Hello all i am new to this forum thing and just about as new with the land rover thing. I love my 2002 disco but it is having a little issue starting. When i turn the key it tries to start, then sometimes it will start the second turn of the key but usually it takes three turns to start the vehicle. I had a friend tell me he thought it was the fuel filter. I am not sure if this is a correct assessment of the problem or not. I do not know much about vehicles, but am willing to learn.


I took it to my local garage and they said that they could work on land rovers....long story short i got 8 new spark plugs and a very large dent in the wallet. They said they couldnt figure out the problem and i would need to take it to a land rover dealership but the closest one is 80 miles away. Any advice on what i can do other than go to the LR dealer?

 

There is no fuel filter on a DII.
Sounds like your fuel pump is going bad.
When they start to go bad they loose their "prime" an it takes several tries at starting for fuel to get back up to the engine before it will start.
Next time you need to drive it do this...turn the key "on", so that all the dash lights come on, count to 3, turn the key off, count to 3, repeat, do this 3 times then try and start it.
If it fires right up that is confirmation that your fuel pump is bad.
Very easy DIY job.
Should take a novice no more than 2 hours to replace.

 

Like spike555 said The fuel filter is part of the fuel pump on a DII. Replacing the fuel pump in a DII is a pretty simple affair also. If that does not work let us know, it does not sound like a bad crank position sensor so it is probably your pump.

 

I tried the procedure and it did not start right up. I will try it again in the morning before i go to class. Sometimes it starts right up if i just turned it off in the past ~30 minutes so i did not want to try this twice in a row. Thanks for the quick responses.

 

Do you have fuel pressure when it does not start. While someone is turning the engine over press the shraeder valve on the fuel rail to see if fuel is pumping. If not could be your crank position sensor. You are sure you are getting spark? I assume you are because they replaced your plugs.

 

You cant check the fuel PSI on a DII, you can but it is very hard to do.

Remove one of your spark plugs, hook the plug wire back up to it and have a friend crank the engine over, does the plug spark?

I am betting it is a fuel pump going south.

If it were the crank sensor it would be hard to start when warm not cold.

 

how long has it been hard to start? If it's a very recent problem it could just be a bad tank of gas.

 

I will check spark plugs tomorrow afternoon. I doubt it is the fuel it has been an issue for over a month. Thanks guys ill have results tomorrow on the spark plugs.

 

How many miles on the engine, when was it last tuned, including wires, what octane gas are you burning and do you have any check engine light on?

 

i went to check the spark plugs today and didnt have a lot of time. It looked like a process to get to them so i am saving that task for the weekend.

there are just over 90k on the engine, i purchased the car in march and it was tuned when i got new spark plugs about two months ago( not sure about wires). i burn 89 gas usually. The problem started shortly after i got it (two weeks to a month after). I just changed out the tail lights the other day and the check engine light came on immediately after so i am thinking i put the wrong bulbs in?? the check engine light was not on at all before this though.