sheathy

Hi folks. I've never had any bother with my 2004 Defender... until last week. I went to drive it, started fine, pulled off the drive, stalled then on restart it sounded incredibly rough, threw out clouds of grey smoke and then cut out. Tried again and same result. Plugged in my nanocom and got the following: 16.2 High speed crank 20.2 Turbocharger overboosting 28.1 injector 1 peak charge short 28.2 injector 2 peak charge short 28.3 injector 3 peak charge short 28.4 injector 4 peak charge short 28.5 injector 5 peak charge short 31.1 injector 1 open circuit detected Checked the red ecu plug and sure enough it was full of oil. Changed the injector harness and gave the plug a very thorough cleaning with contact cleaner. Cleared the fault codes and went to start her again. This time getting the codes: 28.1 injector 1 peak charge short 28.2 injector 2 peak charge short 28.3 injector 3 peak charge short 28.4 injector 4 peak charge short 28.5 injector 5 peak charge short Attached video shows the read out from the injectors when running. Any advice on where to go next would be much appreciated! Thanks a lot. Best , Danny WhatsApp Video 2023-07-09 at 14.34.00.mp4

Hi all, hope everyone is safe and well. My TD5 unfortunately failed the MOT equivalent test here in France yesterday due to exhaust gas opacity. It only narrowly failed (0.3 m-1 across the three run average) and I'm sure if the throttle had been applied smoothly this wouldn't have happened, but anyway I'm looking for simple fixes just to get it passed and would appreciate any input. For info- my truck has the following mods: larger intercooler, silicon pipes, decat, silencer delete, egr blank, stage 2 tune from empire. So far I see my options as being: 1 - Send the ECU back to the tuner in the UK to get the map detuned slightly (pros- likely to fix, and cheap. ; Cons- leaves me with standard map after, chance of getting lost in the mail, 2 weeks or so without truck) 2 - Buy a nanocom. Tuner has agreed to help me load the standard map for the test and then change back (Pros- will be able to switch back and forth myself, engine diagnostics; Cons- £390) 3- Pop the airfilter out for the test (Pros- free; Cons- might not work, could suck carp in) Maybe there is also another option I haven't thought of? Shove a Covid mask in the exhaust? 😂 I'd really appreciate any advice! Thanks!

Hi all, my TD5 has started a slowly leak from exactly that point V8 freak indicated so I will be doing this job soon. I was just wondering if someone could recommend a particular sealant to use? Fox four, did you do this in the end? How did you get on? I was wondering if it was was worth doing the injector seals whilst I was in there as I've heard they are a common failure on the td5. There's no sign of any problem from mine but I wondered if it's prudent to do the job anyway? I've only had the vehicle a few months and don't think it's been done before. Cheers!!

Very interesting thread, thanks for starting it Suffolk Defender. I've recently bought a 2004 TD5 90 (link below) and I'm slowly working my way through service points. Next big one is to do diffs, transfer and gearbox oils. I've read fully synthetic oils are the way forward for the gearbox and will help smooth out the gear changes, was wondering if anyone had a particular recommendation of brand etc? Also any idea of where to buy it? Everything I've found so far is silly expensive. Is EP90 still the best bet for TD5 diffs and transfer box?

OK I can't see a VIN ... Does this picture help? Thanks

Is there an easy way to find the production date of a military vehicle. Trying to find out how old mine is, it's on '95 plates but I'm sure it's much older. Thanks

Yeah i suppose it has, although i think i may have had a bit of an issue before but is much more obvious now

Haven't actually had chance to measure the voltage but the battery was drained when I went to start. However I put the spare in (wasn't fully charged) and drove around for a couple of days with lights on etc yesterday stopped after an hour of driving, was out the car for a few minutes went to start again and it wouldn't even turn over so think it must be the alternator... Put in the other battery (now charged) and started fine.

She is back on the road. I gave in and had a garage take a look at her, turns out the solenoid needed replacing and there were some other issues with the ignition switch wiring. Working well now though- only one small problem, I seem to be getting a battery drain when the car is left over night. It's not a battery issue as the battery is only a couple of months old. Also not the alternator as it's charging up fine. Cheers again for all your help.

I thought it might be useful to give the full story in fact. So here goes. Everything is working fine in the UK before I started my drive over to Geneva, very very difficult to start the old girl unless the plugs were heated, in fact more often than not the battery would die before it started, but 20secs of heating the plugs and it started first turn. Drive to folkstone everything still all good, get off in Calais all still good, drive a further 300km and stop for the night. Next morning I get in and turn the key to plug heat position but no warning light comes on and I have a lot of difficulty starting it but manage in the end and made it to my destination. Was pretty smokey for the last 20km so checked oil level and it had managed to use a lot and was on the min level so I topped up. The next day tried to start it but there was obviously an issue- plug warning light still not coming on and very tough to start. So I started this thread, changed the ignition switch and the light was working, plugs were getting power, plugs are working ex situ at least but still can't start the truck. Had it running once since then but took a long long time but sounded fine when it was up and running. And that brings us to where we are now.

Hi all. Peaklander- i'll drop you a message in a mo, cheers. Western- yes I have 12v on the thick brown cable and it is on position 1. Haven't checked if it drops slightly when the plugs are heating (as suggested it might do above) but I'm getting good voltage to the plugs which I guess rules out a wiring issue from the battery no? Monkie- I agree still something must be wrong with the plugs as when the problem first started if the engine was warm it would restart no problem. Interestingly the bulb lights and the plugs get power when I put the glow plug wire on a different terminal on the ignition switch. But the intended position for the glow plug wire has power when the key is in the hold position so that's strange. Interesting re. plug quality but they always have been fine so I don't understand why that would have changed?

Basically, it's nothing good would you recommend a garage as my next stop? I'm sure that will be nice and cheap... On an unrelated note does anyone have any experience of selling a kidney in Switzerland? Oh, the 12v (was actually 12.6) measured from the battery was with the glow plugs not on just to clarify.

Hi chaps. Rechecked everything today and the results were: Resistance = 1.9-2.8 at for each plug (the meter was mostly stable on 2.8 but was jumping around a bit) Voltage= 12v at the battery, 10.8 v at each plug. So some power is being lost somewhere but not enough to interfere with plug function I would have thought. So what do we think? Cheers

Cheers

Fair cop Peaklander, I had it on the wrong setting- although it's worth noting that I followed the instructions, the person I'm not that keen on. Anyway I'll check everything tomorrow again, including resistance. Thanks for the info monkie, good to see the video. Was wondering if my glowplugs being dry was a good thing so glad I know now.

Thanks for the replies Monkie, to clear up the confusion the voltmeter is obviously doubling up for some reason- no idea why but it's giving me 24v at the battery too. Peaklander- the voltmeter is set up as per the instructions but it's obviously doubling up the voltage somehow- no idea how. Can send a pic tomorrow but I don't think that's the issue. Kevm- Indeed, power is getting to the plugs, all of them, and it's pretty much the same voltage as I'm reading at the battery. Will test the resistance tomorrow but as I said all the plugs glowed red in 10 secs or so when removed and tested so they are all working. No smoke when turning over but white smoke when/if I can eventually get her to fire up- I assumed this was due to insufficient heating as when I first got the truck I didn't know about the glow plugs needing to be held on before start so I had trouble and lots of smoke when starting her in those days.

OK. Either the voltmeter is wrong or I'm doing something wrong with it. It's reading 24/25 on the battery so baring that in mind in response to Monkies points: 1-correct 2-correct 3-correct 4-24v 5-23v 6-23v Today I was playing again, let the plugs heat for a minute or so tried to turn over- does turn over but wont start- before driving to Geneva from the UK it would would start instantly on the first turn after plugs were heated for 20 seconds. Maybe it's a deeper issue?

Further update. Just taken out and checked all 4 plugs, all work and heat up to red hot quickly. However when put back in to place and left to heat for 30secs+ they aren't even feeling slightly warm when I stick my finger in right on the nut. With regards to the voltage I tested the battery again and the voltmeter is saying 25 now so it must be down to a dodgy voltmeter (that's what you get for buying a 13euro one on amazon). I'm getting 23 from each plug when tested with the voltmeter so at least they are all consistent. No closer to working out what is going on though.

Apologies for the lack of clarity. It is indeed an ex mod ffr. It had both 12v and 24v systems but now only has 12v alternator and 12v battery. Has been working perfectly well as well which is worth mentioning- no changes in terms of battery of wiring were made immediately prior to the glowplugs not working. Haven't got a pic of the engine bay to hand but can get one later.

Haven't done the visual check yet but will today. Only reason I haven't yet is that the Haynes says you need a new seal when you refit the plug and I don't have these. Is it really necessary? Also, probably a stupid question, but it couldn't have anything to do with it having the 24v circuit in previously? I removed the alternator and batteries for the 24v circuit so not sure how it could be effecting it but still.

12v on the battery. How is that possible?

OK, update. I checked the voltage in the way peak lander described but I have 24v at each glow plug... how is this possible?

Sorry, I realise that was slightly ambiguous. My rims are tubeless, I was asking if the tyres mentioned ^^^ are available in tubeless

Wire is fine, switch is fine. I'm confused.

Thanks Red. Yeah I've heard Calgary can get pretty chilly. Are these indeed tubeless too? Can't seem to find anywhere that says they are or are not.