Hi - I have had my 2008 Freelander 2 HSE Auto for a few months and love it.
Started to get over worried that I had no idea if previous owner may have mis fuelled at some time so got a new fuel filter just in case to make sure no the filter innards are good.

My son is a mechanic and swapping the old filter out for the new was a doddle. Problem is we cannot get the fuel to prime and so cannot start the engine

We have checked the fuel pump is running when the ignition is turned on and the corresponding fuse is ok. Tried turning ignition on and off about 50 times and also tried cranking the engine but no joy.

Battery is recharging at the moment and my lad will ring Landrover technicicans tomorrow from his garage for advice if still stuck.

In the meantime I thought I would check here to see if anyone is kind enough to share any tips on the official procedure for priming the system after a fueld filter change.

If we find out from Landrover technicians I will of course post it up here.

many thanks in case someone out there can advise

i think somebody had the same problem when they ran out of fuel and LR assist could help either and the car had to be towed to the garage Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Thanks for the response NPINKS - I saw this when searching the forum.

Interesting because the procedures used for other difficult diesel engines have not worked - might have to wait & see what the mechanics are prepared to tell each other

http://www.ownerinfo.landrover.com

you might find something on the owners info technical reference site, unfortunately it costs to view the content, but you can register and see whats on offer  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Thank you again for the help NPINKS.

All sorted

Here's the advice which worked - hopefully will help others:
- the system is self priming with the electric pump under rear seat driver side
- you need to turn the ignition on without starting engine listen to how long pump whirs for, you need to have had the pump active for about 50 seconds to fully prime if empty fuel filter. This can mean a hell of a lot of switching ignition on and off
- there may be a special priming mode like on the new Discovery but could not find this out
- have the inlet pipe on high pressure side off and with a temporary hose from the filter into a cup follow the procedure until fuel comes out and filter is absolutely full
NB: This is what son was doing but got worried after half an hour of no fuel coming out the filter

Alternative which we did yesterday evening:
- take the inlet pipe on the high pressure pump side off (nearest to front of car on right hand side of filter)
- take the return tank side off the filter to allow the air to bleed and see when filter is full (furthest away from front of car on left hand side of filter)
- insert a flexible pipe (one from brake bleed kit worked a treat) into the filter inlet high pressure side
- decant diesel into a mug and use a syringe to squeeze diesel into the fuel filter through your flexible pipe from above
- repeat until absolutely full and a trickle off diesel comes out of the return feed you took off
- this took about 1 3/4 mug fulls off diesel to fill the filter
- put the return hose back on
- use the flexible pipe and syringe to squeeze some diesel into the hose which feeds the high pressure pump if this hose is empty of fuel (ours was not empty)
- apparently you will not be able to fill this hose because it loops up to the high pressure pump but make sure that you have some fuel in here
- connect up the inlet hose feeding the high pressure pump so now all hoses are clicked securely on the fuel filter
- NOW do the usual fuel pump priming by turning ignition on and off a few times
- depress accelerator fully with engine off, crank engine and expect it to turn over longer than normal before firing
- if does not start then do the ignition on, off priming again and then crank the engine

ALL Done

Some Observations:
- my petrol pump only whirrs for about a second when turning ignition on, would have worked priming the system in this way but so little fuel is pumped doing this that it would have taken about an hour of ignition on, ignition off
- hardly any fuel comes out of the hoses when disconnecting so if you fill the new fuel filter with diesel and then reconnect the hoses the ignition priming will work with just a few minute on, off activity
- obviously do not crank engine if significant air in the system just in case the high pressure pump comes into life and runs dry, this would run without diesel in the pump so no lubricantion and therefore damage
- make sure son checks with land rover technicians for any tips before starting any work. To be fair he is a master tech but works on high performance cars and not landies, he was doing the right things but did not allow for the amount of fuewl in the filter and the small amount of fuel delivered by pump when turning on ignition.

Hope the above helps someone at some point in time. I have the old filter so could take some piccies if anyone is interested

Have ripped apart the old filter and the innards are excellent - my paranoia about previous owners misfuelling and storing up problems for the future was misfounded. Of course with sod's law if I had not checked .....

Have a great day