I am currently in a remote area of Greece 2 hours off-road to the nearest village. My Defender will not start. Battery is in good shape, when I turn the key to position II the normal red lights illuminate, However, none of the amber lights illuminate - no coil light/no engine management light etc, The engine turns over but will not start. All other electrics work fine. Plenty of juice in the battery, This is coming to you via a satellite internet link. Any ideas please.

Gary.

 

Ok - TD5 is a diesel, all you need for it to run is fuel and air.

Lack of air (clogged filter or blockage in induction piping) isn't likely to stop the car completely, just make it run rough and chuck a load of black soot out the exhaust.

Fuel is the candidate you're looking for - if it doesn't even attempt to fire, there's absolutely none getting through - check the lead to the stop solenoid on the injection pump is attached.

If it sounds like its trying to fire but failing to 'catch' then air in the fuel system is more likely, you'll need to bleed it out if this is the case - have you done any maintenance to the car recently, particularly changing the fuel filter?

It might sound obvious, but does the car have an imobiliser? If so, might it be armed/malfunctioning?

Lack of coil light on the dash might be a pointer - it's the preheat or glow plug light on my Tdi, mine will start without preheating but I'm not sure about the TD5 as it's significantly more computer controlled.

Have you tried any other forums? If not I'll relay the question to a few I know of if you like. Let me know how you're doing.

Cheers,

 

What year is your TD5??

Check your ECU under the drivers seat. There is a red plug on the right. Disconnect battery then pull the red plug and check for oil in the plug. Normally comes from the 5 yellow wires on the bottom right of the plug. Thesego tothe injectors, and oil somehow works its way down each wire to the plug and then into the ECU, bringing with it traces of copper from the wire. The oil is now an electricity-carrying medium and shorts out your ECU. Mine did the same, but got lucky...just cleaned out the ECU and replaced the harness at the injectors under the cam cover and running fine now. The only way to stop this happening in future is to drill a small hole at the bottom right of the red plug where the injector wires connect so that oil will run out there and not work its way into the ECU.
If it aint that, then as suggested b4, have your immobiliser checked out. Dont think it will be that though cos it would not swing if it was.

 

Mitzela
Did you sort this out....My defender (Lenny a 2004 TD5 ex mod white fleet special build) has coped admirably with recent snow as could be expected but has just devloped exactly the same fault. Onturning ignitin key, no amber lights no coil or ecu light, red lights illuminate, engine turns fine,lights bright, fails to start.

Prior to doing this it was very ocasionally missing a beat when driving, i.e. the engine cut momentarily just for a second and ecu light illuminated then all power came back and light went out. But this happened so occaionally and so momentarily I regret to say I didn't get it looked at.

Just about to delve under seats and find ecu as above.

regards
Steady

 

My Defender 90 2005 TD5 has been having exactly this problem including the splutter when driving for the last 12 months. It has been cleaned out, relays replaced as well as the junction box but it has started again this week. Main dealer seems unable to fix! No sign of oil in my ECU. Removing the driver's set and wiggling the third yellow from the front relay gets it working again but it returns sometimes the same day sometimes a few days later. Did anyone find a solution other than the oil please?

Regards Rednefed

 

This seems to be a common problem with the Td5. Mine is a 2006 and it had this problem at the end of last year, left it at the Land Rover dealer for 3 days which cost a pretty penny and was told there was nothing specific they could find but had one of the workshop appies clean all the electrical points. This weekthe problem has started again, tried all the tricks with the ECU, it starts every now and again and sometimes just dies totally while driving.
Does anyone know if there is a definate solution to this problem? Do I need a mechanic, an auto electrician or a salesman?

 

You need someone who can check the continuity of the wiring where it traverses the gearbox and then bends 90 degrees into the fuse box. I have now had two instances where the wiring has broken at this bend. The first symptoms were as described where the engine runs for three seconds then dies. The second is everything is correct, the dash lights up you turn the key and nothing. No Starter motor and even the old trick of live lead bypass to starter wont help. Both cases, were broken leads from ECU up to dash. Probably needs a new wiring harness as its a common fault with Defenders. You'd think someone at Landrover might just have noticed! Another one today with a short in the wiring harness to sounder in N/S front wing. Blowing number 8 10A fuse and not letting the engine/fuel pump run. An hour to find, 20 minutes to repair.