Guy H

Update on the rear body x-member When I started it looked like the first photo and I thought I was going to get away with just new mounts - then I poked at the underseal with a screwdriver and found that the steel behind the underseal had long since departed the underseal gave way lol This the start of the poking - it got worse !! If you look in the hole you can see the original wax still on the upper part of the x-member!! Drilled out all the spot welds, attacked it with the air saw and it came out pretty easily. So, ordered new mounts and underneath panel from YRM old and new - spot the difference. and it fits!! picture is self explanatory as to what you need to do I think, so no real point going through the steps of getting it in there. Note the reinforcing section inside. You have to open up a flap each side to get the panel in - you could undo teh body and lift it, but I thought this way was easier - just weld it up again. I'm impressed with the panel fit :-) This might be useful so thought I'd post info that it can be done as I haven't seen it done before (just the bottom bit that is) I'm guessing it's taken about 3 hours after the bumper was off, most of that drilling spot welds & cleaning it up.

Thanks for the link - certainly useful :-) and persuaded me I'm not mad Oh for a plasma cutter ...... I'm cutting the rot out with an air hammer and a panel chisel which works really well, may have a go with it on the new sheet, but it really needs something to work against to cut properly, and when it goes wrong it makes a bit of a mess. Managed to remove the underneath of the x-member and the 2 rear mounts today Need to make a decision about MIG gas this week - I'm undecided between Adams Gas and BOC Crawley (I presume they still do monthly rental) .... thoughts anyone (I have read the tech thread Argoshield in the South East and they ended up with BOC) The Adams gas bottle contain 60ltrs of gas - how far would that get me?? Right break over - try and clean up the underneath of the x-member ready for the new and chop out more rot Guy

I went for a new hinge - much stronger than the original too. I only bothered with the bottom one - it seems to be the one that suffers most. Tools I managed it by myself with drill & bit to drill out the rivet, socket & ratchet & a couple of lumps of wood and a trolley jack. This is from memory from a couple of years ago so sorry if I forget anything Support open door and wedge to stop it opening/closing (the door is stupidly heavy especially if you leave the tyre on) remove old hinge & spacers - 1 of the door bolts is behind the door trim IIRC the other is under a black plastic cap?? replace with new nip up bolts tight but not fully tight Try and close door - odds on it won't fit now You can move the hinge - body mounts up and down, in and out and shim - lots of variable and possibly hours of fun to get the door square in the hole and touching the rubber seal all the way round. The lock striker pin and the 'catchy bit' can also be moved. Whilst hanging the door properly I took mine off I think. The door hadn't fitted properly before but is perfect now hth

Yes, the wheel arch 'under the void was only being held in place by the rubber underseal - I now have a free floating 'C' pillar - not good. The driver's side rear seatbelt mount is perfect, the n's one fell out. It hasn't been offroaded as there is no silt build up in the sills - in fact, other than the ends and the patch on the driver's floor they are in very good nick. Looking in from the rear end the inner sill looks almost perfect!! Yet the back end has rotten out completely. The rear x-member whereas I thought I would get away with 2 new mounts and patches - once I got in there with a screw driver, the lower panel of the x-member, between the mounts was pretty non existant. The top, under the 'step' covering is almost as new - original paint!! yet the o/s mount fell out once I had undone the bolt ... I have received a new 'underneath' and new mounts from YRM - I have drilled all the spot welds and tomorrow should see the old half removed. I will try and take pics if anyone is interested. I think that it has suffered from salt roads - it used to 'live' in the Lake District and I just think the salty water got under the underseal at all the panel joints and just rotted through. All the bad bits are directly in the line of the tyre spray. Thanks for the advice everyone Is 1.2mm sheet the 'normal size used for body repairs? 1.8 seems mighty thick and hard work

I can weld - MIG & gas & I've also got a stick welder with TIG kit (but never used it), my fabrication skills are not great though. I'd like to get it through the MOT so I can then repair 'at my leisure' rather than have it off the road for ages. I'm going to cut out all the rot in the rear body x-member and I have bought replacement parts for that. There are no back seats in it, so the rear arches are not so important BUT I'd like some pointers for repairing the bits over the arches and back. Over the arch - do I repair the inner arch first the horizontal bit, but then how do I do the vertical bit - not sure I can cut a piece accurate enough to touch all the way round IYSWIM. & what gauge of steel should I use the original (especially the rear vertical piece) is pretty thin, but it has the 'corrugations' in for strength.

Hi All After some advice. Sills are not bad really both rears ends are bad and the driver's front is shot and there is obviously a bit missing on the driver's floor. So, do I patch up or box section them? The Disco isn't a pretty one - it's servicable tool (or was!!) I've got to replace both rear crossmember mounts and a chunk of the underside of the xmember as well, but other than that it is pretty sound. The floor is ok for a while but the area that shocked me was the rear inner arches and back. As you can see from the pics, there is a bit of a hole I've not really seen this before so was after thoughts as to the best way of dealing with it. Driver's side is worse, I've removed the wheel arch already as there really wasn't anything left at the top, but from there backwards there is a large hole between the arch/floor and the vertical side. HELP!!! I would really appreciate advices as to how do I deal with this area? Sorry about the rubbish picture quality - taken on my phone with the sun setting certainly upsets it. Cheers Guy

yes, I was hoping the fittings would be the same then I would have 4 to choose from - but no just off to go and get one now Cheers

I'll go and try it now - I've got a 200tdi I'm breaking so hopefully one of those will fit thanks, hadn't thought of that

ok, on my way back from Belgium last weekend we had to stop on the motorway due to the terrible smell of burning friction material, and the small matter of the smoke and small fire inside the n/s wheel arch (safely extinguished with a bottle of water ) Following a trip home on the back of an RAC truck I went to work. Presuming the caliper had seized I ripped it apart and changed all the seals and pistons bolted it back on, new pads and ............ blinking thing did it again !!!!! Now I have worked out what's happening - the pressure is not being let go from the n/s caliper after braking. It releases from the o/s front and the backs are fine, just the n/s front. If I undi the bleed nipple and release teh pressure, I can spin the disc again. SO wtf is going on ....... pressure reducing valve??? that seems to be the only thing that the one brake is connected to by itself - the master cylinder works both fronts so it shouldn't be that 'pumping up' Anyone else come across this before? is the PRV cleanable/rebuildable? it's a '98 300tdi with the 5 line PRV Guy

Or this one http://www.muckytruckin.co.uk/pages/techni...f/discoroof.asp I used that one and it worked a treat. FWIW neither of my sunroofs leaked at the drains, they both leaked through the sunroof - roof seal (OEM is a bit of draught seal type stuff) goes hard & won't seal, water then gets in and dripped through the screw heads. Most likely once you've got the lining down you'll exactly where the problem is. Lining is surprisingly easy really, remember the interior light wires & stuff & don't worry about bending it, it springs back and the creases disappear. Getting it back in is much easier with two, but it can be done by yourself with a bit of swearing !! Whilst the lining's out check the alpine window seals and the roof to side seal esp at the rear quarters.

and you can 'chip' the EDCs if you want a bit more. You can also get adjustable 'chips' so you can turn the power up & down depending on your mood (and how long you want the engine to last ;-) As has been said they can suffer from niggly faults but they are relatively easy to track down given the right tools & info.

Are you sure they are the EDC ones? Did one of the set have a wire with a plug on? The 'mechanical' injectors are cheap & easily obtainable. However, the cheapest I found the ERR3337 was about £130 each!! although you only need 1 of those (IIRC they are nearly £300 retail)

Are you thinking of getting some new ones? They are frighteningly expensive, especially the one with the sensor I've just had a set rebuilt by Diesel Bob (about £23ea + VAT) - they should be back with me soon. I bought a s/h set of EDC ones and got those reconditioned so my Disco woouldn't be off the road. Once I get mine back I will have a s/h set for sale in perfect condition for a recon (sensor is ok) Guy

Pin 25 is the TPS idle switch, so yes that's what it should do. The clicking is not the load relay - that relay seems to power the ECU, it would seem that the ECU has the ability to shutdown its own power!!? If you are interested in tracking down the clicking, you could have a look at pin 6 - red lead on pin 16 or 17, black on 6 Good luck

Try unplugging the ECU, spraying contact cleaner in there, then plugiing it in and out a couple of time and see if that helps. Otherwise you'll need to do the same multimeter tests that sotal did and post the results.

Very good 'n' thorough write up Think you may have just fixed it there. It would make absolute sense BUT let's see what happens. That pin is a nominal 5v feed to the TPS & idle switch sensors (maybe others) This was also happening at the point that the idle 'switch' in the TPS changes so the load on the pin changes. Now there's something not quite right there, the nominal voltage from gnd to +ve is 4.95v yet there is 4.99v coming out of the idle switch???? can't confirm as can't look at the diagrams at the moment I'll try and get time to have a poke around mine tomorrow and compare. but that does look weird All the other readings (apart from the TPS voltage dying) look ok the 0.17v is fine (ECUs have several different 'grounds' for different jobs) I would pop down your nearest Maplins or RS or electronics shop and get some contact cleaner, pop the ECU plug off give it a good spray & the ECU socket and reseat it a couple of times. The relay may be an off-idle or load relay ??? activated by the idle switch. be interesting if it starts in the morning

Ok, found the readings, but we need to take them as I wrote in my previous emails - between the sensor leads and the ground that the ECU uses for those sensors, not just any pin nor across the sensor, as that's not how the ECU looks at the signal. The ECU will have several grounds, you need to use the right one. Thing is, when the engine check light is on the ECU is complaining that something to do with the TPS is out of limits compared to what it thinks it should be showing. I think that's quite important - the error code posted was TPS faulty compared to .... whatever it was. Now the only items it can be comparing the pedal position to that make any sense are the TPS the fuel quantity sensor in the pump and the MAF sensor. But the fact that changing the TPS has changed the fault would point to that being the most likely culprit. You can always have a check for voltage between 13 & 38 as well whilst you are in there We need readings when the light is off below the problem, when the light is on, and then again 'above' the problem. One of the readings I asked for will not be 'in line' with the others. Then we can go from there. We also need all the readings from the same vehicle using the same meter in the same weather conditions etc. If those readings don't show anything, then we may need to look at the sensor in the pump, but that's a little more complicated to measure and may well be beyond a cheapy multimeter. BTW The logged fault codes should have given this information (sensor voltage leading to fault condition) - it's all stored.

voltage - when it's running ok & when the engine check light is on

Another one to test - thinking about your starting problems as well - is between the -ve post of the battery and pin 13 on the ECU black wire on the battery (prob via an extension wire) and red lead on the ECU pin. I think you may have a flakey ground somewhere as well as some issue with the TPS wiring

No, I've not got the same problem - bet that's gone and blown it now - hope it can't hear me parked outside I've just done a fair bit of work with ECUs (mainly with Megasquirt) & done lots of weird fault diagnosis on various electronic systems. Anyway really you need to take those measurements when the Engine Check light is on. At that point something is wrong with the signal on one of those pins (as logged by the ECU) and taking measurements from those pins will tell you what it is. (BTW It's important to use the correct pin for the -ve) Did you check all the pins I posted? I *very* much doubt it's the ECU The best option at the moment is getting some reading off sotal's car as he can reproduce it at will

To be honest if it is one of the cheap 'n' cheerful ones - if I was you I'd go & beg/borrow/steal/buy a reasonable multimeter. A 'scope PC or standalone & someone who can work it would make it a 'walk in the park' lol Anyway you need your -ve lead or gnd securely on the ECU pin 13 should be a black wire (this is important as that's where the sensors are grounded to) You need to get readings with the +ve lead off the following pins, before, during & after the problem(progressive pedal movement), should all be pretty stable measurements if the pedal is held. Do one pin at a time, and take lots of readings as you move the pedal a bit, stop take reading move again etc, then repeat with the next pin etc. Pin 33 white/pink Pin 37 white/green Pin 25 white/slate I won't tell you what to look for as that can influence what you see but they should all be DC voltages in either 0-5v or 0-12v range Be careful around the ECU though shorting out pins or grounding them or sticking 12v down them can release the magic smoke very quickly.

Stick it in Drive with the handbrake on (or left foot on brake) and see where it happens then, either the pedal position or revs should be very different

Looking at the vid it's classic TPS fault symptoms BUT as the Engine Check light comes on that means that a signal is *completely* out of range or disconnected which is good (should be easier to find) the ECU will also have logged what it felt was wrong Have you got any test gear? even a good fast multimeter will do Has anyone with this problem had the ECU error codes read? As the TPS pot *seems* to be ruled out - my feeling is a dodgy connection or broken wire combined with the vibration of the engine at certain frequencies - will probably be something much simpler and less interesting though

This isn't as crazy as it seems at first looks. You really need to get a datalogger on the engine - or wire up a 'breakout box' onto the ECU and get a passenger watching an oscilloscope. Picoscope do some very good PC based 'scopes and loggers. As you can repeat the problem almost at will it wouldn't be too difficult to track it down with the right equipment. Anyway onto the pump The pump receives 2 PWM signals from the ECU, telling it how much to open the 'throttle' and how much to advance the injection timing. The ECU receives feedback from the pump in the form of an AC signal, varying in amplitude depending on where the throttle is. It receives feedback on the timing from the injector with the wire, sending a signal telling the ECU when the pin lifts It is feasible that the pump's sensor is playing up, but to be honest I doubt it - though check the wiring carefully If the Check Engine light does not come on when it happens then I would still be looking at the TPS and its associated wiring & connectors Cheers Guy

Idle/throttle closed switch?? Not sure how or why - that was just my immediate thought on reading your message