wippy

New Member
My sister has a 2003 td4 and it is now out of action, I have spent a lot of time looking at it but before I go replacing anything else I thought I would ask here. I have not worked on a td4 before so my knowledge is limited.

The car started playing up a few weeks ago when my sister parked up to go shopping, when she came back the car would not start, eventually it got going and that was it for a while, the same happened again a couple of weeks later but again it was ok after.
She then went on holiday to france in the car, they boarded the ferry but when they got to france it would not start so the ferry company towed them off and dumped them at Calais ! eventually they got the car put back on the next ferry and taken back to dover, The car now sits back home but will not start.

The low pressure pump works and you can hear it pumping fuel to the high pressure pump, the car starts instantly with easy start and continues running perfectly until it is turned off then it will not start again.
We have done a leak down test and the injectors do not leak at all with just the low pressure pump running and even when cranking nothing really comes out the bleeds, when the engine is running it slowly dribbles out of all the injectors.
we even changed all the injectors with "good working " second hand ones but still no joy
I cant see any leaks anywhere

it just seems strange that it starts instantly on easy start and runs perfectly until you turn it off

Any help would be much appreciated
 
Hello first welcome sorry to hear your having a problem. First remove the fuel cap and try run the engine.
 
if the above doesnt help, find someone with an OBD unit and see if theres an issue with the fuel system.
 
There have been many discussions on here lately about none starting.
Yours seems to point to an issue with the high pressure fuel pump.
Try a search on 'won't start' and have a read.
Some of the guys who have had these problems will probably be along later.

And, welcome to the forum :)

Mike
 
Sorry for being brief. First check the fuel lines are not damaged on the return back to the tank. Any pinching can cause pressure. If you release the fuel cap this prevents a high pressure on the return line. Next check for air leaking into the fuel rail. Another will be Electrics and poor connection feeding the pump. When you switch on for the glow plugs check do you hear the pump whirring for 30-40 seconds. This should create a continues flow back to the tank without starting until system computer cuts off. When was the last service is you next avenue and was the previous owner have receipts of Glowplugs or Injectors replaced. Next lot will need a diagnostic machine to determine any sensor failures. Hope this helps
 
I'd say the glow plugs are (definitely!) not the fault - but I agree, because its a will start/won't start but no lumpy running, this is probably an electrical fault - the cam sensor being the likely culprit.
 
thanks for all your replys , i have checked for fault codes and there are none stored , the pump does run for 30 - 40 seconds and you can hear fuel being pumped through the hp pump, The thing that did seem odd to me was there was no leak back from the injectors at all unless the engine was running, but i suppose we could just have a set of good injectors ?
the cam sensor is next on the list , we did think about changing it first but with it unplugged the engine would start with easy start but then would die straight away where as if it is plugged in it would start with easy start and continue to run so we assumed it was working.
that said when i checked resistance through the pins on the sensor i got no reading at all on any pin, is this normal ?
 
High pressure control valve O ring that has split will cause this fault.
It's not the cam sensor as the engine would die again, not keep going. The cam sensor is needed for the injection to be synchronised.
 
High pressure control valve O ring that has split will cause this fault.
It's not the cam sensor as the engine would die again, not keep going. The cam sensor is needed for the injection to be synchronised.
Agree about the HP valve, but do you remember this thread: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/td4-crank-shaft-sensor-wont-start.300969/#post-3754768 where the OP could disconnect the cam sensor and the engine could continue running? He kept calling it the crank sensor and confused us for a while...
 
as nodge68 said...just had this very same issue myself...it was the o ring in the high pressure fuel regulator split.bought a seal kit off ebay,less than 12 quid and its cured mine.you need to remove the inlet manifold then you can get the reg off the pump and replace the o ring.took me about an hour.
 
Thanks again fellas , yes i have noticed you can disconnect the cam sensor when the engine is running and it still runs fine but it will not start and tick over without it, it will fire and run for a few seconds using easy start but then just dies. Its like it actually needs the cam sensor there to sync everything before the ecu comes of its start map. I hope that makes sense.
I have bought a whole pump seal kit including the reg kit and removal tool so I will give the whole pump a good going over, the car is round my sisters which is 50 miles away so I cant just nip outside and try things unfortunately, once the parts have turned up I shall go and do the pump as soon as i get a chance and keep you guys informed, Thanks again for all your help I really do appreciate it
 
once again fellas thanks for all your help, I took the pressure reg off and the o-ring and washer were split in two, replaced them and she fired right up, she is smoking a bit now but when we swapped the injectors over a lot of diesel went into the cylinders from what spilled from the leak down test so I am hoping its just burning that off from where it got pumped into the exhaust, I have told my sister to take it for a good run and to see if it calms down, fingers crossed
 

Similar threads