Thread: Failed to start and water filled glove box

On the first - if you lift the bonnet and at the top of the firewall on the passenger side there is a drain that can be blocked and the water can find its way inside through the air intake. Alternative when driving reasonably fast in very heavy rain - the rain can also force its way into the air intake - never got it in the glovebox but used to drip out the heater demister - thought it was a blocked A/C drain or a leaky heater matrix until I sussed what was actually happening.

Garry

Originally Posted by TooQik

Evening all.

After owning my 97 Disco V8i Auto for a few months now, I've struck two minor issues that I'm hoping the wealth of experience in these forums can assist with.

Firstly, when it rains my glove box is filling up with water. The first time this occurred was during the massive hail storm that hit Melbourne. I thought that this may have been a once off but it's since filled again twice. This is obviously not related to the air conditioner leak that can occur in this model as water doesn't flow uphill. Can anyone point me in the direction of any common leak points - I'm assuming it's somewhere around the front windscreen.

Secondly, today after towing a friends car with the Disco and parking up briefly, the Disco refused to start. All the usual dash lights came on but the vehicle would not turn over. I also noticed that the brake pedal didn't kick like normal when the ignition switch was turned to the ON position. I let it sit for about 5 minutes before trying again with the same result. Allowing it to sit for a further 5 - 10 minutes and the Disco turned over and started as normal. It this a sign of an ageing starter motor? Heat related? Or something else entirely?

Look forward to any assistance anyone can offer on these issues.

Cheers,
Chris.

It is always worth checking starter motor terminals for clean & tight condition, and also fit a starter relay wired to take power direct from the battery. A cheat starter button can also be wired under the dash to bypass any pesky electronics in an emergency.

Thank you garrycol and bee utey for your replies.

After the little storm we had on Tuesday night I've managed to work out where the water is coming from. The top left portion of the roof lining was saturated with water, dripping down onto the top of the dash and then running down into the glovebox. I had a closer look at the windscreen seal and there are a couple of gaps where the corner has lifted and water is getting in. Time to break out the silastic.

Still not convinced the failing to start was purely a starter motor issue, mainly because of the lack of brake pedal kick when I turned the ignition, but the tip to rewire the starter is definitely a handy one.

Cheers.

we had the same problem with our car the starting problem that is,i cant remember what it was i think it was the starter motor or wether it was just a loose wire

With engine not running there is no vacuum help in the brake pedal. Could be this what you described?

If the trouble is from the electric circuit(Spider module mainly), this paralell solution can damage the spider PCB.
Please read The Definitive Alarm Spider Post - LR4x4 - The Land Rover Forum

Regards from Argentina

Many thanks for the link.

After having a good read, the symptoms that I've experienced do seem to be very similar to those described as being caused by the Spider PCB. Time to grab the screwdriver and soldering iron and do some more investigation under the dash.

The actual brake pedal kick I'm refering to is nothing to do with pedal feel caused by vacuum (or lack of). To me it feels like the brake circuit is being primed by something electrical when you turn the igniton switch to the ON position. Each time the Disco hasn't started this brake pedal kick is not felt so it's obviously related. It's now happened to me on two seperate occassions, with the second occassion being the one I described in my original post below.

Anyhow, I'll take a look at the Spider and see what I can find.