Hi All

So my very reliable (touch wood ) 2003 4.4 L322 has developed what I can only describe as possible misfire/rough idle problem at random times. It's only started this week and its not all the time, it only seems to occur when either sat idling in traffic (occurs in neutral, drive and reverse) It also occasionally happens at the point of when I lift my foot off the break on to accelerator or sat just crawling in traffic. It feels like the engine is running lumpy/missing a beat. However when driving along at normal road speeds or at high speed on the motorway performance is exceptional as always and the engine pulls like a train!

When it happens you can feel and just see the rev counter wobbling ever so slightly, no errors have been logged in the ECU and there are no warning lights illuminated. I would say that I first noticed the issue when reversing however it now does happen in drive. When I put the transmission in neutral at traffic lights you can see the rev counter wobbling so this rules out a transmission issue.

I was contemplating changing the spark plugs as a starting point but just wondered if anyone had ever had anything similar? Engine is serviced every 6 months or every 7500 miles which ever comes first so its well maintained, i am planning on doing the timming chain, guide and front timming cover oil gasets next year as well.

Matt Current
2012 Range Rover 5.0L SC Ultimate Edition
2012 Range Rover 4.4L TDV8 Autobiography
2010 Range Rover 3.6L TDV8 Autobiography
2003 Range Rover 4.4L V8 Bespoke Vehicle

Inventor of the retro fit paddle shift and many other modifications.
Creator of the custom 2010+ RR MK4 splash screen.
Creator of the Range Rover CarPC and lots more!

Founder of Range Rover Owner
rangeroverowner.com | Facebook.com/RangeRoverOwner | Latest Videos âžž YouTube.com/RangeRoverOwner

You could check for oil leaking into the spark plug bores or air leak or PCV valve pipes disintrigated or MAF but would have thought you would get some sort of error reading, what diagnostics are you using?
I did my timing chain guides and chains and rebuilt my vanos units a few months ago, scary job at times very doable and no more leaks from the cam covers or front timing covers or warm idle rattle

Hi mate,

It's has its cam cover gaskets replaced about 18 months ago and had a brand new PCV valve and all the pipe work replaced this year when I did the valley pan gasket replacement. Good point on the MAF, all the pipe work looked like it was fitted correctly but I will take it apart tomorrow and make sure there is nothing on the sensors.

Did you by any chance do a write up on the chain/guide/vanos replacement you did? Very keen to start reading up on it all to get my self mentally prepared for the job next year!

I'm using my faultmate extreme to do the monitoring of the engine

Matt Current
2012 Range Rover 5.0L SC Ultimate Edition
2012 Range Rover 4.4L TDV8 Autobiography
2010 Range Rover 3.6L TDV8 Autobiography
2003 Range Rover 4.4L V8 Bespoke Vehicle

Inventor of the retro fit paddle shift and many other modifications.
Creator of the custom 2010+ RR MK4 splash screen.
Creator of the Range Rover CarPC and lots more!

Founder of Range Rover Owner
rangeroverowner.com | Facebook.com/RangeRoverOwner | Latest Videos âžž YouTube.com/RangeRoverOwner

There are a few write ups already on the net,
I used beisan systems for some of it although doesn't cover the chain and guides but is very good for the vanos rebuild and i bought all the seals and press tool from them.

I used a 5 ft gas pipe / scaffold tube and 3/4 27mm impact socket and breaker bar for the crank bolt and vanos press and i did break the bar so i would get a sliding head type rather than swivel type.

There are two types of locking kit as well as i found out from Pepe on here and he was a great help with part numbers and i used a lot of febi bilstein parts for the guides and chains, if you are stuck i'll dig out where i bought them but most off of ebay from a couple of motor factors on there. The locking kit you will need i believe is the later type but check with the seller.

i think this is the correct one, i have one that Pepe modified, it is the timing jigs that align the vanos that are different, but it is a bit tired around the cam locking blocks which is not the area you want any guesswork.


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151571642035


You will need one of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161280308528


http://www.beisansystems.com/procedures/m62tu_vanos_procedure.htm

http://www.beisansystems.com/products.html


I watched this video through and through, there are quite a few videos in the series.




This is also a very good walk through

https://www.germanautosolutions.com/diy_te...ls_diy.php

And if you are really bored you could have a look at my thread over on the other site although there is a lot of what may be termed 'banter'

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/pro...ay.305798/

i also have the faultmate msv2 extreme, excellent bit of kit although i don't know half of what it can do but i found reading the instruction manual that comes with it over and over again very helpful. i guess you are not getting any faults when scanning the engine ECU for fault codes in the bosch ME7.2 ECU?
Here is a shot of mine when my immobiliser lost it's memory.

did all my timing chain and vanos stuff a few years ago, however, mine started to misfire recently. i wasnt getting any codes, and the fuel trims were ok to. it was definitely worse on lpg, but it did it on petrol too. -but not as much. i changed the plugs, and it was a bit better, but still happening. it was a sort of flat spot, from just off the idle up to about 1500. so, if i drove it in manual mode, shifting the gears, i could overide it somewhat. my milage is 167k, so after changing a couple of easy things, that i had to hand, like MAF and the throttle butterfly unit. it was still the same. so i was thinking one or more coilpacks were going a bit dry. (had already checked i wasnt filling the plug wells with oil.) i noticed that you can buy these secondhand, and they vary in price, however, they are the same a some bmw 6 pot engines, so dont search for rangie ones, use the code on top of the coilpack, something like 1748017 through ebay...and you can pick them up for under a tenner each, i bought six as a set, and another two from another seller, all for about £45, fitted the lot, and all good now. i thought about proving the dodgy one(s) and keeping the 'good ones' but i lobbed the whole lot!
I think they are about £100 each new, so, at least im good for a few more thousand miles, etc.
i didnt want a mixture of new one(s) and tired ones. or a bill for £800! i had to sort it out quickly, as i was to tow a trailer, and on the day i changed them, i hooked up, and was driving, all good!
confidence restored, and back to LPG, and pulling like a train.

That's really good information, i am bound to need coil packs at some point, it has had everything else !

Not had this engine in a RR but had it in an E38 and did about 40k in it self maintaining all the way (sold it with about 160K and still running sweet)

In my experience the idle was never that smooth but when compared to other 4.4's at club meets I was told I was being fussy

No:1 for me would be coil packs, I ended up picking up a few spares and swapping them around. Generally small misfires like this don't throw error codes in my experience, even when hooking the car up to INPA (BMW diagnostics)

No:2 would be oil in the spark plug wells

No:3 would be air leaks

I have found MAF issues tend to be a bit less subtle

Cheers,

MM

The faultmate lets you view each cylinder for how smooth it is running i think which may help to track down the fault easier

First thing to pop into my head was idle air control valve.but now I've said that, I don't even know if they have them. No7 - 2003 V8 Vogue

On my older throttle butterfly valve, it would sometimes run a for a drive, with a higher than normal idle. And be ok the next drive. I had already attended to the actual flap with some rag soaked in petrol, to clean any intake 'grease'

Could the intermittent increased idle be the battery low voltage trigger than increases the idle when the battery is low?

Any update on this OP?
I think i am having a few misfire problems, my idle is steady as a rock and it goes ok if I give it some throttle but it feels like it is dragging a bit at some light throttle loads, like it is holding back a bit as if the engine is causing a bit of breaking but if it give it some throttle it goes ok.
I am thinking of connecting up my faultmate and taking it for a drive and recording the data but have never done it before.
i tried connecting the faultmate the other day and it wouldn't connect to the engine ECU to read faults but I could read the input/output readings.
Any ideas anyone ?

My original issue eventually turned into a real misfire and the error was logged in the ECU. It was cylinder 7 coil pack that was faulty in the end, replaced the coil pack unit and now it works perfectly again

Matt Current
2012 Range Rover 5.0L SC Ultimate Edition
2012 Range Rover 4.4L TDV8 Autobiography
2010 Range Rover 3.6L TDV8 Autobiography
2003 Range Rover 4.4L V8 Bespoke Vehicle

Inventor of the retro fit paddle shift and many other modifications.
Creator of the custom 2010+ RR MK4 splash screen.
Creator of the Range Rover CarPC and lots more!

Founder of Range Rover Owner
rangeroverowner.com | Facebook.com/RangeRoverOwner | Latest Videos âžž YouTube.com/RangeRoverOwner

Good result then
How much do you know about the faultmate engine readings such as cylinder roughness and air leakage value?
I also have the extreme and can find all the copious amounts of information but just don't know how what is a good or bad reading for the engine?

Evening all,

Have a 2011 4.4 TDV8... had for 4 months and been running like a dream.

However in the last 10 days feels like it's pulling back at times and a but jerky but idles fine.

Any thoughts please.... does Supermarket Deisel make any difference ?

Regards..... Steve