Thread: Disco newbie - poor economy, water aversion, where's the power?

Haha well first off sounds like a cool challenge, and if you got a V8 '96 Disco for $3000 then I'd probably expect a couple of things to be not quite right with it

Others will be a lot more help than me, but I'll say that the V8 economy does kind of suck but if you run it on premium it will improve it...it is a 2.7tonne car though. Also the problem with it coughing when it gets anywhere near water sounds like something I used to get on my old V8 289 Ford and I'm pretty sure that was an electrical thing...water gets on electrics and it just coughed and spluttered until it dried up, but whenever it rained overnight I'd take it to work in the morning and it would do that until the engine warmed up and it dried off the moisture.

It should pull away decent from low revs being a V8, they are pretty gutsy, I'd be checking your plugs and leads and making sure they're all in good health. Run a timing light over it too to check that. I'd start with the ignition stuff anyway but I'm sure someone else will have a better idea than me.

Good luck on the challenge, sounds awesome!

Oh and yeah, they leak, get lots of cardboard on your driveway and get used to it is pretty much the thing to do I too would like to know how to stop my leaks but I think they come with the territory.

Economy is a dirty word. Best I can get is about 25l/100km on highway, offroad was way over 30l/100km, mostly high range, some low range, some soft sand.

As would be expected with a sub 3k car there sounds to be lots wrong with it.
First I would check the injection.
The first place is to check the ECU temperature sensor which should read 300 ohms when hot. This tells the ECU to take off the choke. It is located on the front top of the inlet manifoldand has an injector plug.

New plugs, leads and dizzy cap nd rotor will enhance its performance in water. Mine runs fine in 700MM water crossings with no preparation.
seeing you only bought it for a challenge maybe just drive it. It can take months to sort out the problems of an old car.
Regards Philip A

G'day there Stripedtomato........
It appears we have something in common, I too bought a '96 Disco V8i for $3K and yes it has a few faults.......I thought it underpowered too.
My Disco was also down on power despite the previous owner fitting all new Bosch spark leads, new plugs, Lucas distributor cap & rotor button plus MAF sensor and a 'tune up' all done by a LR specialist. It developed a 'tick' which got worse after an oilchange I did then progressed into an engine miss.
Turns out a hydraulic lifter died, and my cam & timing chain were very worn. Odometer shows 260,000km and I'm told cams don't normally last that long. Maybe yours is on the way out? Just a thought.

That fuel usage is about what I was getting with the worn cam etc so it should improve with the new parts that have gone in. I have had no issues with water though. How many kays has yours done?

Cheers Will.

to enjoy your cheap purchase challenge drive to cape york,
just get it serviced by rick at nerang,

ricks 4wd nerang - that should sort out the problems with the car.

and i i own a v8 disco about your age,
it's not hard to leave most cars for dead from the lights,
so your may well benefit from a tune up.

it will perform even less when you hook up the tandem trailer loaded with petrol heading to cape york, they drink the fuel.
Also it's not a big V8, it's only 3.9 litre pulling a couple tonne of vehicle.
I wouldn't do it in a substandard condition vehicle. sub 3 grand, it'll cost more to get it towed back

stick that, swing it my way, its a budget challange...

you can borrow fozzy, loves the water...


ok so if you're not quite that psycotic I'll give you a hand with it.

Not sure what you expected for sub $3k??

Thats the price for a diff locker and you want a car to do the Cape for same money?

Will run through the ignition side of things and had planned to replace cap, rotor etc. before we head off, along with hoses and belts. Might give Rick a call, I'm sometimes down Nerang way, unless there are any recommended workshops closer to Brisbane for servicing/tuning the LR V8??

Car has done just over 200,000k's, and yes I expected some issues with a sub $3k car, but I'm hoping for less issues than the guy who just bought an old LR ute for $400

Cheers

Steve