Ongoing electrical gremlin (53 plate defender) - HELP
Discussion
Hey all, possibly going over old ground (as I've mentioned before) - but I have an ongoing electrical gremlin with my TD5 53 plate 90.
First problem: sometimes and it doesn't matter if the whether is hot or cold, wet or dry (or engine hot or cold), I try and start the vehicle, I turn the key - and (for whatever reason) the orange engine light and squiggly coil light do not come on - and when this happens the car won't start. It does turn over.
I return the key to normal position and wait a few secs and then it's always started fine. Maybe takes a couple of goes. But as soon as the orange engine managment and squiggly coil lights come on she starts fine.
This happened this morning. But got the car going and off I pootled to Grantham station. BUT: less than a mile from home there's an exposed lane (yes, that lane - where I flipped the car over last Dec...) which gets frost/ice/black ice on it...so i crawl along there....car running fine. I get to the end of the lane...and pull onto the A52...this road gets gritted, so I get my foot down and the car cuts out. All the dash lights light up. I am fairly sure (maybe imagined it) that the Traction Control light came on first (which I'd not seen happen before)...so I eventually get the car re-started after a few attempts and limp onto the verge.
I wonder if wet/damp does cause an issue? I do have the 'they all do that' leak of water into the driver side footwell. And wondered if that might affect electrics?
Car is being recovered -my local wrench. Good guy. But not Defender specialist. And am sure they'll plug her in and look for faults. And I'll update the thread. I know the info above is vague but anyone got any ideas?
In October the car had ace service at JE Engineering (I have stage 1 and 2 remap of theirs and a few other bits) and had been driving brilliantly, like a new car since. She'd not demonstrated this problem for an age before she went in so I didn't mentioned it to them. I just need her working reliably.
Or will the only 'fix' be to get a newer one?
First problem: sometimes and it doesn't matter if the whether is hot or cold, wet or dry (or engine hot or cold), I try and start the vehicle, I turn the key - and (for whatever reason) the orange engine light and squiggly coil light do not come on - and when this happens the car won't start. It does turn over.
I return the key to normal position and wait a few secs and then it's always started fine. Maybe takes a couple of goes. But as soon as the orange engine managment and squiggly coil lights come on she starts fine.
This happened this morning. But got the car going and off I pootled to Grantham station. BUT: less than a mile from home there's an exposed lane (yes, that lane - where I flipped the car over last Dec...) which gets frost/ice/black ice on it...so i crawl along there....car running fine. I get to the end of the lane...and pull onto the A52...this road gets gritted, so I get my foot down and the car cuts out. All the dash lights light up. I am fairly sure (maybe imagined it) that the Traction Control light came on first (which I'd not seen happen before)...so I eventually get the car re-started after a few attempts and limp onto the verge.
I wonder if wet/damp does cause an issue? I do have the 'they all do that' leak of water into the driver side footwell. And wondered if that might affect electrics?
Car is being recovered -my local wrench. Good guy. But not Defender specialist. And am sure they'll plug her in and look for faults. And I'll update the thread. I know the info above is vague but anyone got any ideas?
In October the car had ace service at JE Engineering (I have stage 1 and 2 remap of theirs and a few other bits) and had been driving brilliantly, like a new car since. She'd not demonstrated this problem for an age before she went in so I didn't mentioned it to them. I just need her working reliably.
Or will the only 'fix' be to get a newer one?
Hi there...had a similar prob with a td 5 ..have you checked the mult pin plug where it connects with the ecu ? oil can migrate from the loom inside the engine and down as far as the ecu causing all sorts of problems...if this has happened you will see traces of oil inside the plug..a good clean usually sorts it out..if not I don't think a replacement loom section is too expensive..best of luck Steve w.
Thanks BoggyT 
.
I have just spoken to my wrench and he'd thought of oil ingress issue and checked. All good in there oil-wise currently.
But did say they'd noticed, when she didn't start, with the lights acting as I described above - they also saw the temp guage shoots up. So quick call to his mate and they now think it's the 'ignition relay'. £30 part. so worth a try. It arrives tomorrow.
I'll update when I have more news.
I hope it cures her. I just want her working reliably.
.I have just spoken to my wrench and he'd thought of oil ingress issue and checked. All good in there oil-wise currently.
But did say they'd noticed, when she didn't start, with the lights acting as I described above - they also saw the temp guage shoots up. So quick call to his mate and they now think it's the 'ignition relay'. £30 part. so worth a try. It arrives tomorrow.
I'll update when I have more news.
I hope it cures her. I just want her working reliably.
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