I have a 2003 Land River Discovery II, with 86,000 miles bought used about 18 months ago in Montrose, CO., I live in Ophir, CO. The largest town near us is Telluride. Said that to let you know we live in a fairly remote part of CO. and there are not a lot of mechanics around. Car has run well, took it in to Telluride for a brake job to a mechanic I had used before on other cars, he said he could work on Land Rovers, had the brake job done and the brakes seemed fine, just he car starred going dead with no warning, not good in these mountains, it would not restart sometimes for 15 minutes sometimes an hour sometimes longer, still not good especially when cell phone service is spotty at best in these mountains. Took car back several times but he could not find problem, took it to another mechanic in a town about 40 miles away that had correct equipment that could check codes for LR’s, he finds out the “Check engine Light” is not working and the wires had been cut. We feel this had been done prior to our purchase, remember it was bought used, because we had never seen the “Check Engine Light” come on before when we started it up, did not even realize it had a Check Engine Light. Mechanic #2 worked hard to find problem, but it still had the same problem of going dead, not knowing if the car would run for an hour or a day or 30 minutes it is parked, it is not safe to drive or be on the road , Mechanic #2 feels like it make be something with on board computers - car was running fine BEFORE BRKE JOB, seems like brakes may be tied in with on board computers and the brake job reactivated some signal or something got hooked up wrong and is sending a signal to shut down. Both mechanics think the brakes were done to LR standards. ANY IDEAS ON WHAT IS CAUSING THIS, CAR HAS BEEN SITTING FOR WEEKS AND NEED TO GET IT RUNNING SAFELY. THANKS FOR ANY AND ALL HELP!!!
I would suggest a Land Rover forum or Land Rover mechanic to drive it carefully to.
You won’t get a lot from this board as these cars are more difficult to fix and grief for buying it from board members here.
Anytime I hear a complaint of sudden shutdown of the engine, the first thing I suspect is failing Crankshaft Position sensor.
Here’s the one for your vehicle.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=1320323&cc=1440628
These sensors can be effected by heat where they stop sending their signal to the computer. And the engine may not restart until the sensor cools back down.
If the computer loses the signal from this sensor, the computer thinks the engine isn’t rotating. And if the computer thinks the engine isn’t rotating, the computer see’s no reason to operate the ignition and fuel systems so the engine shuts off.
Tester
Other than agreeing with Tester about the crank sensor I will add that the shop is more than likely blameless on this. You bought a well used, roughly 10 years old at the time Land Rover which is usually not ranked very high on the reliability scale.
The fact this problem started after the brakes were done is likely coincidence. Cars are a conglomeration of widgets; any and all are subject to fail at any time.
You can read codes with a simple $50 code reader, even if cel light is cut. Do u have codes now? If not, u have to wonder why wire was cut. Problems usually do not go away or fix themselves. Perhaps you had a chronic, phantom code. Usually a new computer fixes those. But that’s expensive.
Agree with the above and only want to point out that the engine problem is not connected to the brake job, unless the brake booster was replaced. In that case, you could have a vacuum leak in the new booster or the vacuum line or check valve to the booster.
I think part of the wires cut is the OBD test port. This makes code retrieval impossible until the damage is repaired. A CAN wire harness for a 10+ yo Land Rover will not be easy to find nor inexpensive. Without it, however, it can be very expendive to throw parts at it to try to find the problem.
Wires can be spliced, you don’t need a new harness.
How much time elapsed between the brake job and the engine stalling?
If it was longer than a few days the stalling is almost certainly not related to the brake job.
A 10+ year old Land Rover is going to break down frequently.
The fact that the CEL had been disabled (there was a reason for that) Means you probably bought a problem child to begin with…Land Rovers and Ophir, Co. are probably not a good combination…You need steadfast reliability…A Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape, something like that…Not only are Land Rovers unreliable, few mechanics are comfortable working on them…Change that crankshaft position sensor as Tester suggested and if still problems, unload it and get something you can depend on…
perhaps the previous owner can shed some light on it for you…
perhaps the previous owner can shed some light on it for you...
LOL wes that’s a good one. The previous owner most likely knew there was a problem cut the wire and dumped it just as fast as he could. Obviously not telling the new owner anything except the asking price and thanking them for their cash.
@Keith, depends on what’s left to splice to. I just gave worse case scenario, since Mechanic #2 didn’t offer that solution.
Just because B happens right after A, it doesn’t mean that B is caused by A. Some women who had silicone breast implants got breast cancer . Many believed that the silicone caused the cancer and lawsuits ensued. However statistical analysis showed that the overall percentage of women who got breast cancer was the same for women who got implants and those who didn’t.
It may not have been the owner that cut the wires. If the first owner kept getting CELs and threatened to enact the lemon law, the dealer may have “fixed” the problem.
I wonder if this car was bought from a dealer or a private party. I would take pics and document everything and pay a visit to the dealer and make a friendly reminder that this is illegal and see what happens.
A co-worker had a Land Rover with recurring CEL under warranty (extended warranty), that the dealer could not figure even when they had unlimited time from the warranty company. These cars are complicated and quirky.
“If the first owner kept getting CELs and threatened to enact the lemon law, the dealer may have “fixed” the problem.”
That really doesn’t make very much sense, because it is always the vehicle manufacturer that bears the cost of a Lemon Law buyback/refund.
The dealership is not the party that stands to lose money in the event of a successful Lemon Law claim.
I would be flat stunned if anything could be done to anyone about a problem with a 12 year old car and after 18 months have elapsed. As to the CEL being disabled how is that ever going to be proven as to whodunnit.
The OP states they bought the vehicle used but did not state if the seller was a private citizen, dealer, or curbstoner; not that it matters in my opinion.
If push came to shove the seller could claim that the OP or the mechanics currently involved are the ones who started snipping wires. I’m not saying nor do I believe this is the case but someone could justifiably raise that point.
That really doesn't make very much sense, because it is always the vehicle manufacturer that bears the cost of a Lemon Law buyback/refund.
It may not make sense, but I know a guy that happened too. He caught them and got a lot more money than he would have gotten from the lemon law buy back. In his case, they removed the CEL bulb.
If a young tech is put between a rock and a hard place, like find the problem or find a new job, then who knows what they might do.
and if it was a used car dealer, all bets are off as to what they did