1998 Discovery 1 V8 Fuel Issues

[lilmountain]

Hi all,

Major SOS. A few days ago my wife was driving the 1998 Land Rover Discovery 1, 3.9 Auto, LPG conversion. She parked up (running on LPG), left the car for an hour or so and then when she came back it wouldn't start. My LPG system starts in petrol then automatically switches to LPG at the appropriate temperature (over 2,000rpm to initiate the auto switch). She rang me and said we'd run out of fuel as the guage had gone down and the empty light was on. I knew for a fact that there was at least half a tank in there so thought there was either a major leak or something wrong with the ignition/fuel supply. After she checked there wasn't the smell of petrol or any puddles under the car I made her start on LPG .

She went to the nearest garage, filled up with more petrol but same problem again. So again she started on LPG and came home. I did the following checks;

1. turned key without starting to listen for relay and fuel pump priming; heard 1 click on relay but no whirring of pump. Noticed that if I kept key in without starting the fuel guage needle would creep up to show real amount of petrol in tank. But once I turned to start it the needle would drop (whilst engine turning but not starting) back to zero and empty light come on.

2. checked 12volt supply for 2 seconds to fuel pump once key turned; yes there was 12 volts

3. cleaned contacts to relay and pump, no difference

From the above I ascertained that it was the pump, so ordered new pump and fitted.

But of course, this doesn't work. What happened after installation;

1. turned the key (but not all the way so not turning engine), heard relay click, new fuel pump whirr and prime.

2. then turned key all the way to turn and start engine, started, revved quite high by itself 1000rpm +, then settled and slowly died. On about 6-7 seconds.

3. turned key again (didn't listen for fuel pump), same again, started, revved high then died but slighty shorter time on.

4. turned key again, turning but no start

5. checked fuel inertia switch, never looked at it before so not sure how subtle or not "off" is but pushed it down and no discernible movement or click. turned key again, no difference.

6. foolishly tried to start it on LPG cold, nearly started then backfired at air intake (I've backfired before when LPG was out of tune so I know I've probably fried the AFM previously anyway). Why I did it? To see if there was a problem with the spark, logic being if it starts and runs on LPG there isn't an issue there. Stupid I know.

7. depressurised fuel system then turned key again (but not start) to see if fuel pump would prime again for 2 seconds but nothing, and again when tried to start car, nothing.

8. disconnected electric feed to AFM and tried to start again, nothing.

Any thoughts and suggestions welcome please, a bit desperate and stressed as it's our only car and it's real struggle to get around on foot/public transport with 4 kids in different schools/nursery.

Worst case scenario can anyone recommend good land rover friendly (but not dealer prices) garages localish to Gillingham, Kent. Would have to get car towed there :-(. Mobile mechanic to check it over first would be ideal.

Thanking you in advance :-)