I had a very frustrating issue a few days ago. I returned to my Defender after a several-hour hike, and it refused to start! After I pressed the start button, the display started normally, but not the engine, and the display showed Parked and no error message. There was a faint clicking sound but no starter noise. I tried multiple times, re-locked the car, and waited several minutes, but nothing worked. The battery seemed fine, but I got help from someone to try jump-starting it, and, as I expected, that didn’t help either. Since nothing worked and it seemed like a serious issue (rather than a glitch), I called roadside assistance, and they sent a tow truck. I was in a national park, so the wait was about two hours. In the meantime, I walked a mile to a spot where I could meet the tow truck driver and get some food.

After two hours, the tow truck driver arrived, picked me up, and we drove to the car. I unlocked it and was about to attempt the strange procedure to put it in neutral that I’d read about while waiting, when, lo and behold, the engine started this time! I told the tow truck driver I’d be fine now (he was paid anyway), and I drove home without further issues. Still, the whole ordeal was a pain, and now I’m worried it could happen again. I plan to contact Land Rover today to see what they have to say and can check the car. It seems like a software glitch after all and is completely unacceptable, the car only has 11,000 miles! Has this happened to others? What could be the cause? Is there a period of time when the car enters a "deep sleep" mode that resets its state, which could explain why it worked again?

 

There could be several issues. I would first check the battery condition and the ground of the car, but I would definitely take it to your dealer asap. From your description of the faint clicking sound, I would not be suprised if a bad battery caused your problem. Keep us posted with your findings.

 

I think the battery was fine and the jump start with another car didn't help, the starter didn't start at all. The little click sound was more like some relay or valve or something in the engine being activated during start, not from the starter not getting enough juice. The car was also just serviced a few weeks ago and they would have checked the battery. When I came back 2 hours later, it started normally without hesitation. The tow truck driver told me he has seen such issues several times with land rovers, he thought it had something to do with the transmission reporting being in a gear or something and blocking the start sequence.

 

Sure, it could be related to the transmission but I doubt it personally. Sounds more like an electrical issue. Good luck with it and let us know what the dealer finds out.

 

@Defendeur - do you have a GAP tool ? that may help ...

 

no I don't have any diagnostic tool, though maybe I should consider one now... They seem quite expensive. I see some are using laptops, what kind of device/interface does that use?
For now the dealership should be able to see the history and hopefully figure out what happened, I'm bringing the defender in tomorrow.

 

It's just aa Bluetooth connection to your phone. You need to plug it into a computer to update its firmware however.

 

Sounds like a glitch.

I would change out the main battery and update all software. I know the dealer will push back and show you the battery tests ok, but it’s the only part you can change that makes sense.

I don’t ’ think your battery did not have enough amps to crank, but might not have high enough voltage to keep all the computers happy. Just because the car is not on doesn’t mean the computers aren’t still active

 

Land Rover inspected my Defender but they couldn't find out what happened, there was nothing in the memory, and they couldn't reproduce it and so I'm left having to deal with the real possibility that it will happen again. What does seem to work in this case though is to turn everything off, lock it and wait long enough before retrying. I had done that but waited between 5-10 minutes I think and that was not long enough. Then after 2 hours, it did work. LR recommended waiting 15 minutes and try again when that kind of things happen before calling roadside assistance. That is apparently the amount of time after which it goes into some kind of deep sleep mode (and shuts down modules?), although it didn't sound like an exact hard amount. It's a shame really that such glitches happen and that there is no simple way to reset the vehicle...

 

Or jst disconnect the negative side of the battery for a few minutes. That might be quicker