Has anyone else experienced this? On my MY13 I had the strangest experience today. From warm, I restarted the car and the whole motor went in to vibration mode . Remember when you got the plug leads crossed on a petrol motor yet it started and how the engine struggled and shook? Just like that.
It was accompanied by a low engine growl. It occurred to me that starter cog may have stuck in the ring... Do flywheels still have starter rings and motors, cogs?
I hit the stop button after a few seconds of this , panicked a little, then restarted. The engine fired without further problem and I drove home. I have restarted a few time since and no reoccurrence. I know if I report to my dealer they will tell me they can't find anything wrong. It would be helpful to go armed with evidence from others and the solution found. Thanks Firenze Red XS TD4 01/2013 . Averaging 1800 miles per month. My 5th Freelander in 11 years. Devotee?

Same happened to me at about when about 3 months old, never happened again
Suggest if occurs again then 'dealer' 2011 XS,Sumatra Black, GONE MARCH 2014- RR Evoque Prestige 5 door ,MY 2014,Loire Blue, Silver Roof, Panoramic roof.
MY 2016 Disco Sport HSE Auto Scotia Grey,REJECTED
Mercedes E220D AMG line with air suspension(Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 21 (Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 22 (Gone)
Audi Q5 40TDI S line (gone)
Discovery Sport D200 S 2024 MY

This has happened to mine approx twice a year since new. At its second service last year new injector leak off pipes where fitted as Land Rover thought this caused the same problem on Evoques. The problem has repeated itself twice since these were fitted so clearly this was not the problem. I agree with you that it sounds as though the engine management computer is firing the injectors in the wrong order. I have reported the problem to the dealer who were going to contact Land Rover. After stopping the engine the next restart is normal.

Search topic author "Sparkyfletch" late last year.

Thanks C'ball. The problem, to the letter. All the talk of DMF's and EGR is way above my head though. However, I can rule out the low fuel suggestion as I had filled up earlier that morning.
On 11k now, so will have my first service, probably in July. If the 'tremor' does not re-occur before I will mention it then and watch the reception staff roll their eyes. as if I am making it up...! Firenze Red XS TD4 01/2013 . Averaging 1800 miles per month. My 5th Freelander in 11 years. Devotee?

This can happen on a manual if the clutch is let up too quickly on start-up. The engine manages to chug on in an out of control manner.

I had this happen only once upon start up, gave the same symptoms as if its only running on 3 cylinders or over choking on a petrol engine, was due to a leaky injector apparently.

I also had this twice (once at 10k and again at 30K it seemed ok on restart so none the wiser

Nick 2012 MY TD4 SX Manual in very rare Buckingham Blue!

First time I am reading this thread and I find something interesting...
Did you noticed that all of you with this problem have MY2011 and later?
Meaning the new platform that can give 190 PS?
It could be an engine ECU firmware related thing...

Happened again today(now 2nd time in 18 months)- had not driven car for 6 days it had been parked on path, started it up and engine was very rough causing car to actually 'pitch' around- turned it off.
When I started it again it was OK but just done 200 miles around Lake District- fine on motorway but very rough at low speeds and indeed struggled going up some single track hills even with hill descent on to go up.
Due a service in 1500 miles so will get them to look at it- albeit 2nd service I think is only a glorified oil change. 2011 XS,Sumatra Black, GONE MARCH 2014- RR Evoque Prestige 5 door ,MY 2014,Loire Blue, Silver Roof, Panoramic roof.
MY 2016 Disco Sport HSE Auto Scotia Grey,REJECTED
Mercedes E220D AMG line with air suspension(Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 21 (Gone)
DS 200 SE Dynamic my 22 (Gone)
Audi Q5 40TDI S line (gone)
Discovery Sport D200 S 2024 MY

...this kind of fault could be very hard to diagnose as it can be caused by many things and happens very intermitently.I would scan the ECM for trouble codes (fingers crossed there are any).As Alex said there could be a firmware update available to solve this issue.

Few more possible causes I experienced in my praxis causing similar engine behavior :

EGR sticking (open)
leaking/damged injector(s)
camshaft/crankshaft sensor false signal
air entering the fuel system
fuel pressure sensor/regulator false signal
voltage drop during cranking
ECT sensor false signal
contaminated fuel
....and more and more

...so please don't shoot your mechanic for not beeing able to fix the car on a first attempt.....

Last edited by michal969 on 31st May 2013 8:12 am. Edited 1 time in total

I second michal's comments and heres a left field issue:

I've just recently fixed a similar type of issue I've recently been having with my 2011MY FL2. I sometimes get the engine stumbling not long after startup at idle, and it would also stumble at low speed low revs or low throttle opening and light engine demand in general. I was also getting what I considered poor low-rev pickup from the engine. It just didn't seem to want to rev up and pull away from a junction as smoothly and as freely as before.

Was beginning to wonder if the replacement turbo that was fitted a couple of months ago had also been given an ECU change to the way the turbo works.

Decided to pop the bonnet yesterday and take a casual glance over the engine when idling. First thing I saw was the air-filter box shaking wildly. it was moving from side to side by about 1.5 inches in resonance.

Long story short, I suspect that the airbox wasn't properly seated when the warranty work was done, and the pipe clamps tightened, preventing it from being seated. As a result, is was able to move around, and find a resonance. I think a consequence of this was that the sudden side to side movements was effectively lengthening and shortening the inlet pipe around the air-flow meter just after the air filter box. This bellowing/squeeze box effect on the pipe it was also affecting the speed of the air flowing over the air-flow meter. In changing the speed, the engine suddenly tries to adapt fuel and gets it wrong because the air-reading changes again with the next movement of the loose air filter box.

Undid the clamps, re-seated the filter box, re-tightened in place, and now it sits snugly, there is no movement from the air filter.

The car is back to the way it should be.


Sounds totally random, I know, but its defeintely fixed my stumbling engine problem for the moment, and for the sake of opening up the bonnet abd checking the box is seated, may be worth a shot?

fisha :

interesting post - although it sounds very scientific - as I will have more time I will try to loose the airbox and check MAF signal with my oscilloscope to verify your theory. Thanks for the tip

For my box to be unseated, the pegs that that sit in the holes were just up and out of the holes they should of sit in. You'd never know unless you were looking for it. The inlet pipe that runs across the top of the engine clamped the box out of place very tightly. As soon as I loosened the clamp, the box fell easily into place.