still stuck in weipa with my td 5

[defendit]

:confused: hello, i prevously posted about a month ago, with having troubles starting my td5 defender 99. i bit the bullet and went to a weipa mechanic, as you probably know eveyone says cruiser country up here, so i desperately took that option, hoping they could get it going. after picking up the $500 bill today with no car going this is where i stand.. my weipa mechanics have found a burnt spot on the ecu, which they suspect is sending a positive charge down the ground side of the cabeling, that controls the fuel pump.(causing that not to work)this instantanous fault, they think could be causing my main relay not to work, which doesnt allow the engine and glow plug light to appear on the dash? ?? what should i do.. a landrover mechanic said from cairns that he knows a (electricial microsurgeon if ya like, to have a look at the burnt component in the ecu) i really dont want to have to barge my car out of weipa if i can help it!!!! any suggestions would be awesome! ill try and re-post my other blog, it has a bit more speal about my ISSUE. thanks blake.

[defendit]

the Td 5 TRAP, stuck and stranded. help!
hello landrover owners, i am currently positoned in weipa trying to travel aus with my td 5 defender 99 and are TRAPPED! have exepted the fact im here for the wet. my car hasnt started now for 2 months! were do i start, firsly was camping at mapoon when trying to start failed. i noticed i couldnt hear my fuel pump, checked relay, had no v on the coil side of relay. chased up a wiring diagram on the engine management control. having a electrical backgronud on the 240 v side of things can read a schematic. fonud that the computer swithes the - side of coil. also discovered that my glow plugs, engine light werent appearing on the dash. also being controlled from the ecu. also found that my main relay was chattering not making a connection, and the ecu wasnt allowing me to go into the bleeding cycle. all fingers pointed to the ecu, as i had the wiring looms changed about a year ago, i had dramas with it before. not much oil is present in the red plug, asked my mechanics from british and they said it had to be fairly dripping with oil, to make it faulty. sent my computer away to get tested. my mechanics from sunny coast tested in another car, and everyhting worked fine. fuel pump, glows etc. they sent it back i put it in my car and everything was functioning correctly. what the ****. thought maybe a fault cleared... but still didnt start. my next step i purchased a second hand cps. still nothing. so i tested that by waving a steel bar back and forth past the magnet on the cps on continuity and was switching(did i test that right) went away on holidays came back and had another crack. now i dont have glow plugs, fuel pump, main relay. the same sympton as before. i nearly burnt it. but i have put to much love into this machine. the next day i went out for look, now i have every thing back. ok. well..tested to see if i had voltage going to the injectors. i did but it only pulsed once on each cranking of the engine, my led test lamp indicated, and had only 4 v on the the injector plug. so i tried puting a pulsing voltage of 12v strainght onto the wiring out to the injectors, to see if she would at least turn over, should i have done that? then i shorted out the + - of the injector wiring and i think have cooked the injector. heavy days. i should purchase a NANOCOM but am tight for CASH. back to the wiring diagram, but what else is there to stop my landy from going. i need a landrover wizard or sell my boat to buy another landy cause i love em! ppppppppppppppllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassse eeee HELP ! thanks for having the paitence to read.

[Defender Mike]

First up I will tell you where to catch some big Barra while you are waiting. head down to the rail bridge that crosses the river at low tide at night. Walk out on the bridge ballast about 30m on the right side heading North. Notice the line of brackish water where it meets the clear water throw a weighted yes weighted Gold Bomber lure on the edge of the brackish water reapeat process you will catch a monster but need a man on the ground under the bridge you can walk the fish to. You will loose a few but its great fun. Watch for trains!!

Now sounds like your ecu is fried probably due to oil moving along inside the insulation from the injector harness. Well known problem with the TD5 Disco. I would call Triumph Rover Spares in Adelaide and talk with them. I would say the best bet would be to send yours to them and get a remapped replacement sent to you. I think they need your old one to code the injectors. Any way talk with Phil at TRS they will have the parts second hand and readily available. I would Air freight both ways with TNT express and make sure you get a con note and tracking number. You should be able to get it up to you in 48 hrs. While your waiting hire a car and head up to the Pennyfather river to catch some more Barra but dont ever walk out on the spit at night to throw lures after a few beers unless you like to wrestel crocs . Please dont ask how I know this. LOL:)

[Josh_WA]

i had the same thing last week.... the car just died while doing about 80 kph and everything worked except it would not start and the glow plug wouldnt come on. RAC guys couldnt work out what was wrong and all the electrical fuses ect were all intact and they did all the fault finding they could think of. got it towed to my landy mechanic and they pretty quickly worked out it was an ecu as they see alot of td5's blow up ecu's.

it turned out to the a fried ecu and that was causing all the flow on effects. The garage managed to get me a second hand one for about $650 plus the time they spent doing the diagnostics ect and fixing a few other niggles.

hopefully it is something like that and you can get it going again as swapping the ecu is a pretty basic operation i am told.

Cheers

[Loubrey]

Sorry to hear about your difficulties mate!

First prise would be if it’s a malfunction on the immobiliser. The symptoms you describe could very likely be due to a faulty immobiliser cutting out the ignition and fuel pump. No glow plugs and no fuel equal no start. Before you pull things apart, see if the local guy is skilled enough to bypass the security system on a test.

The burned spot on the ECU sounds dubious though. If it’s not the immobiliser, it does unfortunately sounds like the ECU... The best and quickest option would be as Mike described.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[nostromo]

Hi defendit,

Our TD5 90 engine has shut down across those bumpy roads into Alice a few years ago, stop start into Alice.

In Alice the local Land Rover dealer machanic plugged in his computer and all was well, no faults. Said to me change the fuel pump relay under the drivers seat.

Have not had a problem since, I could not see any problem with the relay when i pulled in apart.

Worth a try.

[defendit]

thanks everyone for comments. i didnt think u could re-map a computer?? or re- program it, as i thought u needed the diagnostic for the that. i will look into that:) as i found out today it's going to cost me $850 to barge my car out!! plus i have a camper and a roof top tinnie. and im broke. i might have to become a pro barra fisherman in weipa for the rest of my life. but thanks for those spots. should i need to barge it to cans, thats what the mechanics said up here? im in limbo. also have no immobilzer. thanks again for all the suggestions please keep them coming!!!

[wrinklearthur]

Hi Defendit

Not owning a TD5, I don't have a clue what is wrong with that motor not allowing it to start.

As a technician, I am wondering how I would diagnose that fault, a good place to start is a visual inspection of all the connectors you can find, look for verdigris of the copper connections and if found, clean it out thoroughly, applying a little Vaseline to stop any moisture getting back in is a good thing.
Include in this list that you will make of where you found those connector. The connections of the earth's, battery terminals and power lead connections. Doing this list just make absolutly sure that you don't create more problems on the way, please.

The others have already told you about checking that oil hasn't made it's way inside the loom to the injectors, so I wont go back there.

Now, one important thing to remember is, if certain faults occur, the faults must be cleared before that motor can make any noise at all.
Beg, borrow or steal a Nanocom!

Armed with a Nanocom or similar, I would then have the audacity to ask someone with another working TD5, to loan a bit at a time to fault find by substitution of components.
Stop every so on and try the starter, after you have worked on a particular section. If it starts and runs, it aint broke any more so don't keep trying to fix it.

I will do some home work for you in the meantime, to find out if there are any diagnostics that can be preformed without a Nanocom or similar.
.

[wrinklearthur]

Are the roads bumpy up that way?

Ref: http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/145204-handy-tip-post-accident.html


For those of you, like me, that do not know this, the TD5 defender (and I assume the disco also) has a kill switch that shuts down the engine and fuel in the event of an accident or roll over. I found this out the hard way and had i known I would have saved a day with the truck in the bush and an expensive rescue. To reset the kill switch is to press the button on the unit mounted on the firewall. The switch is centre of pic. cheers MLD

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachments/technical-chatter/44042d1330319479-handy-tip-post-accident-img_0086-1-.jpg
.

[lambrover]

It sounds like its the ECU, the suggestion to get one from TRS is where I got mine second one, but you will need a Nanocom or a scan tool to load the injector codes up to the new ECU.

[djam1]

I am confused the ECU was tested in another car by he dealer and everything was fine, yet your Weipa Tojo mechanic says the ECU has a burnt board.
Have you been doing anything that has done this damage?

Also when they had it in another car they would have had to match the ECU with the AS10 Security on the other vehicle.
My understanding is that the security code on YOUR vehicle will need to be re-learned by the ECU
I may be wrong with this though not sure

Is the battery fully charged?
Have you reset the collision sensor on the firewall?
The clicking relay! change it with one of the others and see if this problem goes away.
Clean all the earths particularly the one in the ECU box
Run an earth from the battery to the seat box

[justinc]

Gee I could do with a holiday. Even just a few days. Fly me up there I will bring the relavent diagnostics and a spare ECU, I haven't been defeated by a Td5 yet. Airfare only, no labour etc. Maybe a few beers and some Barra/ mudcrab would help, too.:)

JC

[wrinklearthur]

Gee I could do with a holiday. Even just a few days. Fly me up there I will bring the relavent diagnostics and a spare ECU, I haven't been defeated by a Td5 yet. Airfare only, no labour etc. Maybe a few beers and some Barra/ mudcrab would help, too. JC

Say Justin

I'll let you go only if I can carry your bags.
.

[justinc]

Say Justin

I'll let you go only if I can carry your bags.
.

:D I've got 1 word for you Arthur; Humidity.:eek:

:D

JC

[wrinklearthur]

:D I've got 1 word for you Arthur; Humidity. JC

The visibility is great provided you don't want to look at something that's more than Five Kilometres away.
Watch out for the glass top tables at the beer garden, the condensation lands in your lap. :beer::eek::woot:

I enjoyed my short time in Darwin, I would love to get back up that way again to have another look about.

[harro]

:confused: hello, i prevously posted about a month ago, with having troubles starting my td5 defender 99. i bit the bullet and went to a weipa mechanic, as you probably know eveyone says cruiser country up here, so i desperately took that option, hoping they could get it going. after picking up the $500 bill today with no car going this is where i stand.. my weipa mechanics have found a burnt spot on the ecu, which they suspect is sending a positive charge down the ground side of the cabeling, that controls the fuel pump.(causing that not to work)this instantanous fault, they think could be causing my main relay not to work, which doesnt allow the engine and glow plug light to appear on the dash? ?? what should i do.. a landrover mechanic said from cairns that he knows a (electricial microsurgeon if ya like, to have a look at the burnt component in the ecu) i really dont want to have to barge my car out of weipa if i can help it!!!! any suggestions would be awesome! ill try and re-post my other blog, it has a bit more speal about my ISSUE. thanks blake.

Hi Blake,
just reread your old post and had a thought.
Have you checked your ignition switch?
Some of the symptoms you describe are the same as when my ignition switch failed.
The switch itself is only crimped onto the back of the barrel and over time they can give way eventually failing to make contact.

Just a thought.

Cheers.
Paul.

[defendit]

well thanks for the suggestions, i will have to re-read and take into account everyone s thoughts and offers! i am going to send my ecu away tommorrow morning, either to cairns or the victorian landy shop. i have spoken to a few people now that can inspect/repair the ecu, just have to pick the right one. then go from there. i'll keep posted. (has the landrover wizard spoken!)

[dfendr]

My 99 defender has a similar problem at the moment
A temporary solution has been to remove the fuel pump relay under the drivers seat and run a wire from the 12 volt supply to the terminal directly opposite .This powers up the ECU fuel pump etc and I can drive the vehicle .
Worth a try to get you home

[roverrescue]

Defendit,
For about a gorilla, you will be able to fly Justin (JC) up from Hobart and get him home.
He does like a girly Vodka cruiser so factor in a few $11 pink drinks from the Alby but
he WILL without a doubt get you mobile...

Id be calling him to see if he is serious before flying bits about the country. Just getting the ECU down to Melblourne and back from Weipa will take nearly 2 weeks (2 days Cairns, 3-4 days Melbourne then 5-6 back)... and what if that aint the problem??????

One pm / phonecall to Justin will ascertain whether you can get a TD5 expert on site with the gear to solve the problem at hand.

For mine its a no brainer - If you dont have the knowledge and gear to fix a problem, dont ask some bloke who also doesnt have the knowledge or gear just because he has a sign above his head saying 'spannerspinner'. Get the expert.

Steve

[Didge]

Well Justin, you really are a champ. Mate, I'd be paying anything you wanted with a guarantee like that and Mike, seeing as no one else has asked, how DO you know about throwing lure off a spit at night after a few or more beers and what crocs might think of your antics?????? :)

Very sound advice Steve - good on ya :)

[Gumnut]

mate,

I'm sorry we didn't catch up when I was in Weipa last week.....

But no doubt we were in the same watering hole at the same time at some time!

Cheers,

Andy

[wally]

Defendit,
For about a gorilla, you will be able to fly Justin (JC) up from Hobart and get him home.
He does like a girly Vodka cruiser so factor in a few $11 pink drinks from the Alby but
he WILL without a doubt get you mobile...

Id be calling him to see if he is serious before flying bits about the country. Just getting the ECU down to Melblourne and back from Weipa will take nearly 2 weeks (2 days Cairns, 3-4 days Melbourne then 5-6 back)... and what if that aint the problem??????

One pm / phonecall to Justin will ascertain whether you can get a TD5 expert on site with the gear to solve the problem at hand.

For mine its a no brainer - If you dont have the knowledge and gear to fix a problem, dont ask some bloke who also doesnt have the knowledge or gear just because he has a sign above his head saying 'spannerspinner'. Get the expert.

Steve

My thoughts exactly, Steve. Well said.