Dear all,

I'm a newbie to Land Rover - picked up my LR3 2007 V6 4.0 petrol a few months ago. In general, it's a great car to drive. But recently it's started having a problem shared by several others in this forum. That the engine turns over fine, but cranks and doesn't start. It's intemittent, and happens once a week or so at random times.

I have taken it to the garage who diagnosed it as a faulty fuel pump, which we replaced (+ injectors). For a while it worked fine (ie 2/3 months), and now the exact same problem is back. It will eventually start but, but will need 5-10 mins of constant cranking. I've tried a suggestion on this forum (to lock/unlock the vehicle and/or connect/disconnect the battery) which helps. But I do wonder whether the garage got it wrong in diagnosing the fuel pump (and hence wasted my money).

Others who've had similar problems on this forum seem to find its a sensor problem (camshaft or crankshaft position sensor). I'm wondering if that might be the problem on mine, but not really sure how to check. It's not a battery problem, it doesn't any error reports on the computer, it drives perfectly fine when it starts up. And the first time it happened was after a 2 hour journey on an exceptionally hot day (although the car been rested for 24 hours when it wouldn't start). Even now, it won't happen during the day - it's only ever 1st thing in the morning or if the car is unused for a couple of days.

The car is actually due back in the garage in the next few days. Before its sent, I would love to get opinions on the following 3 questions:

1. It sounds like the fuel pump was a misdiagnosis - but is it possible that the diagnosis was indeed correct, but that this is some kind kind of permanent problem with the fuel system (noting that we completely changed the pump and all injectors and replaced with brand new ones)?

2. What's the easiest way to confirm/rule out either camshaft or crankshaft sensors - given that seems the be the most common cause in this forum?

3. Any advice on what I should be asking the garage to do? Normally I would trust an LR garage. Except I live in Egypt, and the LR garage staff are awful. Between incompetence, bad English and a general tendency to cheat me of my money, I know I can't trust these guys! So any advice on what I should check myself to keep these guys in check would be appreciated!

4. Any other advice is welcome!

i love the car, but getting it to work is just becoming too complicated (and expensive). And since I know little about LRs, I will be eternally grateful for anyone that can get me through this problem!