Geminidawn

Sure all in the right place and firing in the right order.

Cheers Nige, yeah, keeping the battery charged is a daily routine even tried a booster but the fast cranking is short lived before I have to leave it to charge up again. Also tried the Easy Start, a lot of back firing but no result. Plugs are new so are the leads. Will have a look at the rotor arm and cap though.

Hey I may not be that mechanically minded but I can tell petrol from water. Yes it is petrol on the plugs.

Injectors, all systems are go and each time it's tried there is a few pops and bangs, the timing is sound but it just don't run. I have a feeling that once it dose start it will continue to do so but getting it past that inital hurdle is proving difficult.

I have a 3.9 EFi V8 that has been laid up without turning over for some time. It ceased to run after a multitude of electrical problems that have now been sorted. Now the problem is the engine itself since it has not run for a while it now dose not want to fire up. The engine was very stiff to begin with so both the engine and starter were serviced. Now it now turns freely, it's got spark, compression and it's getting fuel but it just ain't firing. Everything has been tried to coax it back to life, ethanol, gas etc, etc. But it is just being stubborn. Any ideas?

No points then for guessing where all the jacked cars end up.

I wish I could agree, for a neighbouring country the second hand car market in Ireland is blown out of all proportion by comparison to UK prices. Due to the beating the cars get from the local Irish roads you end up paying a higher price for a lesser vehicle, there is the option of importing but then there there is the VRT which more often than not, isn't worth it. If Irish used car prices were to equalize with the UK or VRT was made more reasonable then we'd be no longer ringing the dinner bell for criminals to swap a few numbers and make a quick buck.

My deepest and most sincere thanks to those who posted on this thread and thank you for all your good advice. Almost two years later and this chapter will finally come to a close. The insurance company that reclaimed the vehicle has recently offered to sell it back to me for 1/10th of the price I had bought it for. Not a bad outcome. It looks like as advised persistance and keeping all your paperworks pays off, thanks to everyone once again.

Went out to the garage and had a look today there's two on offer a 200TDi and a 300TDi I was told the 200TDi was the better option

Cheers Geoff, around here you cannot buy bio diesel you have to make it yourself, so if I do cock up on poor quality product I really have no one else to blame but myself. Either way that chapter is a long way off my main concern right now is how easy the transition would be.

Well it hasn't been so far. As this is suppose to be an everyday mobile workshop the 3.9Efi has proved less than reliable. I have a much smaller diesel doing all the work all year round while the LR is mostly parked up waiting for repairs or parts, which have to be imported from the UK for that model engine. At the same time every garage around here has a few Discos out back and there is no end of spares at hand. Futhermore there's the running cost. A 3.9 may be fine for a weekend off roading but for everyday use it can prove costly, sure I can convert it to gas but gas here is almost at the same price as petrol. At least with diesel there is the "bio" option.

I have a hybrid Series 2a Ambulance with a 3.9Efi RR Vogue rolling chassis and engine. As it can be seen in previous threads the Efi caused me no end of trouble. I have recently been offered a 2.5 TD Disco engine and gearbox. What am I getting myself into?

The following is some text copied and pasted from http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/archive/ind...2054890135.html ________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________ Interceptor16-02-2006, 09:36 A mate of mine who is a mechanic with a busy Galway garage has taken three LPG systems out of cars in the last year - proof of it being pointless if you ask me. If it is a low mileage car and you are looking for a project, why not convert it to run on ethanol and start making the stuff yourself. Alternatively convert it to diesel and run it on biofuel? I saw a 1967 Landrover which was run on old chip fat the other day (very economical, very smelly) 'cptr -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- unkel16-02-2006, 10:16 convert it to run on ethanol and start making the stuff yourself 0% excise duty 0% VAT 0% profits for the fat cat fuel station owner 0% profits for the fat cat oil companies near 0% pollution high octane And if the project doesn't quite work out, you could always add some essence and drink it :cool: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interceptor16-02-2006, 12:08 add some essence and drink it :cool: I'm not sure what the people who sell Smirnoff Ice would think - its pretty much the same thing... I'm sure someone in Mexico has developed a decent home distillery for ethanol - most cars there are set up to run on it. ________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________ Personally I've never heard of any cars being converted to ethanol and I know nothing about it. What do you think?

You may be right can anyone confirm this?

There is a chance I will get a 1.8 Petrol '98 commercial Freelander for next to nothing as to whether if I am going to keep it depends if I can reduce the every day running costs. As it is always in 4 wheel drive the petrol consumption is quiet high by comparison to the 1.4 Diesel 2 wheel drive van I have as my everyday transport at the moment. The van I can run up and down to work 50 miles a day, 5 days a week for about €40 However it comes at a price. The roads here are a disaster and I fork out a small fortune in tracking, tyres, CV boots, joints and cracked sumps due to the daily punishment and the low van clearance. This I am sure the Freelander can handle with little ill effect but with a huge chunk taken out of my wage for fuel. Could I run it cheaper by converting it to gas? If so where can I get a kit?

It's a hybrid with a RR 93 engine & rolling chassis and a 1969 Series IIA Ambulance Body. It's being imported to Ireland as a Classic Vehicle, emissions exempt

Great! Smallish power loss I can live with which is better than not moving at all. But has anyone here done it, changed from EFi to carbs, are there any other hidden problems or costs?

Thanks Man, that's the first straight answer I got to the original question

Thanks, the replacement pump was tested before it went in and it was running ok at the time (2 months ago). Whether if that is still the case I'm not sure for there was alot of work done since and the pump has been inactive now for a while. I'll check both the pump and the earth this weekend and post the results. In the meantime if anyone has any other ideas or a copy of "EFi's for Dummies" I'd love to hear from them. On the carb front I got offered a set with manifolds for less than €100, would changing to carbs mean changing the fuel pump again for a different velocity?

Well you turn the key and the starter motor whines but beyond that nothin' before you turn the key and you'd hear the pump prime and the engine would fire up, now you just hear a "click" All the trouble started after the whole fuel system got contaminated with water, rusted the pump, clogged the jets and shorted the electrics. The pump, ECU, fuel filter,relays, spark plugs and EFi loom have been replaced and the fuel system purged, so there is a ghost in the machine somewhere. But where?

Thank you, but I would not of posted this thread if I did not already try that. I hear that wiring is straight forward, yeah, but so is algebra if you know how, or you have some one there to point you in the right direction. I even got a guy who is fairly competent in 12v to have a look with a diagram and a meter and he could not find the fault. I live 50 miles from any decent garage so a call out would be with no guarantees and once they hear it's a hybrid I'm told it's something they would not get involved in.

Read the thread and Megasquirt looks like the way to go, just not now, mainly due to time and money. I need a quick cheap approach to get my paperweight rolling again as it's been laid up fo so long now awaiting attention from someone who knows what they are lookin at that the disks are beginning to seize. I have to get it working for the winter and once it is running then maybe I can drive it somewhere in the spring to get the Megasquirt fitted. But for now it is not moving at all and I need to get that sorted. So do I wait and see if yet another mechanic can find and fix the fault or bin the EFi and get carbs even if only for the short term?

I was not saying that carbs are more reliable but at least with carbs I know what I'm looking at, but if what you're saying is true then maybe megasquirt is the way to go. Good Lord! Just found the 18 page thread, better go put the kettle on! How much would a set up for an engine such as mine cost?

Thanks Guys, Don't know about the Megasquirt this is not for off roading or a performance vehicle it's mainly for work and reliability is top of my agenda. When it had the old Series 4 cyl and it broke down I could jump out and fix it with a Swiss Army Knife now it's just headache after headache. I needed the RR enging and chassis for towing mainly, now it hardly moves at all.

I have a 93 3.9 V8 Efi that has caused me no end of problems in wiring and re-wiring (as in new ECU and loom). Taking into consideration that electrics is not my forte it is usually left up until someone who knows what they are doing can take the time to look at it and even then the work is never complete. It was suggested to me recently that I should consider ripping out the EFi and putting in Carbs instead, a lot less hassle to maintain and easier and cheaper to convert to gas. Is it the way to go and is it straight forward enough? Any wise words will be much appreciated.