ENGINE WARNING LIGHT AND M & S FLASHING

[ericn_3]

Hi,

I have a 2000 TD5 Discovery diesel. Without warning the engine warning light came on and the M&S lights started flashing, I had no accelerator and the car adopted limp mode. By vigourously moving the gear lever (Automatic) I was able to clear the flashing lights and the car drove normally. Shortly, however, the problem came back. I believe the problem is a faulty starter inhibitor switch and these cost about $500 plus fitting. My question is are these switches repairable or can they only be completely replaced. Any ideas and or help would be appreciated.Thanks

[LandyAndy]

Remove the ECU (next to the battery) Carefully unplug the red connector.Is there any oil leaking out of the connection??? Only landrover could build a computer that leaks oil!!!!
SERIOUSLY,have a check,then do a search on "Oil in the harness"
Let us know how you go.
GOODLUCK,its an easy fix if its the answer.
Andrew

[ericn_3]

Hi, Thanks, I will have a look and let you know the outcome. Kind regards,
Eric

[Slunnie]

Eric, also check that for each gear selected in the auto that the correct gear is being displayed on the dash - this will be a good indicator for problems in the inhibitor switch. The inhibitor switch can fail and I suspect they can also fall out of adjustment slightly which gives similar symptoms.

[Skellz]

It cost me $660 to get mine done by Darwin Landrover. The biggest tell tail in when you select a gear in the auto the letter will not display on the dash.


Since I have had mine done about 12 month ago no problems

The reason that the S & M light comes on is the auto and computer are not talking and it put the auto in to limp mod that what I was told any way

Hope this helps if I was you I would just bit the bullet and get it fixed because they can get it stuck in gear and that what happen when Landrover had mine they they got it stuck in gear and I had to wait 4 days to get a new one sent up

:D:D:D:D

[Slunnie]

The gear selection is still mechanical, the inhibitor switch just sits on the spigot that the selection lever connects to.

I would check the adjustment before changing it because it is such a fiddly thing and if its out of adjustment at all then it will give the exact same symptoms as a fails switch (eg dash not reading correct, limp mode, M&S lights etc.)

[ericn_3]

Hi,
Many thanks to everyone who replied to my post. I will follow the advice offered and I promise to let everyone know the outcome. Thank you all very much. All the very best,

Eric:D

[johnclv]

I had a similar prob with my POSh*t in cape york. It was the inhibitor switch or I think its called the XYZ sensor.

The display on my dash did not correlate with what gear I put it in.

I discovered that it was a plug just up from the sensor where the leads thats come out of the sensor plug into the wiring loom of the car.

I put both ends of the plug into a cup of coke to clean them all up and that solved my problem.

[Phil633]

Hi,

I have a 2000 TD5 Discovery diesel. Without warning the engine warning light came on and the M&S lights started flashing, I had no accelerator and the car adopted limp mode. By vigourously moving the gear lever (Automatic) I was able to clear the flashing lights and the car drove normally. Shortly, however, the problem came back. I believe the problem is a faulty starter inhibitor switch and these cost about $500 plus fitting. My question is are these switches repairable or can they only be completely replaced. Any ideas and or help would be appreciated.Thanks

I have had this problem twice now over the last month. The first time a simple shutdown and restart the engine fixed it.
Mine is also a 2000 TD5 Auto.

But yesterday was a different situation. No amount of restarting
would fix it. Using the Nanocom and clearing the faults did nothing either.

The list was

FAULT 02-07 Driver demand supply problem LOGGED
FAULT 02-08 Ambient pressure circuit LOGGED
FAULT 21-06 Problem detected with Driver demand LOGGED
FAULT 31-02 injector 2 open circuit LOGGED
FAULT 31-03 injector 3 open circuit LOGGED
FAULT 31-05 injector 5 open circuit LOGGED

We disconnected the battery for a couple minutes, then reconnected. After
engine restart no more Engine warning light. When selecting a gear the
M & S lights no longer flashed and the accelerator worked.

I took the Disco for a run and realised the engine was idling too fastat 930rpm. According to the Nanocom there was an idle error of 149. Nanocom also reported the air con clutched was engaged when was not, the cruise control was on when it wasn't and the trans mission was in low range when we were clearly in high range.

After another restart of the engine it is idling normally again. the items that
were incorrectly reported above are still the same, but I don't have the latest
patch on the Nanocom, so don't know if that is an issue or not.

I have checked for oil in the harness and all seems fine it is all dry.

This thread mentions the inhibitor switch and on another forum apparently the Driver demand problem is supposed to indicate the accelorator needs replacing.

From the above description and fault codes, does anyone have a clue to the true issue here?

[Scouse]

Battery condition is also critical.

It might start OK but if it drops below spec while cranking, it can trigger all sorts of seemingly unrelated faults.

[Phil633]

Battery condition is also critical.

It might start OK but if it drops below spec while cranking, it can trigger all sorts of seemingly unrelated faults.

Thanks Scouse,

That was something I was going to look into today, as the Nanocom was only reporting a voltage of 13.6 volts while running.

I wasn't sure if that voltage was supposed to be at the battery or the ECU.

Last week when trying to work out why the camper battery wasn't charging correctly we did find a bad earth from the main battery in the disco.

[bruiser69]

Hi,

I have a 2000 TD5 Discovery diesel. Without warning the engine warning light came on and the M&S lights started flashing, I had no accelerator and the car adopted limp mode. By vigourously moving the gear lever (Automatic) I was able to clear the flashing lights and the car drove normally. Shortly, however, the problem came back. I believe the problem is a faulty starter inhibitor switch and these cost about $500 plus fitting. My question is are these switches repairable or can they only be completely replaced. Any ideas and or help would be appreciated.Thanks

I have the same model & experienced the same lights after backing into a tree at about 20Km/hr. I know it sounds unbelievable, but we were staying on a friends property one Easter & the grass was so long you couldn,t get to the outside pit dunny. It was nearly dark but I decided to use vehicle to mow down the grass..didn't see the bloody tree did I:(
Next morning I removed neg lead from battery, waited 30 seconds & reconnected (have your tuner/cd code ready if LR orig). Lights were gone & never returned. Only damage was dent to bumper. Discos are pretty tough.
Cheers..B

[McDisco]

This M&S flashing light can also indicate a poor battery charge or stuffed battery. My brother in laws had this problem...replaced with a fresh battery...no problem!!

[DeanoH]

Check all of the previously mentioned things, especially the connector from the inhibitor switch. It sits directly under the aircon. drain on the passenger side which can cause problems. Our 2005 D2 has done 190,000 Km and is on its third inhibitor switch.
I've got the last one still on the workbench, I'll pull it apart tomorrow and see if there's a way to fix it. Wouldn't muck around though. If it fails it could leave you stuck with no gears at all.

Deano

[Phil633]

Voltage at the battery terminals 12.3V engine not running, 14.22V engine idling,
Tried to measure what it drops to while cranking, a bit hard as it starts straight away. briefly saw 10.9V.

Had an engine miss in it today, just briefly a couple of times, and now have a fuel leak from rear of engine, probably the fuel regulator again. I don't know if these symptoms are connected. I have to wait for the inhibitor switch to come from Sydney, and I am supposed to be taking the camper trailer down South Monday camping.

[Phil633]

OK an update on this.

I have found oil in the plug at the front of the head, for the engine harness. i didn't look there the other day only the red plug at the ECU which was fine.

Also the engine harness around the front of the engine had lost most of the convoluted tubing due to becoming brittle and the wires had rubbed/ melted the inulation off and were bare. This was near the lifting eye and the top of the air compressor.

Have cleaned up the plug and the wiring. took it for a run and seemed ok. Only time will tell.

The other day the Nanocom reported a voltage of 13.66 when the engine was running it now reports 14v.