Floods. Won't start. Cranks fine. Small popping (maybe backfiring) heard. Only happens when engine is cold (ie staying out all night).

have you replaced the coil pack/ignition coil. remove the plugs and check to see what colour they are this will help determine what could be wrong. you could have carbon build up this would give pre ignition ie backfire this would limit the the bang . use some sea foam this has worked in all engines i have had. take the plugs out an pour some in the cylinders and put the plugs back in. and leave for an hour. then use the rest as indicated using the air intake vacuum line, should remove the build up.

Check the fuel pressure regulator. Pull the vacuum hose off it, If it smells of gas, Replace the regulator. Diaphragm broke and is flooding the engine threw that vacuum line. You'll also need to replace the spark plugs. Gas will foul them out also.

Begin with Scanning & Checking parameters....Best to begin with a 'stone cold' engine.

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the crank sensor can fail at different temps some fail hot some fail cold i would start there

Have you checked Google I found this hopefully it's not your timing or it may be flooded but doubtful have you tried spraying starting fluid into the intake while cranking it

I'm assuming the engine cranks with the starter but does not start and run.

check the operation of the cold start injector. This is a separate fuel injector that injects fuel into the intake manifold to help richen up the mixture for cold starts. It operates on a timer that is linked to a sensor that measures engine coolant temperature. Once warm or the timer runs out, the cold start injector is turned off. Other things to check:

Fuel pressure too high (floods engine through cold start injector), engine coolant temp sensor or intake air temp sensor is stuck at full hot (doesn't allow enough fuel for cold starts), fuel injectors are leaking (floods engine with fuel).

The normal reason why a hot engine doesn't start is the choke. Your fancy new range rover will have a computer controlled choke that will be activiated by a temperature sensor. maybe this has failed or is disconnected
In my ancient range rover I have a manual choke but essentially the same engine. I know that if the motor is hot I can't start it with the choke on.
The way the choke works is it restricts the airflow into the engine so that there is a richer fuel / air mixture which is needed for a cold start. If the engine is hot and the choke comes on the engiine floods with petrol and there isn't enough oxygen for it too ignite in the cylinders. To start a flooded engine you have to open the choke and crank the motor without pressing the accelerator. This pumps out the petrol vapour and eventually it will fire and start. If the computer thinks it is cold because of a disconnected or faulty sensor it will put on the choke whenever you try and start and the engine will flood.
I think a vapour lock is unlikely unless you driving in extremely hot weather (above 40 degrees celsius).

sell it its a pice of ****

1. How many miles on your car?

2. Is the engine hot, when you try to start the car?

3. Is the engine hot, when you heared the knock noise?

did you check the timing you might have busted your timing belt or chain which one it could be
bad alternator
or a bad computer module
diagnosis with out being there is really hard to say but can be done with little bit more information like what happened before this problem occured say like was motor running rough did it hesitate
these things are very helpful in diagnosing the problems