After seriously exploring the Rivian R1S, the new Land Cruiser, and the Bronco lineup, I decided to give Land Rover ownership a try and pulled the trigger on a Defender 110 S. This is my first Land Rover, though I’ve been a British car fan my whole life, owning and loving an MG Midget and two Mini Coopers. I cant wait to adventure with the Defender.

Two days ago, after one week of ownership, the engine sputtered and died while pulling out of a parking spot. The check engine light lit up. The engine fired up again only to immediately stall. Any further attempt would not start it. I was in a rush so called for a ride and wasn’t able to return to the Defender for a few hours. When I returned, it started right up and I drove it a short distance home with the check engine light on. Called Roadside Assistance who towed it to the dealer. While it was being loaded, I noticed the check engine light was off.

Service at the dealership says they are slammed and won’t be able to look at it until Friday at the soonest. At what point should I expect a loaner while they have my vehicle? Any other advice is appreciated.

 

Knee jerk reaction to any "check engine" light: have an OBD dongle in the connector permanently, and an app on the phone to read the faults - that'll be your first line of defense.

Disclaimer: I'm still waiting for my Defender to arrive, but have had multiple encounters with this over the years, last one being last week.

The dongle I use is , but it's been superseded by newer models by now.

The app is Torque Pro, it's very much worth the $4.95 they ask. I used to have the phone running Torque mounted as an external display in the Jeep with all the telemetry I wanted that the standard dashboard didn't provide.

 

With my 2022 p300 I had very similar behavior occur every 4-5 weeks throughout the 18 months or so of ownership. It would stall typically just before parking or leaving a parking space so in very low speed operation it would cut and not restart without getting out of it, locking it, unlocking getting back in and then you're on your way... the only exception to the parking lot stall scenario was it did stall once going about 30mph the cel lit up and it left a code that time which indicated to the dealership something about it not getting fuel. All of the other times there was no check engine light after the incident. I would bring it in afterward and the dealership would say it didn't leave any codes. Keep that in mind for those folks in the other thread wanting to spring for the code scanner.

So the dealership never did figure out what was causing the stalling. My theory is some sort of fuel pump issue but who knows. That issue, the multiple headlight and brake light module failures, the seat tracks clicking with every weight transfer and the dealership never getting to the bottom of these issues (with the exception of the lights which were just new part swap ins that took a while to come in due to pandemic parts shortages) plus to top it off was the poor implementation of remote start warming for winter usage... all of the above made me become very eager to unload this vehicle which granted otherwise was an enjoyable daily driver. Just nowhere near worth that high of a payment to have to keep bringing it in all the time. As I've said out here once before, I wouldn't buy a new one for half price after what I went through with it. They're cool and all but I don't have time to mess around with high-drama crap at a high payment besides.

Now I'm good with my Passport/Trailsport, just passing the two year ownership mark and haven't had so much as a loose screw. Zero complaints or regrets. As for the loaner situation, my Land Rover dealership was swamped during the pandemic with long waits for parts but to their credit they still seemed to somehow always give me a loaner right away. However with regard to loaners (and this may have been pandemic related) they were favoring the customers such as myself who had actually purchased their vehicle from them and not from say the JLR dealership in the next city over from us. So I would say if you bought it from them they should have a loaner for you pretty quickly because any JLR dealership needs a good number of loaners on hand for obvious reasons.

 

@queezy which engine do you have? Is it a P300, P400, P525?
How many miles on it?

Loaners are dealer specific, mine keeps a decent stock of them, but honestly in over a year of ownership I haven't needed anything other than an oil change. If they are super busy and you didn't have an appt it might be tough to get one, but a good service group will take care of you.

Code readers are good to have, but not a requirement to own a Defender.

 

Thank you all. @chpsk8 It's a P300, 15k miles, CPO.

I'm finding some helpful discussion in this related thread as well.

 

very sorry to hear about the dreaded check engine light - hope it's not a big deal. dealership should figure it out, and should be giving you a loaner if you bought it from them. If you didn't buy the LR from the dealer now fixing it, yea, then typically it's tough. But if you bough the LR there, I'd expect them to come through with something for you to drive. Let us know what the resolution was!

 

Thank you all for the replies. I didn't buy it from my local dealership, JLR Spokane, so I wasn't offered a loaner. After 8 days in the shop, I received my Defender back. The technician reported the following. In short, no cause was identified but was told that these software updates made are ones that I can't do on my own.

15854 CHECKED FAULT MEMORY CODES & NONE RELATED TO SHUTTING OFF. HAD PCM P26CB-72 ENGINE COOLANT PUMP FLOW CONTROL. CHECKED & TIGHTENED FUEL PUMP GROUNDS. CHECKED BATTERY GROUNDS OK. CHECKED & FOUND PCM UP TO DATE. UPDATED BCM & GATEWAY MODULES. UPDATE NUMBERS M8E2-14F530-CD TO M8E2-14F530-CL & NEED TO DRIVE WARRANTY 2202 OP 85-18-06 .2HR, 85.87.12 .2HR, 85.86.22.02 .1HR

 

Glad you got it back but sorry to hear no code and no clue. You might just have to live with the issue and I hate to say the word indefinitely but... I saw no end in sight for that issue when I had it. They got one code once and weren't able to fix it. The other times no code, they have no prayer then.

 

Glad to have found this thread; I've posted multiple times for the same (or at least very similar) issue on the Check Engine Light thread the OP linked a few posts above. My 110 p300 is in the shop again for the same issue, though my CEL was on and codes were found, related to the fuel pump. We'll see how long it's gone but this is getting concerning. A year ago, they replaced my water pump at JLR tech's instructions, which I thought solved the issue as it's been almost exactly 12 months since I had the stall symptoms. So who knows, but my warranty is up in May 2026, which is a decision point for me; do I extend the warranty and keep the 110, keep w/o warranty or move on to a Grenadier or Gwagen.

 

Not sure if it’s helpful but almost every check engine light I’ve experienced has been fuel related - as in the quality of fuel you get varies widely even at the same service station. These engines (at least the P400) seem to be very sensitive. Usually it shows up as a warning about environmental sensor blah blah blah and resolves after a refueling at a quality gas station.

for me I see this issue most frequently when driving from Dallas to Colorado. I don’t know if it’s the random gas stations on the route, the octane change you get at altitude, or something else.