Thread: Hot Start Problems

The high idle/roar on startup you were hearing is the stepper motor. Not sure what the symptoms are if it dies though...

Steppers are the spawn of satan... Mine occasionally plays up, usually when returning to idle from driving it stalls... Current driver is getting quite adept with the rolling re-start proceedure... (Never happens to me)

When it plays up, - can you maintain a fast idle with the accelerator? If yes, then chances are this is the Chief Suspect.

If you're tempted to use percussion maintainance to 'persuade' it... Don't. They're made of very thin alloy casting...

Stepper was also recently changed.

Problem now happening when cold as well. Cut out once when moving and in third gear so probably not the stepper. I think.

Can sometimes maintain a fast idle and get the car moving and it's generally okay after that.

The roar winding down is the stepper motor working, sometimes I start up and there is no roar. Just a bad idle up and down and no power.

Checked alternator and it's a bit weak, not sure if that could be the cause.

There are hints in the manual on what is the issue with hot start problem. Currently I'm not in reach of the manual. I'll let you know next week unless you find a resolution earlier.

Thanks Jazzman.

I was checking the MAF a second ago and the spanner brushed the alternator body and sparked.

Bad earth somewhere?

Alternator frame to engine ?

- More than likely !

LR is renowned for bad earths. I've run a heavy cable from the alternator mounting bolt back to battery NEG terminal, to be sure-to be sure,,,

The back of the alternator or the body of it? The alternator has multiple outputs one of them will have positive on it when the battery is connected (nearly always) another only when the engine is running. These outputs are very close to the MAF. If you touched the body of the alternator with the spanner and it sparked then you must have had the spanner touching positive as well. If i was to guess, you were with doing up or undoing the 3 bolts that hold the MAF on and the spanner touched the positive output on the alternator.

Originally Posted by superquag

Alternator frame to engine ?

- More than likely !

LR is renowned for bad earths. I've run a heavy cable from the alternator mounting bolt back to battery NEG terminal, to be sure-to be sure,,,

This is not a bad idea. Land Rover are notorious for poor earths. Especially the earth at the rear of the block that is had to get to. If you have ECU issues causing poor or inconsistent running of your engine the manual says to check that earth. This is on a 3.5lt not sure about the 3.9lt.