kevinr

hmmm, the mega squirt idea looks awsome, but 2 issues with that a) I'm not skilled enough to do it, either elctrically or mechanically..I can fix cars ok, just not redesign/modify engines. b ) Lack of time..I use this car daily, so taking it off the road for several days at a time is a no go for me.

well, following all these other electrical problems I've had, it now looks like my fuel gauge is failing. Imagine my surprise, when, while travelling along nicely, my fuel needle starts to drop rapidly..more so then a V8 would drain your tank!!! So, is this an indicator that the gauge is failing. or something else? as this nly really happens when I have a full boot or a trailer on.

I'm applying to join my local 4x4 response team, and am looking to waterproof my V8. As I understand these engines really don't like the wet, so any pointers you can give me will be great. I will be looking to add a snorkel later on, but for now, It's just the electrics and things I'm concerned with. Thanks.

It's Fixed!!!! The landrover guy turned up ( a little late for me to order new parts for next day delivery if needed) and hooked his diagnostic computer up..after failing to read the engine....turns out my car has a seperate port for that, he traced to problem to an earthing fault, which eventually led to the ECU (Oh great!) He was just packing up after removing the ecu for testing in another vehicle, when we both looked over the previous work I had done, then he noticed something was not quite right with the wiring on the ignition coil. It turns out, when the RAC mechanic was testing the ignition system, he had reconnected the earth wires for the injectors incorrectly..so, this guy plugged the ECU back in, swapped the wiring over to what he thought it should be and she fired instantly!!! So, the original problem was indeed the amplifier, but the inadvertant switching of wires caused an earth fault, which was easily fixed....what a f**k about, but kudos to this guy for spotting it..despit his machines telling him otherwise!!

well, I removed the alarm spider..and sure enough...dry solder joints!. I re-soldered them..even applied that mod..but nothing...still dead as a doorenail...guess I'm just gonna have to wait and pay for this landrover specialist auto electrician now All I can think of as a possible cause now is my ECU

How do I tell which mine is? I do have a wire disconnected from the coil which is white with a black trace, and connects to the positive terminal..however, the wire from my ignition wire is connected to that

I wouldn't know mate. When I replaced mine, I never looked to be honest, I just asked the motor factor for an amp and took the one he gave me, there's no real markings on it. Mine had 5, spread between 2 clips, the bottom one could be removed with some difficulty and much swearing, while still in place, but the rear clip actually feeds through the earthing place and is essentiually locked onto the amp itself.

that post looks promising rolly..thanks I had an auto eletricion out to me today, before he arrived, i had managed to find that I had spark, but my problem was now fuel..after injecting a few ml's of petrol directly into the cylinders, replacing the spark plugs and cranking it..she started to fire up!!..so, after much poking around, I found that the plugs were dry, and the engine would try to fire if I injected fuel directly..ergo...fuel injectors or pump to blame. Once the electrician arrived, he checked the pump, and the pressure, and said that it was feeding fuel to the injector rails, however, the injectors were not working...which he said was highly unlikey as to have all 8 injectors fail at the same time was unheard of. We found the inertia switch..which had depressed...but this did not solve the problem when pressed in again , now..some people may remember a post I made weeks ago, about a wire running from my ignition stright through to the ignition coil..turns out..this is a bypass, and provides an ignition live circuit directly to the coil....so...given our post rolly..it may actually be the solution to my problem..which this electrician was unable to solve..but hat off to the guy..his protocol (as he was roadside recovery) is 25 mins, then recover...he spent near 3 hours helping me, so no complaints there, but he did say I would need a landrover specialist as he couldn't figure out why the injectors refused to fire..his best guess was eitehr the ECU was on it's way out, or the crankshaft sensor was kaput..any ideas where this is??? Hid diagnostic machne wouldn't communicate with my ECU...which led him to the conclusion of the sensor...but, what do I have to lose? 3 hours checking this little box of tricks??..pfft..if it works, then I'm happy, as it saves me another call out fee

my amp is located just behind the coil at the front of the enine bay, behind the lights. I'll be straight onto this today as soon as I finish my breakfast shift...I sooooo miss my landrover right now

well, after much scratching of head, I called in the RAC. He's told me there is a signal problem from either the Distributor or the Amplifier. So I guess my next step is to replace the amplifier first and see if that resolves the issue, if not, I guess I'll need to fork out for a new distributor Anyone have any suggestions on how I can test either of these?

Hi Rolly, Thanks for your reply but, I don't think this has anything similar to it. However, It seems the problem came to a head today, I went out to it this morning, to get some new spark plugs, and it wouldn't fire up. I've replaced the Spark plugs, HT leads and the ignition coil of the ones they could get, one was upto 1995, and the next one was 98 onwards. Since mine is a 97, I went with the earlier one as it was similar in size to my existing one, and figured the newer one would be for a newer engine then mine. Now I have it all fitted, I can turn the engine, but get no spark at all, so, here I am late for work and waiting for RAC to come out and diagnose the problem. I've pretty much replaced the ignition system, and I know I'm getting fuel to the engine..so I'm outta ideas now.

Hi, While driving my disco 3.9 v8, I get moments where the engine loses power momentarily..well..It feels that way at least, The revs don't drop, but you get that lurch as if you change down a gear and release the clutch pedal. As I say, it's only for a second, and doesn't happen all the time, and usually I am travelling at a constant speed, so I can't pu it down to a gear change or anything. If it matters, I have a large hole in the rear silncer box on my exhaust, which I am waiting for craddocks t replace (they sent me the wrong part initially, despite using my vin number to locate the part ) Any help would be appreciated

i had a similar problem with my passenger window..It turned out that the mechanism had shed a (washer?) that runs along the runner, and the remains had lodged in a small hole inside the runner. Anyway, a new regulator from Craddocks, 15 minutes of cutting my hands to shreds, getting the regulator the wrong way round, upside down..and plenty of swearing (anyone ever notice that despit your best efforts, those black plastic tabs on the inside of the door fascia always fly off when you try to prise it from the frame?) later....it's as good as new...eay job, but as already said..you need the hands of a child to reach in there

I recently replaced the discs and pads on my 3.9 V8, and I found the job pretty straight forward. You will need to remove the calipers, it's a two bolt job on each one...remember to suspend them once removed to protect the breakpipe. Yes you will have to remove the half shafts, it's 5 bolts which are recommended to be renewed on refitting, and should be torqued. (I can't recall the torque settings..apologies) and there is a paper gasket that will need to be replaced here...once loosened, mark it's location and withdraw. Next is the Hubnut, remove this (it's a 32mm socket if I recall) and behind this is a locking washer, will also need replacing, followed by a secondary hubnut, emove these and the disc should withdraw..watch out for the bearings as these may fall out..no drama though. once you have the disc in hand, you will need to remove all the gubbins from it (wheel bolt attachement). this is fairly obvious once you have it in hand and compare it to the new ones, it's 5 small nylock nuts to remove the abs sensing ring (sorry for lack of technical terminology ) and 4 larger bolts underneath that, There is also an oil seal on this that will need renewing. Once you have the disk itself removed from all the gubbins, fit the new one in the reverse order. All that should need renewing is the 5 halfshaft bolts, the locking washer and the halfshaft gasket, and the oilseal. You should not need to replace the oil at all. Hope this helps, and maybe someone far more experienced could elaborate on this if needed.

Thanks guys, will follow these suggestions today..except replacing ht leads...short on cash at the mo. But the fuel filter was replaced the other day, I service it the other day..oil, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter. None are leaking as I check them constantly at the moment. I do have an oil leak underneath, I think it's from the transfer gearbox, it's from the unit that the handbreak drum fixes to, I do intend to drain and replace that today, as it had crossed my mind that I've lost too much oil from there. After my wedding this month, I'll have the spare cash to get it into a landrover garage to repair the leak. I have recently checked the propshaft after a recent enquiry, the joints are solid, and the shaft on the front has a small amount of play, I assume this is normal as when the handbreak is off, the rear does the same. I'll post back later once I have checked the plugs and replaced the oil.

Whenever I accelerate , be it from standing or just increasing speed, I get this shuddering effect. it feels like the drag you get when you change down a gear and release the clutch, but it is less pronounced and is quite regular. I'm not sure if it is a spark plug misfiring or anyting like that, as when I'm not accelerating it runs ok, also whenever I'm slowing down it is fine, it's just on the acceleration. Any sugestions on what I can check/do? It's a 3.9 V8 '97' disco 1

looks like I sorted the first problem, after removing and cleaning the valve, this did nothing, infact, the problem escalated....theres no feeling quite like the feeling you get when the engine cuts out during a turn..and you lose power steering!...anyway, I followed some more advice and unplugged the ecu..now my revs are more stable and sidle nicely just below the 1k mark.

I checked the drive shafts today (while looking for the speed sensor..whadoyaknow!! the speedo stopped working today ) the rear one is solid as hell, however, the front one has play, not in the join, the entire shaft between the front axel and transfer box turns slightly..is this concern? or is this normal?

hi teabag, thanks for the reply, I will try these on my next day off, but one more question, where is the handbrake on these things (and I am refering to the shoes and adjustment gubbins ) I've already had the rear discs off, so I know it's not there.

I have a 3.9 V8 manual disco 1'P' registered, and recently it has started to show a couple problems. When I have been running it for a while, and I have to stop the engine (to refuel or while waiting at train crossings) The engine sometimes fails to start properly unless I keep the revs up with the accelerator. When I turn the key, the engine fires up and the revs go upto a little over 1000rpm, but when it settles down, it drops to nothing and the engine dies. The only way to get it going is to apply the accelerator a little and keep them up manually. Once I'm moving it's fine. The problem has never shown itself when starting from cold. The second problem only shows itse;f when moving, or rather, when slowing down. The car starts to shudder, and there's a horrible banging noise coming from the drive shaft underneath...it's like the wheels and car are trying to go faster then the engine is allowing them to. Any deas on what I can look at first would be appreciated. TIA

I've looked at the diagrams, but done nothing yet..I was concerned about this wire. The day working on the landrover went surprisingly well, I found it a hell of alot easier to work on then my fiat tipo and vauxhall cavalier, the discs were a breeze and took me a little under 2 hours to do both. The exhaust s still giving me a problem, the middle piece and downpipe have a welded olive thatwont locate correctly, so it blows a little (any suggestions on any kits I could get to help seal this?) After checking the haynes manual..the cylinder object is the ignition coil ..do I feel stupid now..lol But that still begs the question..why is it wired to a heavy guage wire via a 30A fuse. The aforementioned wire then disappears behind the ignition barrel in the stering column.

hi, sorry for my late response, work and stuff getting in the way Thanks for all the replies, as yet I haven't done anything yet due to wok commitments, but I'm off tomorrow, and weather permitting I'll be having a good session on the landrover, got all sorts to do, new brakes, rear discs, spots and a repair on the exhaust, so all in all, a good day tomorrow Edit: Please excuse my 'technical' wording, but I have found something I would like some advice on. I was just having a look in the fuse box under the steering wheel to see where i could route some of the wring, and to see if there was any remnants from the old wiring, and I found what i thought could be what I was looking for. There is a large yellow wire that runs from the back end of the ignition housing (or that area at least) and connects to the front of the fuse box with a four pin connector block. From this has been spliced a black wire, which goes into a a 30A fuse (before the fuse box itself), and from there into the engine bay. I traced the wire to the front passenger side and it connects onto a large cylindrical object ( i don't know what this is..sorry). This in turn has several wires connecting to it, but the centre of it has a HT lead which connects to the distributor cap. So, could this be something I need to use or what, because it doesn't go to anything but this yellow wire, 30A fuse and this cylinder, and it deffinatly looks like an 'aftermarket' modification.

I use craddocks, their website is pretty crappy, but I usually just call them. Found them to be helpful, knowledgeable and very good at giving advice.

When I got my disco, there were two spots fitted to the front bars, they are wired together, but the wiring has been cut in the engine bay and coiled up and stowed. Also, in the dash where a headlight levelling switch would be is a gaping hole, I assume this was where a switch for the light could have been placed. Well, my question is, how do I wire these back in? I have a new relay, as I heard that it should be wired through one, and I have a switch. The only place to fit a relay in the fuse box has one in already..but I can't ID what it is for, and I can't see where the wire entered the passenger compartment, though I can take a guess on that one. I'd rather do this job myself, then get an auto electrician to do it, as I am basically to tight to pay for one So any suggestions an wiring diagrams you can chuck my way would be very much appreciated.

thanks for all the replies, they have been helpful. I'm not sure if it was diagonal wheels that were spinning, I was inside, and the other guy was outside on my side, so he wouldn't have seen if the other one was spinning, and since I didn't know how it worked, it never occured to ask. The tyres I have on are Goodyear Eagle GT+4's, not sure if they are any good, it was what it came with.