Engine Dies at 70 MPH

[XIDWing]

We've owned 5 rovers. A year ago we bought a 2011 Range Rover. My wife was on the freeway going 70 when without warning the engine shut off. No check engine light no nothing. Also, no power breaks or power steering. This happened last summer. She had been driving for 40 minutes. We had the Rover towed home and once it was here it started and ran fine. No problems found. I was thinking she was crazy. Well 6 months later I was coming back from Dallas doing about 70 when the engine dropped to 10k rpm and no pedal response then dropped to 0 and no running engine, power everything was gone. I got off the road and parked. It would not start. The starter didn't ever try to start. Just nothing happened when I pushed the start button. I call a tow company and when they got there the ROVER started fine and we drove it onto the truck bed. Got home drove it off the tow truck and haven't had another problem since.

Took it to 2 dealers and they found no problems. I'm thinking it was the fuel pump, fuel filter, or secondary fuel pump up by the engine. it's like it over heated then after 45 minutes it runs fine. Problem is I don't have a clue what's wrong and I'm afraid to drive very far. Any suggestion or information on this problem would be much appreciated. Has it ever happened to anyone else?

 

[TrinidadLR4]

Would suspect something electrical, namely battery or bad ground. Any codes?

Fuel pumps wouldn't make the whole car die instantly like that. It would still try to crank.

Sent from my HD1905 using Tapatalk

 

[XIDWing]

No codes whatsoever. Instruments and lights all on. It's like it ran out of gas but tank was more than half full. Just the strangest thing I have ever dealt with. Again after 45 minutes car was just fine. Hasn't happened again since last year, but it's a terrible feeling to lose everything at 70 mph. Thanks

 

[ktm525]

Nope but do you know it's history? You bought a ten year old Range Rover... Perhaps it was a flood car.

 

[Jimmy Brooks]

Did you say your engine went to 10,000 rpm?

We've owned 5 rovers. A year ago we bought a 2011 Range Rover. My wife was on the freeway going 70 when without warning the engine shut off. No check engine light no nothing. Also, no power breaks or power steering. This happened last summer. She had been driving for 40 minutes. We had the Rover towed home and once it was here it started and ran fine. No problems found. I was thinking she was crazy. Well 6 months later I was coming back from Dallas doing about 70 when the engine dropped to 10k rpm and no pedal response then dropped to 0 and no running engine, power everything was gone. I got off the road and parked. It would not start. The starter didn't ever try to start. Just nothing happened when I pushed the start button. I call a tow company and when they got there the ROVER started fine and we drove it onto the truck bed. Got home drove it off the tow truck and haven't had another problem since.

Took it to 2 dealers and they found no problems. I'm thinking it was the fuel pump, fuel filter, or secondary fuel pump up by the engine. it's like it over heated then after 45 minutes it runs fine. Problem is I don't have a clue what's wrong and I'm afraid to drive very far. Any suggestion or information on this problem would be much appreciated. Has it ever happened to anyone else?

 

[cperez]

Just when we think we’ve heard every weird thing that our Rovers will do to us…

 

[blake aiken]

We had a similar issue with our 11’ lr4 lux hd. Drove fine to keystone and then cut off as we pulled up to a light in town, electrical and engine dash lights popped up. Same thing happened a few minutes later making a slow right turn. This was back in January’s and we’ve been on a number of road trips since without it coming back. It’s pretty unnerving hearing yours cut out at 70 and lose brakes and power steering, we frequently travel roads where that situation would almost certainly end in a fatal accident.

Last I fooled with it I was looking for grounding issues ect. I bought a flir one pro to look for hot circuits but haven’t dug in too much passed that.

First pic is the engine electrical relay, engine is off but it’s not fully asleep. Second pic is the 12v aux power in the rear.

 

[greiswig]

May or may not be relevant, but that's an interesting piece of data nevertheless. And you can get IR thermometers pretty cheap these days. Not as cool (pardon the pun) as a FLIR, but might be helpful.

What conclusions did you draw from that IR data, @blake aiken ?

 

[jlglr4]

Maybe ignition switch or relay (or other ignition system problem)? If it were alternator or battery, you wouldn’t expect everything other than the engine to stay on - usually its the opposite - engine is the last to completely shut down. Fuel supply - you wouldn’t expect that to affect the ability to crank as someone above mentioned (OP says he hit the ignition switch and got no response). Possibly relay is overheating, but then still working once it cools off?

 

[blake aiken]

May or may not be relevant, but that's an interesting piece of data nevertheless. And you can get IR thermometers pretty cheap these days. Not as cool (pardon the pun) as a FLIR, but might be helpful.

What conclusions did you draw from that IR data, @blake aiken ?

A few people had mention a grounding issue at the starter may have been the cause. It was over winter so I wasn’t about to miss ski season to work in a cold garage. I’m hoping to wrap up a few house projects soon so I can get the cars in shape

I got my iOS flir off eBay for $275.