My 07 didn't have any starting delay. After a few years it was very reluctant to fire up even though it cranked over OK. Booked it in for glow plug change but on arrival was told 'never have problems with glow plugs, its the injectors'
No it's not I said and insisted it was a glow plug issue so yes change them but I want the old ones back. After checking these, 3 out of the 4 were opencircuit. Thereafter.starting was back to normal. 11 GS Bali Blue
07 GS FL2. Usually muddy. Gone
Numerous LRs since 1963

Guys thanks for the responses, seems a trip to the garage for some new glow plugs then.

On that note; can anyone recommend a decent garage on the east side of London? I fell out with the main stealer big time and ended up in a big argument back end of last year.

Cheers.

In view of the inaccesibility of the glow plugs, plus the problems of starting that I am experiencing (-10 degrees at the moment), my Glow Plugs look that they need attention.

What bugs me is that once the plugs are changed, I have no way of telling if one of them dies 3 days later.
I had this problem on an old Citroen (Peugeot engine - and whats in a LR2 FL2 - a Peugeot engine) so fitted individual Glow Plug leads and sensors on each wire.

Would be interested to know if anyone has modified the glow plus wiring to be able to easily check the status of each plug.

Hello, today in finland it was -7 at outside, and tryed to start webasto whit my Telestart kit t91 but the remote control didnt give any led lights, maybe battery drained ? dont have used it so much, its new!

Well i did go inside the car and tryed to put power on whitout firing it up, didnt see any glowplugs light, and i tryed many times but no succes.

Then i put clutch on and fired up, no glowing time.... PHuuh, last year did glowplug service, all of 4 was changed at stealers whit hugebill.

This is not fun at all anymore, i have payed t91 kit allmost 1000 that they installed it and 450euros of glowplug service and this car just wont work as it should be!

have to check first the batterys of t91 remote control, and wait that it will be colder nights maybe and the glow will work

Many thanks to a contributors for such an interesting thread. Yes, I too, have had cold starting problems. Two winters ago, in the French Alps, I had problems arising from poor quality fuel from a French supermarket. The cold plugging test I performed showed a CFPP of -3 oC, which meant that at -15oC, the fuel oil had turned to wax. No fuel, no start. 200 euros later all was fine. Last year, my car failed to start, even with good fuel, from ELAN and FINA, spec'd for -20 oC. After much trial and error ,using all the techniques on the site, I did get the car going , in the afternoon once the car had warmed up from -13 oC to -8 oC ... So, battery fine, Fuel fine, and no error messages, on my 2008 TD4 HSE. I suspected the Glow plugs as it seemed to want to start but was very lumpy as it cranked over. I took the car to my local LR garage and asked them to test the current in the plugs. The current draw should be, 40 -60 amps, this being 10 + amps per plug. The test shoed 20 amps so I knew that 2 to 3 plugs were not working. Last week I got them to change ALL FOUR of the plugs ( Cost is £40 for the 4 plugs and £350 for the labour, as the inlet manifold needs to be removed for the procedure. Incidentally, they wanted another £200 to replace the EGR host, as it is recommended. I asked to inspect the 'faulty' hose, whereupon they said it would be changed at no charge to me). Anyway, the 2 of the plugs were open circuit, 43 mega Ohm, and 2 were working, at 1.1 Ohm.

Conclusions: ( from my experience, and perusal of this thread)

1. Check your glow plugs
2. Only use proper winter diesel ( no water and good for -15 o C or more)
3. Add some BARDAHL Antigel gazole, at £12 for a tank
4. Make sure you have a decent battery. I've just bought a new battery, a YUASA Black 110 Lifetime guarantee, 80 Ah, and 800 Amp, even though there was nothing seemingly wrong with mine current old one.)

... . All I need now is some very cold weather to check it all out .... I'll certainly get some up in the mountains at 5000 ft ...

I'll let you know how I get on ... Richard

Last winter here in Finland it reached around -28C at one point (can get worse) but on average always around -15C

I have an engine block heater fitted and a cabin heater fitted also.

I plug the car in and use a timer. Car starts no problem at all. However if i forget to plug in which i did on one occasion....at -14C the car was not interested in starting. I also had to replace the battery....That was its first winter.

Will let you know how i get on this winter

Hello GT_Mac, You are very lucky to have a block heater and a cabin heater. I guess this is the LR2 Russian spec. What a pity we do not have this spec for our British cars. Good luck this winter ... minus 28 oC ... !

Richard my FL2 is European Spec. I bought it in Holland. I fitted the engine block heater and cabin heater myself for around 500 Euro.

Ive got the keyfob to remote control of webasto to work. Battery was flat!

Aux heater ( webasto ) whit remote control + solenoid which activates cabin fan to spread warm air into cabin
Block heater, + cabin heater if electricity is avaible

Only if new glow plugs would allso work.... lets wait further winter

Webasto is definitely the best.

If you want second best you won't go far wrong with DEFA or Calix kits.

Hi folks,

Glow plugs replaced in November, car refused to start this Sunday in -18 Celsius. Managed to start it but very very difficult - after tens of times of cranking and two dead batteries. Was in a remote location, I doubt a tow truck would have made it there - so really butt-clenching experience. Luckily it started in the end - but even when it was about to start it was firing up just enough to stop the cranking but then it was stopping again. Once it fired up, it fired up, no issues any more. Next morning, in -13, same thing - only it started at like the 3rd attempt, again jittery, but when it started, it started. Flawless starts for the rest of the day. Some more info:
- battery seems fine, even with longer cranking time it manages to start the car
- glow plugs indicator on dash comes up and the ECU waits for it (not sure if until the relay disconnects, I'll have to try that)
- between day 1 and day 2 I've added some additive to the diesel fuel and car ran some 100 km

Looks a lot like a cold start with plugs not working, to me. Took the car to LR today and they did the interval service as well (perhaps filters were clogged with water, who knows...). They tested the plugs and these seem fine. Now they say it's likely the fuel, but somehow I don't buy it. Anyone else can think of any other causes? MY2011, TD4 Auto, Xenon headlights, fog lamps DRLs, sunroof, tinted windows, almond electric seats w/ lumbar support, leather steering wheel w/ audio controls, dog/luggage guard, ambient lights, flush Whispbars, Mantec sump&tank guards, Xtrons Head Unit

Thought I should report back. Problem fixed, but not easily. Turns out that the independent service replaced my hot plugs back in November with some non-LR stuff that runs at 11V. The car needs plugs that run at 5V. Hence when measured by LR, the plugs looked fine - but they were not functioning properly due to lower voltage being applied to them. Quite a tricky one to find. Anyway, happy to report that the car starts smoothly now - did not have anything below -3 yet, but by the looks of it, everything runs now as it should. MY2011, TD4 Auto, Xenon headlights, fog lamps DRLs, sunroof, tinted windows, almond electric seats w/ lumbar support, leather steering wheel w/ audio controls, dog/luggage guard, ambient lights, flush Whispbars, Mantec sump&tank guards, Xtrons Head Unit

I don't understand why otherwise excellent indy garages insist on using cheap parts even when specifically instructed to use genuine ones. People with otherwise excellent mechanical ability will completely wreck a good job by using "lookalike" parts. Is it just because their usual suppliers don't stock them? Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.

One more tidbit of information - paid a visit to the indy garage yesterday, and it turns out there are actually catalogues out there which list the 11v plugs as appropriate for the MY11 TD4. The source of the error: pre-face lift TD4 had indeed 11V plugs. Post-facelift TD4 works with 5V plugs.
Anyway - garage very helpful, they've reimbursed the costs and offered not to charge for work next time I bring the car to them (within reasonable limits, of course). MY2011, TD4 Auto, Xenon headlights, fog lamps DRLs, sunroof, tinted windows, almond electric seats w/ lumbar support, leather steering wheel w/ audio controls, dog/luggage guard, ambient lights, flush Whispbars, Mantec sump&tank guards, Xtrons Head Unit

Hi folks.
Figured I should share my experience with coldstarting the FL2..
Same problems as described above, when 7 - 8 below I have to dock, hold the start button for 2 sec (wo clutch press) and repeat this 3 - 4 times. (See the glow signal appear each time) Even more if its colder. I have checked and all 4 glowplugs are at reduced capacity, so changing them will be next on the list. I do run my car on HVO diesel which has a cetane value of 80 instead of 50, so thats a bit better (PSA approoved)

My car also has a block heater (220V) installed, so days im able to park close to my house I will use that. after an hour it will start with no glowing required at all..

But a really weird thing keeps happening, and i hope someone can advise:

On cold starts I take notice that the engine almost stalls when I depress the clutch pedal after I get the engine up and running.
I have to wait for a few seconds with the clutch pedal pressed. Today I was too quick and the engine stalled, fired it back up, kept the pedal pressed, changed the gears some (1 - 2 and then N) and then the RPM just lowered to 500 and up again. It feels like the mechanism is stuck in the cold and even when entering N gear, the 1 gear (which its parked in) lags behind or something. The car has done 167 000 km, the entire clutch assembly was preplaced at 152 000 km. Any advice?

Sry if this is off topic (allthough cold start related) Didnt want to start a new one..