We've got a strange problem with our FL2 at the moment. The first time it's given us any problems at all in 7 years!

It's a 2007 3.2 i6 with 72k on the clock.

When cold the car is misfiring when idling. If you lift the revs to 12-1300 it seems to clear.

If you leave it idling it will throw the EML and will log misfires with cylinder 6 and occasionally cylinder 4.

With the IID tool plugged in you can see the number of misfires on cylinder 6 incrementing steadily at idle and when lifting the revs the counter does indeed stop climbing.

I ordered 2 new coils and swapped them with the 2 old ones in 4 and 6 which made no difference.

Yesterday I swapped all 6 plugs and noticed the old ones were a touch sooted up but the car hasn't done much recently so put it down to being moved a few times and switched off whilst still on choke. Anyway, 6 new plugs fitted and it's still missing on cylinder 6.

I'm thinking that the only other things left that it could be are the injector on 6 or possibly a lack of compression?

Once the car has been running for a few minutes it runs fine and once warmed up it runs beautifully. It's only when it's cold that it's lumpy.

Does anyone have any other ideas that could be worth investigating?

I'm going to try and do a compression check on it and will see if any of the injectors are giving a funny reading when checking live values with the IID but would appreciate any other thoughts that people might have.

Typically, it's started playing up just as it was advertised for sale so I've removed the adverts whilst I figure out what's wrong.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

David. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Back in 2018 I nearly bought an i6 and it had a similar problem.

Misfire on cold start, that would clear up after a minute.

I never got to the bottom of the issue - and handed the car back for a refund, but here are the two threads:

Read the p_gill post about the thermostat in the first thread. The man is a legend and runs an i6 as well as a Volvo S80 (which has the same engine)

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32603.html

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32609.html

Good luck! Zermatt Silver LR2 i6

Previous

1997 Range Rover p38 4.6 V8
2003 Range Rover L322 4.4V8
1989 Range Rover Classic 3.9 V8
2003 Land Rover 90 Td5
2000 Range Rover p38 2.5dHSE
1975 Land Rover 90 SIII 2.25 petrol
1996 Range Rover p38 4.0 V8
1990 Discovery 3.5i V8 (3 door)
1973 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8 (2 door, ex-Police)

There are quite a few videos on YouTube about this sort of issue and all the ones I have seen point to injectors.
I however have very little knowledge of petrol engine cars, have not owned one for nearly thirty years.
Hope you get it sorted  Now at the point when I learn something new something old is lost out the other side !
Now retired so it doesn't matter anymore.
Freelander now gone.

David,

Here is what I would do in your situation

1. Replace the PCV, the valve can stick when cold and it will allow a small amount of engine oil to enter the intake path (the path for the PCV is 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)

2. Replace the O-ring for the oil fill cap

3. Replace the gaskets for the intake (I would do this at the same time that I replace the Thermostat) LR0014543
(Volvo# 0650729) I bought aftermarket Victor Reinz and the price was very low and the quality amazing

4. Verify the ground connection for Cylinder 4, 5, 6 ignition coil

5. Upgrade to Denso Iridium TT sparkplugs (this is what Volvo specified for the 3.2 later in life and they are designed to reduce flame out or if you prefer misfire)


https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32107.html



https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32245.html



https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/v...mp;t=98362



https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic35121.html


Thanks

Paul

Last edited by p_gill on 9th Dec 2021 7:16 pm. Edited 2 times in total

Thanks Paul, that’s interesting.

I checked the ground for the coils last night, the resistance between the plugs for all coils to the negative on the battery is identical at virtually zero.

There is a bit of oil residue around the PCV so I’ll change that and see how we go. Likewise with the o-ring on the oil filler as the cost will be virtually nothing for that.

I did wonder about changing the thermostat and read that it can cause coils to fail but I’m not rushing to do it as I don’t believe we’ve actually had any of the coils fail.

The plugs we’ve fitted were from Land Rover and are part number LR005483.

David. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

David,

The Land Rover Plugs should be Single Iridium likely made by Denso.

I don't buy mine from Land Rover I go to Denso directly to avoid the markup.

I've been running these plugs for 130,000 miles and I change them every 50,000. The set that I have on the shelf are the Twin-Tip and they are in a Volvo package because I got a discount. So you should have good results with the LR005483.

If you had installed something other than LR005483 (or the Denso equivalent) or the Denso Iridium TT then I would recommend that you change the plugs first. But you should be good with the LR005483.

Do you have the Old plugs? are they oil fouled?

Do all of the plugs look the same or are 4 5 and 6 darker than 1, 2, 3?

Any oil blow by from the PCV goes to cylinder 6 first and then to 5 and all the way down to number 1.


Here is some information I put together on Denso Iridium sparkplugs

Click image to enlarge

After fixing the Misfire issue I do recommend that you replace the Thermostat.

It is very likely that it has failed and you will find it in pieces.


When doing this job I also recommend that you remove and clean the Throttle body.


Good luck

Paul

Just did a compression check on my 3.2 (LHD). This copied from another forum...

Followed the directions in the manual, throttle closed. That was not a problem, it quickly exceeded the 300 psi peg on my gauge anyway.

To crank it, I used a remote switch to jump power between the battery Pos and the cold terminal of the R1 (SM) relay socket. The two small sockets are for the ECM, the large ones are for the solenoid. The one you want is the large cold socket (the other is hot 12v). I stuck a small nail into the socket so I had something to clip onto. The wiring diagram led me to that, after I couldn't connect at the solenoid itself. You don't have to get under the car at all, and cannot access the solenoid power terminal anyway (it's on the top of the starter assembly).

Key fob removed. I forgot to pull the fuel pump relay, but probably didn't matter with the ignition off.

For the wet test, I stuck a piece of tube into each cyl and injected three pumps from an oil can, then let it all drain into the cyl before removing the tube. Two or maybe one good pump would have been plenty, it made a LOT of smoke after starting and there's still some oil in the exhaust after a short drive. I would crank it a few times after squirting the oil in before doing the actual wet test.

1. 245/290
2. 235/280
3. 248/288
4. 255/300
5. 245/290
6. 233/275

So all within 90% (manual spec is 75%)... I'm happy at 150K

The borescope worked for the pistons, but the mirror it came with to look up at the valves didn't really work. The attached image is typical of all cylinders.

EyeSix wrote:

Back in 2018 I nearly bought an i6 and it had a similar problem.

Misfire on cold start, that would clear up after a minute.

I never got to the bottom of the issue - and handed the car back for a refund, but here are the two threads:

Read the p_gill post about the thermostat in the first thread. The man is a legend and runs an i6 as well as a Volvo S80 (which has the same engine)

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32603.html

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic32609.html

Good luck!

I did a compression test this evening, it was stone cold and it was performed dry.

Cyl 1 - 200
Cyl 2 - 200
Cyl 3 - 250
Cyl 4 - 200
Cyl 5 - 250
Cyl 6 - 250

I’ve read online this evening that they’re supposed to be carried out with the engine warm so I’ll get it warmed up and see how we go from there.

I’d expected the numbers to be a bit more even then that but there’s none of them that are alarmingly low.

These are the old plugs:

Cylinder 1





Cylinder 2





Cylinder 3





Cylinder 4





Cylinder 5





Cylinder 6





The old plugs are filthy, however, the car has been run several times over the last couple of days whilst changing plugs/coils and monitoring some live values on the diagnostics. Due to this it’s not been off choke for the last several starts.

Once it had warmed up last night and settled down I did around 12 miles in it with the new spark plugs in. They were absolutely spotless when they were removed again this evening to do the compression check. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Just one more point… I’ve read online that cylinder 6 is on the left hand side as you stand in front of the car, looking at the engine.

I’ve just watched a YouTube video that says cylinder 1 is the end where the timing chain and air con compressor are mounted.

Does anyone know for sure what the cylinder numbering looks like?

Thanks,
David. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

David,

Those plugs are all very fouled. I would suspect oil from a faulty PCV.

Replace the PCV.


If you look at the Volvo Technical Journal (in the states we call these Technical service bulletins) on page 6 it shows how to mark the sparkplug socket to show where the intake valve is and that the mark needs to be transferred to the sparkplug after removal from the engine but before removal from the tool.

Then a picture of the sparkplugs with the side facing the intake valve needs to be sent to Volvo

Volvo is requesting this picture to verify that the PCV is functioning properly and that oil consumption is due to piston rings. (the TJ is for oil consumption)

Your sparkplugs all seem to be worse on one side vs the other side.

https://www.freel2.com/gallery/albums/user...282%29.pdf


I don't think you would pass this test.


From the Volvo TJ

Step 1. Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) check
...................... Normal PCV vacuum at idle for the Si6 and Si6T engines is between -0.2 kPa and -1.0 kPa.

That's a very low pressure


I don't measure it with a gauge I do the GLOVE TEST instead

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic37372-15.html

Take care

Paul

Last edited by p_gill on 10th Dec 2021 2:48 am. Edited 1 time in total

dhallworth wrote:

Just one more point… I’ve read online that cylinder 6 is on the left hand side as you stand in front of the car, looking at the engine.

I’ve just watched a YouTube video that says cylinder 1 is the end where the timing chain and air con compressor are mounted.

Does anyone know for sure what the cylinder numbering looks like?

Thanks,
David.

Page 7 of the PDF that I posted the link to

". Oil in the small breather channel will be vented into the cylinders causing
carbon/ash build-up in the cylinders starting with cylinder #6."


The PCV vent path is thru the cover for the timing chain and then into the cylinder head the first cylinder that the PCV gets to is the cylinder by the AC compressor and as you can see from Volvo this is cylinder #6

You can just barely see the hole for the PCV gases (and oil if it is broken) in this picture

Click image to enlarge

Good question

Paul

Thank you, Paul. Your help is massively appreciated.

Compared to the other LR’s we’ve had, this Freelander has been utterly reliable over the last 7 years so everything I’m having to do now is a learning curve!

Looking at that attachment, cylinder 1 is beside the engine mount and cylinder 6 is nearest the battery. That’ll also help me ensuring that I’m looking at the right cylinders from now on!

I saw on the internet a new diaphragm for the PCV, I take it this isn’t worth doing and it would be the entire cover that’s worth replacing?

David. 1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Oxford Blue with Ash Grey Leather
1997 Range Rover 4.6 HSE in Rioja Red with Lightstone Leather
2006 Range Rover Supercharged in Zermatt Silver with Jet Leather
2007 Freelander i6 HSE in Izmir Blue with Ebony Leather
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

David,

You should get an original part. (Note: Land Rover or Volvo it doesn't matter)

The Engine is very sensitive to the PCV and you don't want to be search forever because of a cheap part.



I've been thinking about your problem and there is one other possibility that I haven't mentioned.

The Fuel Pressure sending unit could cause the engine to run rich and cause the plugs to foul.

I replaced this part on my 2010 S80 3.2


https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/v...;start=110


The BOSCH part works fine as you can see from the picture in the link the original part was made by BOSCH. \I need to check my LR2 and see if the original sensor says VOLVO or LAND ROVER.

Good luck

Paul