I was a bit late topping up my fuel today, and the "range indicator went to zero".

I then found the car seemed to go into a "sluggish mode" and lacked power - perhaps as an economy feature to get you home. All on the open road.

Anybody else had this, or was my fuel pump just struggling to suck in fuel from a nearly empty tank.
Put full tank of fuel in, and power restored to normal.


Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

markconnor33 wrote:

I was a bit late topping up my fuel today, and the "range indicator went to zero".

I then found the car seemed to go into a "sluggish mode" and lacked power - perhaps as an economy feature to get you home. All on the open road.

Anybody else had this, or was my fuel pump just struggling to suck in fuel from a nearly empty tank.
Put full tank of fuel in, and power restored to normal.


Mark

It baffles me in this day and age why they can't invent an accurate fuel gauge, be it a needle or computer - I don't think I've ever driven a car where the needle didn't show "full" for the first 60 or so miles, and halfway actually meant you'd used about 3/4 of your fuel.

And even with computers... my Disco 3 went from 50 miles range to 5 in less than 10 miles, just on a normal, flat, 60mph A-road.

I've hit the zero several times but never noticed any power loss. Mind you I have never thrashed it to tell, i've always been tickling the throttle gently.....just in case!!

There is special software in the engine management to induce the lack of performance feeling, this is to show you that you really have run out of fuel , it should only happen after trip computer has range gone to zero . The reason Land Rover put this software in is so you do not have an expensive repair as the fuel lubricates the fuel pump , if you run dry you will have to have the system bled and possibly a new pump . Next time you experience this feeling find a fuel station pronto !

a strange feeling, and a clever touch by landrover I thought.

Have generally found fuel countdowns to be pesimistic, so pushed it, but will not make a habit of it.

Mark Freelander 2
TD4 GS
Shiney fantastic Baltic Blue
Detachable Witter Towbar

The FL2 will never actually run out of fuel, as the software will shut down the engine before the tank runs dry. Reason for this is as explained by insider to prevent the fuel pump running out of lubricant. But nonetheless the car will stop on the road, due to lack of fuel. So I guess it's the same thing, just a bit of clever engineering.

On the fuel gauge accuracy, there seems to be a software bug on some of the earlier FL2’s that result in the fuel gauge showing ¼ full when in fact you are running on empty

Apparently any FL2’s on the most recent software version have this bug seen to.

The worrying thing about this though is that the fuel gauge fault can pop up at anytime, usually after about 1500 miles or so.

So I think a wise precaution would be to zero the trip each time you fill up, take note of the range on the TC & keep an eye on the distance driven on your trip & cross reference this to your available range. This should mean you can see if your fuel gauge reading is making sense. “You feel uneasy, as the mad scientist locks the door behind you & dissolves the key in a vat of Acid”

25 grand and you're supposed to go through the rigmarole of writing your mileage down so you don't run out of juice because the fuel gauge, trip computer and trip meter are either unreliable or have a habit of self resetting

JMMYM wrote:

25 grand and you're supposed to go through the rigmarole of writing your mileage down so you don't run out of juice because the fuel gauge, trip computer and trip meter are either unreliable or have a habit of self resetting

JMMYM wrote:

25 grand .......................................

Oh you lucky lucky sod !!!

Try Eur 42,990.00 (£29,185.00 stg) + metallic for a base model Freelander 2 & up to Eur 56,100.00 (£38,000 stg) for the HSE, again + metallic & any other options.

&  “You feel uneasy, as the mad scientist locks the door behind you & dissolves the key in a vat of Acid”

OUCH!!

Freddy wrote:

JMMYM wrote:

25 grand .......................................

Oh you lucky lucky sod !!!

Try Eur 42,990.00 (£29,185.00 stg) + metallic for a base model Freelander 2 & up to Eur 56,100.00 (£38,000 stg) for the HSE, again + metallic & any other options.

&

I guess that these prices include VRT and VAT without these the price might be quite good

Regards

Paul;

Correct those are the retail prices including the VRT & VAT !

Apparently Ireland is one of the cheapest countries pre tax in Europe with the cost being kept artificially low to compensate & then one of the most expensive after tax.

For a while some years ago, there were quite a few buyers from the UK purchasing their Land Rovers here in Ireland, them importing back to the UK & making quite a significant saving even when all UK taxes & duties were paid. Given the Sterling / Euro ex rate, it was even better.

Today though I’d say it’s not quite as rosy, as the Irish Spec is quite a bit lower than the UK cars, whereas in the past we got UK cars here.

Take a D3 for instance where an SE here is more like a UK “S” spec. Same goes for our HSE being more like your SE.

Not sure how the models play out with RRS or FL2 though. “You feel uneasy, as the mad scientist locks the door behind you & dissolves the key in a vat of Acid”

Just a reminder. Page 19 of British hand book states:- Never allow your vehicle to run out of fuel as the resultant misfire may destroy the catalytic converter.

waaxh03

Perhaps it’s only the Diesels that have the software to shut down the engine, before fuel runs dry. Given that the high pressure fuel pump is lubricated by the diesel.

But then if expensive damage can be done to the catalytic converter on petrol models, you’d have to wonder why such protection isn’t built in also

Oh it's a strange world all this software on cars these days. Bring us back to the simple days of plugs & points I say  “You feel uneasy, as the mad scientist locks the door behind you & dissolves the key in a vat of Acid”