Cuts out and will not restart

[poleonpom]

Hello all,
It's been a long while as I've had almost 12 trouble free months until, that is, today.
This morning, my wife was driving to work (of course). The temp. in Melbourne was 30+ and whilst in traffic, the engine died and wouldn't restart. The car did not overheat.
By the time I got there 30mins later, it started and ran home in light traffic with no issues.
Later, took car to pick up daughter from school in the hear of the day, stopped, started, went to a shop and engine would not restart. Engine cranks, but does not fire. Undid fuel cap in case of vacuum: nothing.
Does this sound familiar? Can anyone help?
Jonathan

[mike 90 RR]

I found JC for you ..... :)



Don't discount the possibility of the crank angle sensor being faulty. For example with the Thor engine (Bosch Motronic version 1999 on and D2) If you have no fuel pressure, no injector pulse AND no spark it could well be this as the crank signal tells the fuel pump to start and the injectors to pulse, and obviously the spark to spark.
Do not do this with a hot engine, but on the GEMS motor there is a schrader valve on the fuel rail drivers side. After a cranking acticvity there should be 30 to 35 Psi in the fuel rail if the pump is doing its thing. Just depress the valve and see if ANY pressure is evident.

I think from memory the fuel pump will still buzz when cranked even if the crank sensor is faulty with the GEMS engnes.

JC

And more valuable info to be found here ....

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/p38a-range-rover/135188-intermittent-starting-problem.html#post1541914

[wayneg]

I agree with mike on having a look at the CPS. Have no experience with the Range Rover going faulty but on my other car a Merc is a well known issue.
When the CPS goes wrong its when it gets hot, once cooled down it will work again until hot then pack up again. One way to check it out is to pour cold water onto it when the car stops, if it restarts then you have your answer

[p38arover]

I had that problem on my P38A. In my case it wasn't a faulty Crank Position Sensor - the blasted thing wasn't plugged in properly behind the LH cylinder head. We won't say who was responsible for that. :angel:

[poleonpom]

Hey hey - the wee beastie is back on the road!

Thanks for all your advice and information.

Gave Graham a call at British Car Centre and ordered a new CPS at a very reasonable $103 in Gst, got home and fitted it in about 10 minutes flat.

Given the old girl a bit of welly around the local streets and no cutting out. I'll give her a longer test over the week to make doubly sure.

At least that's one thing off the incredibly long list of things to do........

On the upside, my 10 year old daughter told me that when she grows up she wants a Range Rover - It makes you feel proud.....:angel:

[wayneg]

Hope it was the CPS, did you try the cold water trick to confirm it?
I have just found out the hard way (not on the p3a) a Bosch type MAF going faulty can show very similar symptoms, although after cutting out on idle the car would generally restart straight away unlike the CPS which needs to cool.

[poleonpom]

Must admit, didn't try the water trick. The car just would not restart when warm, but would start immediatly when cold.
The advice on this and other forums all pointed at the CPS. I figure it's going to go sometime soon if its not the cause, so I may as well start there.
I must say that when you have an insight into what a solution might be, it's easy to find similar examples and compare the symptoms.

[poleonpom]

So far, so good. She's not put a foot wrong. The great thing is I get my RR back off the wife until it is thoroughly "tested"

[poleonpom]

Well, it's been over a week now and no issues. A $100 fix and 15 mins to fit.

[glenhendry]

Good followup.

Would an ODBII scanner be able to diagnose a CPS fault?

[wayneg]

From my experience with Merc`s there is no fault that can be found with any type of electronic diagnosis, even the full Merc Stealers Star system. This has been discussed many times on the Merc forum I use and would presume it would be the same with the Range Rover, especially the later Bosch ones. You can also get Bosch Mass airflow sensor problems that cause random stalling but again never show up on diagnostics.
The tried and tested method to test a failing CPS is cool it down by pouring cold water on it