Hi,

i am finally at the end of my tether with my freelander. I bought the car back in august and although it had a few faults it was still enjoyable. The brakes, roll bars, suspension have now been changed as the car was never looked after.

Now i have a major engine fault and no one seems to be able to advise what it is. Ive had the RAC and another garage advise two different issues, and two mechanics both quote a different problem.

Basically the car wont start with out more often than not, when it does start it idles irratically and dies when you use the acclerator. Other times it idles and the engine revs itself, When it is running it drives but wont go over 20 mph.

i had a mechanic come and view the car last week and we found that the ECU wouldnt talk or register on his laptops. There is no engine management light on the dash.

So far the injectors have been cleaned, all filters changed, MAF Sensor changed, fuel lines cleaned, hoses changed and secured as before air was getting into the system.

When the car is turning over white smoke comes from the exhaust manifold in the engine, when it starts it throws out white smoke at the rear, there is no oil in the water and cylinder head gasket is fine.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

Thanks

A really depserate and sickened freelandover owner,

I was thinking crank position sensor but mine brought the red engine light on.
Why wouldn't the ecu talk to his laptops? Did he have the correct software?

There is so much information here that someone who knows the L Series well should be able to diagnose the problem. Although I own one and love the engine - I don't know a lot about it - so I'm not that person unfortunately.

I agree with Kizzeh - the guy who plugged his laptop in, probably saw the ODB port so thought he could use generic ODBII software to examine the car - and that won't work. I believe you'll need T4, Hawkeye or an i930 to talk to an L Series. So you can probably ignore anything that 'expert' says. I'd put up where you are and maybe someone near you with a reader that works on the L Series might help you out there.

The "When the car is turning over white smoke comes from the exhaust manifold in the engine" bit sounds very strange to me. Can you see it exiting the manifold or is it something else (eg a starter motor burning out) that s swirling around the manifold?

With the Series Diesel, if you're getting white smoke and there's no coolant loss, then its probably a timing issue. I'm wondering if that's what is going on here. An L Series in a Freelander is at least 15 years old now - so should have had the belts changed. When changing the belts, there's 3 that need doing, timing, aux and fuel pump. Its possible the pump belt has been missed, has perished and maybe slipped. I'd have thought this a long shot because it would probably just 'go' - but worth considering.

I would have thought that the problem must be with the fuel pump (ie its not getting enough fuel or timing shot) or turbo (ie air flow is drastically compromised).

How did it break down? Whilst your going along or you stopped and it wouldn't start?

White smoke is unburnt diesel. I would think either your timing is mechanically wrong, electronically wrong (no crank signal etc) or not enough pressure in the cylinder for combustion. Hence my questions

air leak in to fuel pipes/pump

It failed to start after being parked up. Put diesel in, parked up and it wouldn't start, since then it failed to start ever since.

All the pipes have been tightened, all clips attached, new MAP sensor, filters. The injectors were unscrewed and lots of air escaped before diesel came through. The fuel filter had to be replaced as it kept expelling air bubbles.

With the TD4 white smoke can mean problems with the injectors, which on the TD4 wear out at around the 100,000 mile mark.

I wonder if the L series is the same?

Epicuser said:

With the TD4 white smoke can mean problems with the injectors, which on the TD4 wear out at around the 100,000 mile mark.

I wonder if the L series is the same?

Click to expand...

Can with any diesel, it's the unburnt fuel

when the old L series I have played up over fuelling the turbo was at fault not quite the same symptoms though

White smoke when starting is very often a worn lead on the L series.
Trouble is I can't remember which cylinder - #1 I think...?
Can be fixed by wrapping with insulating tape.

I was also going to mention the turbo. I got a refurb kit online for my one for about £100 I think.

Worn wire to #1 injector. Forgot all about that one.

Kizzeh said:

Worn wire to #1 injector. Forgot all about that one.

Click to expand...

Yup that's what I meant!
(to be fair it's been a while...)

I know this post is a month old now but just in case anyone's reading.... If you've got a 2.0l Diesel (pre TD4) you won't be getting any joy with the iCarsoft i930 diagnostics tool because it can't read anything other than ancilliary info (airbags and security alarm data). It won't give you any ECU/engine data whatsoever.

you say you put fuel in then parked it up you did not put petrol in by mistake did you.