New Disco Issues!

[Discotrip]

Hi Guys,

Today I picked up a 1999 Discovery V8 ES model and now going over the issues to fix. Any help appreciated!

1) I have figured out that only the driver's door locks and unlocks with the remote. The driver rear door unlocks, but is tough to open. Both doors on the passenger side need to be opened from the inside. All doors lock with the remote.

I've tried to read what I can on this. Is it likely the actuator on all three but the driver's door have gone? Would anything else be worth trying such as spraying WD40 in the latches or otherwise?

If I do need new actuators, are there any recommended places to buy them, and would diesel models fit my V8 model? It looks like a pita to change them myself, would it be worth the labour costs?

2) The last owner changed the water pump recently and added a new fanbelt at the same time. It makes a whining noise when driving now and his mechanic mentioned that the fan belt needs to be run in. I imagine the adjustment must be off, or the belt is the wrong size?

3) I have the three amigos to top it off, but will see a mechanic on Monday and try get the codes looked at - when I also get him to check the fan belt.

Please help with the locks in particular!

Thanks,
Antony.

[Scouse]

Re the door locks.....it's not set to single point locking is it?
That's where you need to push the unlock button a 2nd to unlock the rest of the doors (for safety/carjacking reasons).

[Discotrip]

Thanks for getting back to me. I pressed the button twice to no avail. It might have had an effect on the driver side rear door, but not the others. I also made sure the child locks weren't set.

I just saw an old thread that recommended Jaycar for new actuators if they are indeed the problem: Slave Door Lock Actuator - Jaycar Electronics (http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=LR8813). Would these be correct?

[ScotsD2]

If your doors are locking ok but not fully unlocking buttons pop up but not enough to open door from outside but if you pull button up from inside they open its a sign you need new door latch assemblies.
Front door RH RHD / Central Locking Motor Assembly
P/N FQJ102880

Google above and look for fitting instructions.

Done three on my D2 in last six month OSF NSR and tailgate

Best to use genuine new assys not cheap so shop around about £75 each in UK

Warning lights google (three amigos option B)

Hope this helps Pete

[Discotrip]

Thanks for the tip. From what I can see the door buttons aren't moving at all when I go to unlock them. I can hear the mechanism in the door, but they aren't popping up at all. They pop up no problem when I unlock them from the inside.

I just had another look, and both the back doors are a little tough to open when I have them unlocked. Basically when I pull the handle the latch isn't springing back so not sure if I also need a new spring or something for those, or whether WD40 would fix the problem.

I imagine I need two actuators for the passenger side doors though.

If possible, please get back to me with thoughts asap as I want to head out and try and find all necessary parts to fix the issue today.

[Designosaur]

Hi Discotrip, with your doors which are difficult to open from the outside when they are unlocked. I had this on my passenger door, fixed it by adjusting the door handle to latch control rod. The control rod has a plastic clip screwed onto it which clips to the door latch, unclip from the door latch then screw the plastic clip out a few turns. This means that when the exterior handle is pulled the control rod is pushing the latch release down a little further, if that makes sense.

Free fix if it works for you :)

Bernie

[Discotrip]

Great, thanks for that. I'll have a look when I take off the panel.

[Discotrip]

Also, will the Jaycar acutators be good enough or can you guys recommend another place to buy them?

[northiam]

RH Front Door Lock with Actuator Land Rover Discovery 2 FQJ102880 - All Four X 4 Spares (http://shop.allfourx4.com.au/RH-Front-Door-Lock-with-Actuator-Land-Rover-Discovery-2-FQJ10288)

As above
You cant fit universal door actuators on a discovery 2.

Try removing the locks and blowing out with air and contact cleaner, sometimes works.
Regards

[Discotrip]

Thanks, I've just ordered the actuator for the front passenger door from there, and a second hand one for the rear which I found on eBay. Will see if I can fix all the doors next week.

Taking it to a mechanic to get the fault codes for the three Amigos on Monday. Also, the whining/whirring noise sounds like it's coming from the alternator or something, perhaps a bearing or other issue?

Antony.

[clubagreenie]

If it has ACE it's probably the ACE pump. Mine does it but it covers the other noises

[d2dave]

Antony.Get your self a Nanocom. In the mean time have a look here, you might find some one close who can help.

https://maps.google.com.au/maps/ms'msid=218400750788295972519.0004d2028daa79a1b492 9&msa=0

If your three amigos is caused by shuttle valve switches read this. I, and many others have done this, and it does work.

ABS Mod - LAND ROVER CLUB V.I. (http://www.landroverclubvi.com/abs-mod.html)

[Discotrip]

Thanks for the advice, that's quite a handy feature of this forum. There is actually someone with a diagnostic tool here in Shellharbour where I'm presently visiting. Will try to get in touch.

Oddly enough when I looked under the good, the two pronged plugs on either side of the engine bay where disconnected, and it looked like a black female socket on the left hand side of the engine was disconnected too. None of them had a suitable partner so not sure what's going on there. That ABS mod started off simple but looks a little tricky towards the end!

As for the noise, I did read up that it might be the ACE making the noise but don't believe my Discovery comes with the option.

[d2dave]

To see if you have ACE have a look at where you put power steering fluid. On ACE equipped models the reservoir is divided, with ACE fluid in one half and power steering in the other.

[Discotrip]

Yeah, it just has the one reservoir. Hoping the whining noise isn't a serious issue anyway. The engine feels and sounds solid.

[CraigH]

That noise from the belt could be the idler pulley. I haven't had to do one yet but I know they do wear out.

Craig

[Discotrip]

I managed to take a video of it, and also included the two male connectors, and female connector - all without partners which might have something to do with the three amigos.

As for the idler pulley, could it be worthwhile just changing the tensioner and bearings? Since either myself or the mechanic would have to get in there, maybe it's worth changing what I can - but also affordably...

Here is the video - it starts making the noise at around 1.18:

Land Rover Engine Sound - YouTube (sorry it filmed side ways and youTube wouldn't save it after I rotated it)

On another forum I read someone recommended to change the following rather than forking out for the full unit:


Tensionner: #6203
small idler: #6203
Large idler: #6304
- All with double seals

[clubagreenie]

First connector 2 pins is for the ABS sensor. There should be a clip about where the end was sitting and a grommet with the female end sticking through into the engine bay. The other end goes to the hub.

Can't see the other commector in detail in between the cracks in the phone screen. Will have another look at home but can't remember anything being there.

[northiam]

Turn on the aircon see if the noise stops?
Could be ac compressor clutch bearings.

[Discotrip]

First connector 2 pins is for the ABS sensor. There should be a clip about where the end was sitting and a grommet with the female end sticking through into the engine bay. The other end goes to the hub.

Can't see the other commector in detail in between the cracks in the phone screen. Will have another look at home but can't remember anything being there.

I looked everywhere and couldn't find a home for those. The previous owner said the lights only just came on, but that's probably nonsense.


Turn on the aircon see if the noise stops?
Could be ac compressor clutch bearings.

It's hard to say. I just turned on the aircon and it seemed to affect the noise when I toggle it off and on, but the noise is still there regardless.

[clubagreenie]

OK I didn't see the second ABS connector but it seems both ABS sensors are disconnected. This will raise a no signal fault.

I still can't see the other connector but will have a look at mine to see what is down there. Mine's a V8 though. Can you get a better still pic at all?

I'll post some pics of the sensors and connections etc I mentioned earlier.

[Discotrip]

OK I didn't see the second ABS connector but it seems both ABS sensors are disconnected. This will raise a no signal fault.

I still can't see the other connector but will have a look at mine to see what is down there. Mine's a V8 though. Can you get a better still pic at all?

I'll post some pics of the sensors and connections etc I mentioned earlier.

I just went round to visit one of the member near here - Modelsp - who was amazingly helpful. He helped to isolate the engine noise to the main tensioner pulley so I'll order one of those tomorrow.

As for the ABS sensors, it looks like they were replaced at point and most likely didn't have the correct female plugs at the end. What the last person did was cut the wires close to the ECU and joined the wires from the new sensors there. However, he left the wires really long which could be throwing a fault due to the increased resistence. I'll try have a go at joining the wires the way they should be and see if this clears the fault. Any idea why the last person/mechanic did this?

The Nanocom also pulled up an O2 sensor issue, so will change those too. On the way back the speedo wasn't working and the hangbrake exlamation point came up, so not sure if we knocked a plug while looking at the ABS. Recon it might be best to go back to horse and cart.

[Discotrip]

Ha! I just went out to Bunnings to buy a multimeter to test the ABS sensors before I went cutting and connecting cables. However, I plugged the harness back in so I could get the speedo back and the three amigos went away.

All of that and I believe the issue may have just been due to the harness being a little loose. Hopefully that's it, but thanks for the help as I've learnt a lot more about the Discovery now.

[clubagreenie]

They'll be back.

[Discotrip]

Yeah, I don't doubt it. For the moment perhaps that was the issue since the last owner said they just came on. If it was a loose plug then that sounds reasonable.

[clubagreenie]

The extra cable shouldn't effect the ABS signal, I thinks the replacement sensors had a long cable that should have been fed right back to the SLABS ECU rather than connecting into the harness randomly.

[Discotrip]

Just received a new tensioner and pulley from Karcraft today. Unfortunately after installing it the annoying whine was still present. Think I might resign and take it to a mechanic as I'm not sure what the issue is.

[Discotrip]

Turns out it's the alternator that's making a noise, and there is also too much movement in the pulley near the AC. Total for a rebuild and new pulley is $480 including labor. Recon this is reasonable?

[d2dave]

Is he only putting bearings in the alternator? If so I would purchase a complete unit new. Not to hard to fit.

[Discotrip]

He'll also be replacing the bushings. It's a Bosch alternator so think a new one would cost $1000+? He said for the rebuild he's charging around $250 or less.

[bob10]

He'll also be replacing the bushings. It's a Bosch alternator so think a new one would cost $1000+? He said for the rebuild he's charging around $250 or less.

To give you an idea, a brand new genuine LR alternator from an outlet in the UK is $ 940, according to their advertising at the moment. Add to that freight costs, would be over a grand. Bob

[d2dave]

$410 delivered. And that includes the vacuum pump.

Landrover Discovery Defender TD5 2 5L Turbo Diesel 120Amp Vacuum Pump Alternator | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Landrover-Discovery-Defender-TD5-2-5L-Turbo-Diesel-120Amp-Vacuum-Pump-Alternator-/140947625893?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d12217a5)

[Discotrip]

Hi,

That's for a diesel though, mine is a v8 petrol.

[d2dave]

Hi,

That's for a diesel though, mine is a v8 petrol.

My Bad.

Try this. You could land a non genuine for a bit over $200.

Alternator for Land Rover Discovery 2 V8 ERR6413 - 1999 (http://www.land-rover-parts-shop.com/en/ui/products.php'model=Discovery%202&engine=V8&cattext=Engine%20Electrics&subcattext=Alternator&group=Alternator&year=1999)

I purchased one from this mob for my D1. While I was waiting for it I pulled mine crook one apart and found it needed brushes. I was able to fix it so when I go bush I carry the new alternator as a spare.

[Discotrip]

Thanks man, that's pretty cheap. I've told the mechanic to just go ahead and service it, but if it does this again I'll probably just order one of those.

[Discotrip]

Engine still has that annoying sound, but will create a new thread on that.

As for the door locks, I received a new passenger front from All Four x 4 Spares, although I was messing about with the latches to test it and have locked it and can't undo it. The ordinary latch worked until I lifted one of the latches with a green bit and not that locked it for good.

Not sure if I now need to plug it into the car to unlock it remotely or whether there is some hidden catch?

Over the next couple of days I'll be doing both the back doors and the tailgate!

[Discotrip]

When plugged in the locks unlocked. Front passenger door done. Two more to replace and an adjustment on the driver side passenger. Thanks for the help. Have continued the noise issue on another thread.