Thread: HELP! My Td5 130 won't start dammit

Hi all,

This latest saga happened about 5 weeks ago, went up the road - parked up in the small car spot because its straight in and I KNOW how wide the 'Fender is - came back out and tried starting the engine. It fired for about 3 seconds then died. Bugger. Tried starting, cranked really well but not so well it sounded like fuel starvation, but still no start. Looked at the symptoms, no check engine light (MILs I think its called) no glow plug light and no fuel pump noise. Still had battery light and brake lights. That's a new one, haven't had that before. Looked on AULRO and a few other forums for any ideas - all basically said wiggle the fuses - check if any are blown (they weren't) reseat the relays - still nothing. Under the bonnet then. Tried the fuel cutoff switch, reseated a few plugs including the injector loom. Still nothing. Tried from the passenger side with my tongue in a different spot wiggling fuses and relays. Disco! We have ignition - like nothing had happened. Weird but OK #landroverlife

Couple of days later, got into the beastie to go to a club meeting. Cranked no start again - no check engine light, no glow plug light and no fuel pump. Repeated the procedure from the other day - nothing. Can't have had my tongue in the right position. Bugger it, went with the young bloke in the D2a.

Big investigation and troubleshooting and reading of forums Saturday morning. Checked for oil in the ECU connectors - dry as a dead dog's donga. Cool. Checked out chassis and engine grounds - all good, check battery voltage 13.7VDC - happy days but not happy I haven't found a problem yet. Checked relays for correct operation - none had the D so OK there, checked the fuses, again, all good. Bridged out the Fuel pump relay - fuel pump works. Still no bloody check engine light or glow plug light or stinking fuel pump noise. FFS. Just a reminder - still cranks, no light off...

Next day got the brains trust over and went over it all again - no good. Tried the crank angle sensor - all ok there, tried disconnecting the rollover switch - nothing. Put a nanocom onto the ECU to see what the story was - No communication with ECU. Right, awesome... not really, this sucks. Thanks guys, beer o'clock.

Got hold of another ECU, tried going the ON position with the ignition - nothing, OK I know I need to put in the injector codes but at this stage i wanted to know if the lights came back on and I had pump noise... bugger all. OK maybe it needs the injector codes - No Communication with ECU. Oh for Frogs Snacks!!! Well I have a spare ECU then, I figure that if the ECU isn't communicating with the nanocom its a wiring/power and/or ground issue. Went all over it again. Still nothing. It has been raining here for weeks so I couldn't even get the bastard thing to catch fire.

So this week I've been doing tug checks on the wiring looms to the ECU and everywhere else. Now I'm re installing the engine wiring loom after pulling it all apart to check for chafing, broken wires, grounded wires, burnt wires, gremlins, unicorns, ant nests. Just kidding about the ant nests... not really.

So with all that, I'm putting it out to the AULRO Hive Mind to help solve the mystery of the comotose Td5. Cheers, Matthew

I have had these symptoms + temp sensor pegs to max temp even though engine might be cold.

Turned out to be the fuel pump relay connector. Tightened up the contacts, and changed the relay. No problems since.

Hope this helps someone else, as I struggled with this for months.

Cheers,

Ken