyshire DE65
Can anyone offer any suggestions?

It happens if I've got my foot on the accelerator to maintain a constant speed or to increase speed, all of a sudden it will stutter for 1-4 seconds and the temperature gauge goes to max. Once the stutter stops the temperature returns back to normal.

She's done 133k, had a new turbo 30k ago and is regularly serviced.

Some folks have said 'live with it' but I wouldnt want it happening mid-overtake!

Mohair 1.JPG
 
My last boss had an issue with his Td5 were the temp would go into the red (even if the engine was cold) and it would turn over but not fire up - turned out to be one of the yellow relays under the seat - might be worth a look?

HTH
 
Could be water somewhere or a bad earth! You would expect the water to disperse after a week or so especially if it's been getting up to temperature. Sounds like and electrical problem to me.
 
Definitely an electrical issue. Diagnostic won't see a fault inless it does it while connected. Mine did it off and on for months drove me nuts till I found it.

However check power to and from immobilser. Black and red plugs for loose connections And the old favourite oil in the Red one :rolleyes:

P.S. DONT live with it. It will get worse ;)
 
My dad had exactly the same fault on his 2004 TD5. As suggested by arboorman it was a loose connection on one of the yellow relays under the drivers seat (assuming rhd). Before this was fixed his Defender would often fail to start and the temp will be at max as soon as you turn the ignition to the on position. By wiggling the top of the relay with the faulty connection all would turn back to normal. It caught him out a couple of times while driving as well as the temp would shoot to max and the Defender would cut out.
To identify which relay connectors are at fault all you need to do is switch the Defender off, unplug one of the yellow relays and turn the ignition to the on position, if the temp meter jumps to max you identified the relay, if not switch of and reconnect the relay before unplugging the next one.
Once you identify the relay you need to take note of each wire position in its yellow connector plug. this connector plug has a top and bottom half which are easily separated using a small flat screwdriver, unclip the bottom part from the top half and in turn remove each wire, use pliers to crimp the female connector slightly and make sure to return it to its original position in the top half of the connector plug before moving to the next wire.
This is an easy fix and should not take you longer than 10 - 15 minutes to sort.
Good luck
 
Last edited:
On mine, I've gone round and put a dab of solder on all the connectors where the spade terminal is crimped onto the wire. with all the vibration in a Land Rover they tend to come loose. Some of the relay holders come apart to release the connectors, as above, and with others you can slide a very small screwdriver down inside them and push a little tab in to allow the connector to pull out. It sounds complicated but I'm sure you'll work it out. I can't remember which is which offhand as it's a few months since I looked at mine.

Whether or not it solves the problem, it's a useful job to do anyway as the wires get loose and the connectors get verdigrised over a period of time.
 
Thanks heaps for all your help folks. Checked for bad earths and relays only to find that the problem was that there was quite a considerable coolant leak (had been parking on grass so didnt notice it) leading to me loosing almost all of it and for some reason this caused the symptoms above which disappeared on loading up with coolant.

Thanks again for your help and should any of the symptoms you have shared with us occur in the future I'll check relays etc as you've suggested...after I've checked for a coolant leak (feeling a tad stupid!)
 
Cheers FMog. She's my pride and joy! Nothing like whizzing round the country lanes with the roof off.

Checking the ECU for oil was also recommended as a fix by some local defender enthusiasts down at their office (the pub) and I'm going to spend the weekend giving her some tlc including cleaning the ECU out.

Cheers all for your help :)
54925306.jpg
 
Carpo1978 said:
Cheers FMog. She's my pride and joy! Nothing like whizzing round the country lanes with the roof off.

Checking the ECU for oil was also recommended as a fix by some local defender enthusiasts down at their office (the pub) and I'm going to spend the weekend giving her some tlc including cleaning the ECU out.

Cheers all for your help :)
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My money is also on the yelow relays. I have cleaned the oil out of the ECU and red plug, changed the injector loom,then had a similar problem. When driving I would get a stutter and engine management light would come on, then engine would cut out. Not fun when you are doing 70! I pulled the yellow relays, cleaned the connectors, tightened everything up, and so far, so good.
 
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