This is actually more common than you might think in cars with this type of rotary knob gear selector.

There are a couple of major causes. The first is a blown brake light or brake light switch, believe it or not. Many modern cars are set up so that unless the driver has their foot on the brake, the car won’t move out of Park. If the brake light switch (or sometimes even the brake light globe) fails, the car doesn’t get the message that the brakes are applied and the car won’t shift out of Park.

The other possibility – and it’s not unknown on Range Rovers – is a flaw in the circuit that turns the knob’s twisting action into an actual gear selection at the transmission. A specialist might be able to take the circuit apart and replace the blown component, restoring operation to normal.

When this car was new, the recommended change interval for the timing belt was nine years or 230,000km which is an awfully long interval by industry standards. In some markets, this figure was reduced to seven years and 180,000km, which is still a long interval, but much more sensible.

If it was my Land Rover, I’d be changing it even sooner, probably at 150,000km at the outside, just to be certain, as a snapped belt will turn the engine to junk in a split-second. While you’re at it, take the opportunity to change the water pump and idler pulleys while the front of the engine is apart. It’s better than having to go back and disassemble the same part of the engine a few months later when the water pump starts leaking.

The reason the scan threw up a camshaft phasing problem is because the belt has stripped and allowed the camshaft timing to become way out of synch. This is also why the engine lost power and wouldn’t restart in the first place.

Simply replacing the timing belt won’t fix it, as the engine’s original camshaft timing has to be restored for the engine to ever fire again. There’s a specific method to do this, but pretty much any mechanic will be able to retime the camshaft and get you going again.

If the engine is retimed and still won’t fire, there’s a chance the stripped belt has allowed internal damage to the engine which may need a full rebuild. You could be looking at bent valves, cracked pistons and more.