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My in-laws are having trouble with their td5 disco, basically it cut out a couple of days ago and wouldn't start again. Seems to not be getting fuel. My first suggestion was fuel pump, but he says you can hear that running. He took the pipe adapters off the fuel filter housing and the one on the left furthest from the chassis was blocked and the little valve inside was knackered. He fitted a new valve but it made no difference. I've told him to take the pipes off and see if any fuel is being pumped out. A friend of his has told him there is a valve at the engine end of the pipe which also gets blocked?? Any advice? Any common faults?

The big fat cable on the first picture looks like the wire for the heated windscreen on the p38, I presume it's similar for the classic - does it have a heated screen?

Pirtek will make you up silicone hoses the only problem is you will need to take in each pipe you want making unless they already have the specs on file

Thanks for that, I've never had an engine this big so have nothing to compare with but it is rather a lot of steam at the moment, will keep an eye on it. If all goes well I'll be trying for an MOT ASAP. The exhaust isn't looking in the best condition and I'm sure my 4 mile trip to work won't help it either when I do get it running!

Absolutley perfect, that is now added to my todo list, fantastic!

Managed to get a bit further, brake pipes are now done, powersteering wasn't leaking at all it was the auto box cooler, I've fitted the fan, I've sorted the rocker cover leak, I've sorted the washer jets, I found a bulb out on the number plate and sorted. Just got to: Replace the plastic arch liners (need to buy some new plastic plug things!) Replace the heat sheilds Get a new Auto Box Radiator and fit it. Still a bit worried about the whole overheating issue, now the brakes are sorted I took it for a 2 mile test drive. It all ran fine and never overheated. Power seems a bit 'all or nothing' but not sure if that is just a characteristic of a V8? Seems to have lots of poke though. It's just that when it's started from cold it doesn't smoke at all, then after a few seconds once it starts to warm up, clouds of white smoke (steam) come out of the exhaust. Sitting on the drive at idle this doesn't seem to clear, when taking it for a drive it seems to clear straight away and doesn't return on idle. The exhaust was saturated with water inside before though some I'm hoping it's just water left in the exhaust but I presumed once it had cleared once it wouldn't return? Coolant doesn't seem to be dropping, spark plugs look normal, it starts perfectly, it doesn't overheat. Any thoughts?

Hi, I don't have water coming out of the expansion tanks or boiling over etc, I'm not 100% sure if I have water loss or not as I had to make up a temporary bodge pipe as a pipe was missing and this was dripping so I was losing some water anyway. I've now replaced that pipe and providing there are no more leaks from around there will be able to monitor better if the level drops or not. Thanks for the reply - it's closer to D-day now when I actually have to drive it for an MOT!

The previous owner of mine had this issue! So I'm left with a similar dent in the bonnet! If anyone sees or has an Oxford Blue Bonnet - I'd be interested. In the same way I'm in no major rush and Martin should have first dibs

If everything was found via google this place would be very quiet. I appreciate what you are saying but my first port of call was to search on here for "diff leak" in the Series Forum. I went back to mid 2009 in the results without finding anything relevant. So I guessed that this forum lacked this information. Therefore if the forum lacks the information surely it makes sense to ask on here about it so that the fourm can grow? I get fed up with responses such as "look elsewhere", or "search google", Even if I see simple questions from other members I try to answer them as it makes the forum more friendly and increases the actvity which keeps a forum going Thanks it's a Rover diff - I've found some info via google as per dantd5's suggestion. It looks like it's either just a seal to replace which looks nice and simple or a bearing as well. If the bearings start to wear they move and destroy the seals

Already done, and made sure I've got my card in my wallet ready, will also take serveral gallons of water with me and some hose clips! and any left over lengths of hose

I've recently done the rear crank seal and rebuilt the gearbox, on a good note these aren't leaking yet. It has however highlighted the fact that other bits leak! When parked level nothing is leaking, when parked on a hill nose up the front diff is leaking, when parked on a hill nose down the rear diff is leaking. Both diffs leak from just behind where the prop connects. I've not touched these bits before - is it a simple fix or a pita?

I had thought about a combustion test kit but they are more expensive than I expected! Anyone know a cheap way of doing this? I'm just worried that when I book it in for the MOT it will be it's first proper run in over a year, normally I'd be wanting to take it very easy but at the same time I could do with giving it a 'good' run to clear it out a little! MOT station is 8 miles away

Depends on the age of the engine, I think the old ones had the filler pipe - I've seen a couple of old engines with them on, the new ones don't have such a pipe and are filled using the hole in the rocker cover, they have a slightly different bit that fits in the hole.

I know what you mean I'm not after a definite yes or no - just some tips really. Don't really want to book the MOT then overheat on the way after missing some signs. It's been a pretty big job for me, never done any work on a petrol car engine before, and never dealt with any overheating issues before so it's all new to me - to be honest I'm pretty impressed it runs at all! Got a few small jobs left ready for MOT, Finish Brake Pipe replacement Fit Fan Replace Leaking Powersteering hose Sort rocker cover leak Sort Windscreen washer jets (think one jet is snapped underneath) - pipes need connecting up Fit front half of exhaust heat sheilds

Any chance anyone can tell me if it's normal for it to hiss when the coolant cap is removed a few hours after the car has ran?

The Air Suspension isn't that bad. A full set of bags with lifetime guarantee can be had for about £300, the compressor can be rebuilt, the valve block can be rebuilt, and there is free EAS Unlock software to diagnosis, clear faults. The problem with coils is that the Range Rover never had them from the factory so you can only fit aftermarket parts, you will need to inform your insurance that it's a modififed vehicle - so could end up more hassle than fixing the current system.

I've managed to get my P38 up and running but am concerned about faults re-occurring. Can anyone give me some things to watch out for? As a quick summary - the vehicle (4.6 HSE) overheated, the top hose had split dumping all the coolant. The previous owner had stripped one head down, then lost interest. It then sat for a year until I bought it. I stripped down the other head - cleaned everything up - checked heads for warp - and both appeared to be OK. I fitted new composite gaskets and rebuilt the engine, fitted new radiator and started it up. It runs but has been smoking with white smoke after it warms up but I suspect that may be to water in the exhaust as the header pipes have been off for a year. Now that the coolant has settled it doesn't ssem to be going down (or it wasn't - but I just got a leak on a pipe). It seems to work as normal with the top hose getting warm after it gets up to temp. I wasn't sure if the pressure was normal, after running it was left a good few hours. I then removed the coolant cap and it hissed for a couple of seconds - is this normal after that long? I can't drive it far at the moment but will run it again before I'm fininshed and take it for it's MOT but is there anything else I should look out for?

Got the electrics working. I ended up stripping the fuse box down to look for damage after reassembling and reconnecting everything seems to work! Not quite sure what the problem was but for now it's working! Just got to finish building the engine up now!

The Starter Motor wasn't quite as described - they must have changed it later on. There is just two terminals, the big bolt (with two wires attached) and the spade terminal. I tried shorting the spade to the bolt but I just got a little spark, I think the bolt was too dirty. I gave in and decided to take the starter motor out so I could have a proper look. There are two 8mm Hex bolts, one on top and one underneath. The heat sheild gets in the way of the top one, and I knew the top one would be tight as I tried to undo it when the heads where off. I resigned to having to take the rocker cover off, followed by the exhaust header pipe and heat sheild . Once removed I had to use a 2 foot breaker bar to undo the top allen bolt, which eventually undid with a large crack (replaced later with copper grease). Once on the bench and in the vice I connected up the battery via jump leads, negative to the body and positive to the bolt, I then connected the spade to the jump lead and it whirred away quite happily at speed. Happy with this I gave it a quick clean and fitted it back in. Once it was fitted back in I tested it by connecting the positive to the spade terminal and again it whirred away spinning the engine over nicely. Which was the goal of this. I jumped back in the car to try again with the key - and I just get a click So the starter is working but something else isn't. Any ideas where to start tomorrow? Is the ECU clever enough to stop it activating the starter motor if something is disconnected? I've plugged just about everything in except the spark plugs, so the coil pack is connected but no spark plugs in. There are no relevant warnings on the dash, just abs, airbags, suspension, windows & sunroof. Will start probing tomorrow but any clues would be appreciated, as I say there is a click when turning the key which I thought was the starter solonoid but it could be a relay.

Thanks for that, excellent post, I'll lie underneath tonight with a bit of wire and see what I can do. Just not looking forward to taking it out, as when the exhaust header was off and it was easy to get to I tried taking it off quickly and the top bolt wouldn't budge! Will probably be even harder from underneath. Thanks again for the help

I had to make a similar repair years ago on a car rear heated screen, I first tried soldering it on with my biggest soldering iron (something like 100w), and it fell off a week or so later. I then borrowed a huge big soldering iron, the tip was about the size of my little finger, it soldered together much easier and never came off again. I was worried about the glass cracking but it didn't. I guess you''re looking for something like this though:? http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8331.html

Having put the top end back together on my 4.6 v8 (it had been stood for a year before I had it) I came to turn the key just to spin it over quickly but all I get is a click from the starter motor. Battery is fully charged, if I put the headlights on and try they don't dim at all. When I had problems with my series starter motor I used to stick a spanner down and short two posts and it would kick in, can I do something siliar on the p38? If so what do I short? Looking from underneath I can see a big fat red cable which goes to the solonoid direct from the battery, there is then a thinner but still heavy duty red lead which dissapears off with some other cables, and then the small cable with a spade terminal in the end which I presume is the live from the key. Then there is a braid between the starter and the solonoid. If I short the big heavty cable to the spade then I guess it will just click like it has been doing? How do I actually try getting the motor to spin? I have tried hitting it with a rubber malet. Also do I need to prime the oil?

Could it be a bit of an air lock?

I got my glow plug from Ford Direct, I'm interested to see how you get on with fitting the unit as I still plan to do this to my Series. The unit is simple enough but if you have any questions I may be able to help, I've had it in peices and it's worked for over a year since! (that's on the galaxy though!) Mine was a 2002 galaxy so will be the same model, I'll try and dig out the part number for the plug for you

From what I have read the feature is there to write maps to the ECU with nanocom but it's not 'that' easy. First it depends on whether or not you have a writeable chip in your ECU, early ECUs didn't later ones did. Second you have to have a map file to upload. Places like Td5Alive sell them, no idea if there is a tool to make your own but without dyno equipment it's going to be difficult to get it right