Quote:

That sounds like it’s down on compression to me.

I do agree that it sounds like it’s spinning to fast and a lack of compression could account for that.

David.

I don’t know to be honest, I’ve never had to do a compression test on a diesel before.

It could also be the timing is out if the chain has slipped rather then it being valves or rings.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Don’t rush to change anything else, you’ve already spent considerable cash so far, perhaps unnecessarily. Get it running before doing anything else. Even with low compression it should run. Are the high and low pressure fuel pumps running and delivering fuel? The fuel filter for this car is almost £60 although an inferior one can be fitted. Are you getting fuel through the filter to the engine? Diesel engines certainly rely on compression to ignite, but I don’t see all 8 cylinders low. Check the fuel pressure on the fuel rails. The ECM shuts the pumps down if the tank is very low on fuel. None of this of course explained the mega fuse blowing, and as others have said, the engine oil was in pretty poor condition. The cranking motor could have been defective and drawing too many amps if it had been persistently operated to try and get the engine to fire. Keep us up to date of progress. 2012, FFRR Westminster TDV8 - Orkney Grey
2003, FFRR Vogue TD6 - Zambezi Silver
IIDBT

I'd be tempted to be feeding some easy start into it when someone is cranking it, I know it's not the best way (before anyone jumps up and down in rage) but would show if it does run when fuel is present

So yesterday, I wanted to try and crank it again and I found myself pretty much at the begging again. Unable to even turn the ignition on (see video). Today I tried again and pretty much the same result, the only difference was that the ignition would stay on (instrument panel on) after the first press of the button, but when pressing the start button again to crank the engine, it would just die on me again, no crank. First though was that it must be the MEGA fuse again (even though I was pretty sure I didn't during the previous crank attempts) but I checked and indeed, it turned out that the fuse is still ok. I also searched for codes with the GAP IID tool and I only got one code " IPC- Instrument Pack - U0128-00 (2E) Lost communication with parking brake control module) which cleared out.

SilverSpanner wrote:

Don’t rush to change anything else, you’ve already spent considerable cash so far, perhaps unnecessarily. Get it running before doing anything else. Even with low compression it should run. Are the high and low pressure fuel pumps running and delivering fuel? The fuel filter for this car is almost £60 although an inferior one can be fitted. Are you getting fuel through the filter to the engine? Diesel engines certainly rely on compression to ignite, but I don’t see all 8 cylinders low. Check the fuel pressure on the fuel rails. The ECM shuts the pumps down if the tank is very low on fuel. None of this of course explained the mega fuse blowing, and as others have said, the engine oil was in pretty poor condition. The cranking motor could have been defective and drawing too many amps if it had been persistently operated to try and get the engine to fire. Keep us up to date of progress.

Get a couple of gallons of fuel in and come back and tell us that its running

Was about to suggest the same thing on the basis of checking the obvious things first!!

The IIDtool as supplied doesn't have an option set that is required to see all faults, with only 2 boxes checked rather than 3. IIRC the pending faults box has to also be checked.

You should be able to use the tool to see engine rpm during cranking.

Does the ignition stay on if you don't have your foot on the brake pedal?

JCW wrote:

Was about to suggest the same thing on the basis of checking the obvious things first!!

GraemeS wrote:

The IIDtool as supplied doesn't have an option set that is required to see all faults, with only 2 boxes checked rather than 3. IIRC the pending faults box has to also be checked.

You should be able to use the tool to see engine rpm during cranking.

GraemeS wrote:

Does the ignition stay on if you don't have your foot on the brake pedal?

On our 4.4 if you try cranking it when the battery is flat everything goes off like that.

Have you given it a charge recently? With all of your fault finding it could quite easily be getting a bit flat.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

The 2 month old battery has been on a tricker charger pretty much since it arrived. I tested the voltage this morning and it’s showing 12.8v and my CTek charger reads it as fully charged so I believe the battery is fine. I also put in 10l of fresh diesel in the tank and tried my luck. Got in the car, pressed the start button (without my foot on the break pedal), the ignition came on, still with the “low battery warning”, pressed the break pedal, pushed the starter button for 2-3s and the screen went back to the “horizon” mode with low battery warning right in the middle of the screen. So I got my jump leads and connected a second (fully charged) battery to rule out the battery issue and exactly the same behaviour. So for some reason the ECU thinks the battery is low while it’s not… It seems that’s what is currently stopping the car from cranking.
Thinking about it, I should be able to fix this at least temporarily by disconnecting the battery for a while which resets the ECU. This is why it cranked immediately after the alternator and starter motor replacement as I had to disconnect the battery to do the job. Since than, the battery stayed connect to the car and even though it’s been pretty much constantly on the tricker charger, the car started giving me low battery warning.