We just ran out of fuel in our Freelander and it wouldn't start. Tried the trick of taking the fuel cap off and the car started second try. However, you need to take care taking the key out of the fuel cap as you can only extract it if it is in the locked position and it only locks when inserted in the car. You have to push the central insert in to make the cap think it is in the car and while trying to get the key out of the fuel cap, the thing fell apart. After starting the car and making sure it would restart, we reassembled it (you can only do it with the key inserted) but it jammed in position when i tried to lock it onto the fuel tank and couldn't withdraw the key. After carefully fiddling with it (I was worried it would come apart again and some part would fall into the fuel tank) I managed to get it out but again the whole thing came apart. It took a couple of goes to reassemble and make sure it was working properly and this time when we tried to insert and lock it into position it worked fine.
Summery- taking the fuel cap off works to clear the air lock but be very careful when removing the key from the fuel cap!
