Thread: 99 V8 Disco 1 - So over it. Won't run.

Originally Posted by gavin_122

I don't know If I should make a new post but I am having this exact problem and it is driving me beeping crazy and hunter and cuthill appear to be nice blokes but if only they could fix it without re mortgaging my house.
97 disco v8
I tested parts for months with no luck so I passed it onto them. They have replaced the engine ecu, coil, amp. Leads, plugs.

The original issue was you could drive for an hour or so and the car would start chugging coughing then die and refuse to restart. Leave it for a few hours come back and your good for another hour. Since they changed the ecu it will randomly die hot or stone cold. If I cold start and it's running terrible, give up and walk as it will stop in 5 and won't start for hours.

I read above to change the temp sensor ?
Please help before my wife says it's go to go.

It sounds more likely to be an elderly fuel pump or melting connector plugs to said pump in the loom to the petrol tank. If hitting the fuel tank with a lump of wood gets it going it's almost certainly the pump.

Just my 2 cents worth.

If it coughs and splutters before stopping then I'd be leaning to a fuel supply issue as well. I would have expected that you may be able to restart the car though almost straight away unless there was water in the fuel. Not being able to restart the car for an hour or two sounds like it could have been that the coil has overheated but you mentioned that they have replaced the coil and leads. So back to the fuel supply.

Is there or has there been water in the fuel tank at any time? Does it stall down hill, uphill, or any event that may get the fuel moving around in the tank?

I'd be looking at the pump and inspecting the contents of the fuel tank. The other thing is earthing - look for faulty connections around the fuel supply electricals.

I had an issue like this on my 91RRC.
Would go fine for a while then gradually take less and less accelerator.

After I had flushed the tank, and it made no difference, I pulled out all my gear( in Mataranka) to change the fuel pump for a spare.

I had replaced the fuel pump at the start of the trip in Sydney with a Bosch.
I swapped back to the original fuel pump, and just by coincidence later looked at the new Bosch.
The inlet was stuffed with a cotton type material, which I think was filter material from E10 pumps in NSW. Every time I stopped it would fall out of the inlet and then gradually get sucked back in.

The reason that it could stuff up the inlet was that there was a tiny tear in the nylon coarse sock filter.
Regards Philip A

The pump was replaced 12 months ago. I am thinking of pulling it out for inspection. If I crank the car for 5 minutes it end up flooding it as well.

Just a little note for peoples to think about. If you hold on to the fuel lines running to the injector rail under the bonnet it is pulsing every half a second sort of like a creepy crawly. Is this normal ?

Originally Posted by gavin_122

Just a little note for peoples to think about. If you hold on to the fuel lines running to the injector rail under the bonnet it is pulsing every half a second sort of like a creepy crawly. Is this normal ?

That sounds like a failed fuel pressure regulator. Find the short little vacuum hose that connects the regulator to the back of the inlet manifold. Pull it off the regulator and see if petrol dribbles out of the regulator. I've replaced a few in my time for that reason.

I had a similar issue for 18 months, did my head in.
A $25 Engine coolant temperature sender unit was playing havoc with the fueling as the engine came up to temperature.
When you get the replacement part get the Britpart unit as there was a faulty batch of Lucas units where the upper plastic part would spin and therefore not tension up properly.
Cheers,
Lee

Just to let everyone know what resolved my issue of the car randomly stopping.
I pulled the fuel pump out to inspect inside the tank for water, dirt etc and the black wire from the fuel pump was not plugged in at all. It will run without it plugged it but I'm guessing it was earthing through the tank ? Aftermarket metal tank. Anyhow I've squashed all the terminals and plugged them all in firmly and the car has been running none stop. After spending thousands at the mechanic and all it was , was a single wire. The car is shuddering ever so slightly on light acceleration which is weird ??
Thanks for everyone's ideas