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TD4 starting problem


fredalan

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Hi, sorry if I haven't followed etiquette and introduced myself properly, but I didn't notice a newbe section. My name is Alan and I've owned my TD4 freelander for four years now with no serious issues until now.

It started last winter when it took longer to start whether cold or hot and it ended up killing the battery, A new battery was fitted but still it was taking longer to start. While doing some forty mile journeys, after twenty five to thirty miles the engine management light would come on and the car would go into limp mode. If you stopped the car, switched off the ignition and turned it on again, the fault would clear and be ok again for the same distance.

I purchased an icarsoft code reader, which told me that there was a 'fuel rail pressure problem' which I cleared, but need to find the faulty part. With the ignition on I have,

manifold pressure 101.40

Low pressure supply 98.20

Fuel pressure regulator current 0.05

Does this point to a solution ?

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Could be a dying fuel pump, there's three of them on the TD4, most likely the 2nd electric one on the o/s wing (but don't take my word for it, there's probably more diagnosing you can do), easy job to change. They can get quite noisy when failing (you can hear it when you switch the ignition on) and sometimes won't start until you hit them.

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If it's the fuel pump, surely it means there is a problem with one of my readings above ? Can't seem to find out what the readings are on a healthy TD4, you would have thought that they would be supplied with the icarsoft i930 ?

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Ok,if its an 03 or later model year it will have a single electric pump under the rh rear wheel arch.next to the pump is a tubular fuel filter.Pumps can run slow as they die,and the filter which has a stupidly long change interval can block.

The pumps often sound sluggish too,but what you really need is to be able to read live data of the low side fuel pressure.This should be 300-350Kpa while the pump is running and should hold up when the engine is started.If the pressure dies away when the engine is revved,then you either have a blocked filter, dying pump or both...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I have connected my fault code reader a few times now, but as the ignition has to be switched on to set up, I was too slow the first time in taking the 'Low Pressure Supply' reading. When the electrical pump under the wheel arch primes it shows 322.60 and then after a couple of minutes the pump stops and shows 98.20 (if you switch off the ignition and turn on again it will read 322.60 again for another two minutes). I don't know whether this is Kpa or psi and I emailed icarsoft with the readings as they do not supply information on what the readings should be, which seems strange to me. Anyway, my readings have been passed onto their technical section, been waiting over two weeks now, pretty poor show if you ask me. The car runs well, it's just starting which is a pain !

I went on two 50 mile trips and had the engine management light came on twice. First said ' Fuel Rail Pressure Problem', and the second time it said 'Fuel Pressure Plausibility'. I'm now thinking that 'Old Hand' is on the right lines and maybe it's an injector leak, and as the car has clocked up 115k miles, perhaps I should have the injectors cleaned and re-built as any faults will be reported to me, also it will be cheaper than new injectors.

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The fuel rail pressure problem and fuel pressure plausibility both relate to the high side in the rail that feeds the injectors.TD4's have a well documented problem with poor connections to the rail pressure sensor.There was an official fix which consisted of an overlay loom with instructions how to connect it direct into one of the engine ECU mutliplugs. Not done one for a few years,I don't even know if it is still available.

You should be able to monitor rail pressure, at idle it should be around 25,000Kpa raising to about 130,000Kpa under high load/throttle openings from distant memory. With the engine at any stable speed look for a stable pressure reading,if its jumping around you have found your problem.Back when this was a common problem you could often make the engine stop just by wiggling the plug on the rail sensor.

Be careful who you trust to service injectors,go to someone by recommendation - not just a cheap local deal.Common rail injectors are known as "common fail" in the trade. I only use genuine Bosch exchange ones as there isn't anyone near me who I can trust.

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The rail pressure at idle is 28658,84 and the 'Fuel Pressure Regulator Current' is 0.71, whatever the 0.71 may be, Amps ? It has had the overlay loom mod done in the past.

I think I will give Automarine Diesel Services Ltd in Hove, West Sussex a try as there only seem to be two in my area that I can easily meet face to face.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I've taken a stab in the dark and purchased a set of 4 used injectors for £38 and was thinking of having them re-conditioned. Since then I have done a leakback test and the No.2 injector is really leaking back. I built a test kit with screen wash hose and 4 cola bottles, so now I will try to find a good injector out of the 4 I've just bought. Will also think about having the 4 remaining reconditioned so that I know I have a good spray / mist pattern, unless there is a way of making a cheap pump to view the spray ?

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Hi,

Another newbie here - with the same problem ... poorly starting TD4 2003, especially on cold mornings.

The injector seals have been checked and some dodgy plumbing has been replaced.

The car starts better now - but not yet perfect, so maybe two faults?

I now want to check the glow plug resistances ... but can I locate the plugs??? Doh, no.

Anyway, I downloaded the RAVE .iso for advice ... but I can't read it ... "unsupported encrypted PDFs" ???

Any tips on where to find the glow plugs in the engine bay and/or how to make the RAVE .iso work would be most appreciated!

Many thanks!

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I fitted the cleanest injector, it started really easy, so I did another leakback test and they are all nice and slow flowing. So pleased that my £38 gamble paid off. May think about having the spare injectors re-conditioned sometime.

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Disconnect the small return hose on the left injector, by pulling it off and plug it with something. Pull off one end of the small linking hoses and plug them so that each injector has just one connector showing. then connect a length of windscreen washer tubing to each injector and place the other end in a small clear plastic bottle. Start the engine and watch the four bottles fill with diesel, there should be just a drip into each bottle, if one or more bottles fill quicker then the injector is leaking back. There are videos on the web if you google common rail diesel injector leakback test.

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