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Dereks faults were TPS out of range, but he tried a 2nd hand tps which was worse, then a brand new one which was better but not fixed.

Congrats! and good luck with the broken pelvis, hopefully you'll be driving again soon

Stephen - Did you try what I suggested at the end? Take the solenoid out and remove the plunger and spring - put it back together and wire it back up as it was. This will allow the ECU to "see" the solenoid as Guy Suggested and it won't stop the engine from starting - the engine will still stop with the key. Although thinking about it the ECU doesn't need to see the Solenoid, I had my wire taped up for a couple of days and a direct connection from the battery and the Check Engine Light didn't come on. I've been running mine without the plunger and spring in for a good few weeks now - although I am going to put it back in soon

Sounds like you're getting there! Always a pain when there's more than one problem to start with.

So how bad is your problem with the brand new one - how often does it occur? I've not had the problem since the other day when it was wet in the morning, and thinking back I think it's always wet when it occurs, when it does occur I can make it do it, but normally I can't make it do it. Thanks for the offer of trying the TPS but I'll probably leave it for a little while - partly due to time and partly due to the infrequentness of it at the moment. I'll see if I can determine if it is always wet when it happens etc. You'll probably see me going up and down ashbank in either a green discovery or a black series land rover!

Normally I would say that would be a problem but I noticed a very similar thing with my car - when I was changing radios I managed to blow a fuse, and what confused me was that although the fuse was blown the lights on the radio kept flickering, if I played about with the interior light switch it stopped it in one position and made it flicker in another. So I don't think it's a problem - I don't have any problem with it discharging anyway!

Unlucky! That's annoying - well it sounds like it half solved it. So you've removed the battery altogether and it stays charged fine. You've connected everything up and the battery fully discharges within a few hours You've connected everything up except the towbar circuit and it slightly discharges overnight Is there anything else connected up with the tow bar electrics, sometimes they have another feed going to the battery and the feed that you have disconnected just goes to a relay to activate the main feed, if you haven't already disconnect the main feed as well, as said above disconnect any aux lights like spots or anything else, Then do the ammeter check to between the positive terminal of the battery and the positive lead and see what it's coming up with now

Thanks for the info cipx2, is this port the testbook port?

Well it has the OBD2 port, a 16pin connector with eight wires attached, any idea if scangauge will work?

I was hoping that a scangauge II could plug into it - any ideas if it would work?

Hi Thanks for the replies, it's a TA 96, I'll have a look for that connector, is the OBD2 port the same as the testbook port? If it has got the OBD2 port do you know what info can be obtained from it?

Where is the OBDII located on a Discovery 1?? From what I have read all vehicles from 1996 are supposed to have them, my Disco is a 1995 registered vehicle but it apparently is a 96 Model, I know it might not have a OBDII port but if it did where would it be located?

I've no idea about towbar electrics the only thing I could think was it could be something to do with charging a caravan battery etc??

If it no longer sparks then it certainly looks like you've found the offending circuit. Do you use the tow bar at all?

Sounds like you've found the fault, with this removed does the main terminal lead now spark when you reconnect the battery? Leave that fuse disconnected and see if it goes flat or not, but it looks like you found the culprit

Could be worth me trying the TPS, just noticed your location - I live just off ash bank!

put them back one by one until you get a spark

The fuses are fine to be live with everything off. With all fuses pulled out do you get still get a spark when you reconnect the battery lead?

Doh, just me being an idiot and not checking things properly - my front left tyre was flat

I thought the same as Guy - it might be that it's less than it can show with that particular multimeter, in which case you can measure using the non 10A socket but will blow the internal fuse if it's more. It depends how big the spark is, if it's quite a big spark when you reconnect then it's a big draw. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

If the belt is a bit too loose will the power steering go heavier? Also can it cause the steering to judder. I know my belt isn't tight enough as when I came to put the tension on using the 1/2 inch ratchet on the idler arm, the socket on the arm crumbled away to dust, so I had to guess how tight. Since then the powersteering sometimes judders a bit first thing in the morning espicially when braking and today it felt heavier. Does this sound to be related - is it normal to do that when it's a bit slack? I must get round to ordering a new arm, and pulley (it's the one at the top I think it's the aircon idler)

No worries, if you're getting an obvious spark then something is definatley drawing power. I'd connect the ammeter up as said above so you're getting a 1 on the screen then pull the fuses one by one until it drops - that should give you an answer quicker. Let us know what fuse sorts it

You should be able to see the earth straps, they're the big hefty wire going from the chassis to the battery and the starter to the chassis, the one from the battery goes straight down to the chassis, a good way to rule out a bad earth strap is to run a jump cable from the battery to the engine block. I don't think it will be the earth though. If anything is drawing current from your battery it will show up with an ammeter as suggested already. But as the others said the "1" showing on the screen should mean it's off the scale. When you disconnect and reconnect the positive terminal does the lead spark? If it does then something is draining quite a bit of power, if it doesn't then it could still be a bit of a drain. Be careful making sparks as batteries can give off explosive gases though. Also try the advice above and connect a bulb up between the battery and one of the leads

any pics of it? I fancied making a pickup top that was easy to remove to have an open top for the summer.

Well, mine hadn't done it again since, until this morning - then I seemed to be able to do it whenever I wanted by holding the revs at either 1100rpm or 1500rpm. It could be that it's worse with damp cold weather, I've since been out in the disco after it had dried up and warmed up a bit, and I couldn't make it do it at all. So I'm thinking of spraying some wd40 round any relevant connectors - any suitable suggestions for connectors which would be affected?