Thread: New member with a new Disco

Clean stepper and MAF, check TPS setting and maybe reset base idle.


Regulator hose should see manifold vacuum, which should be high at idle. Having this off would have an effect on idle as well.

Originally Posted by Rick1970

Clean stepper and MAF, check TPS setting and maybe reset base idle.


Regulator hose should see manifold vacuum, which should be high at idle. Having this off would have an effect on idle as well.

Hose is in the nipple with the vacuum, I'll up the idle again, but it already is around 800rpm. I'll keep poking around till something is found.

Disconnect and block hose to the IAC (stepper), then set base idle. 600rpm rings a bell, but best to check the exact setting. Dirty stepper and/or MAF seems to be the main culprit of idle problems tho......

Idle is now sorted. Didn't have any issues with idle today. Went out through some very deep water and mud. Had a ball. Rescued twice. Rescued a mate four times, and he self recovered once. I got bogged/stuck on my diffs in water that was just below my window. So, had to escape via the window and throw my snatch strap to my mate to quickly yank me back out as the foot well began to take on water. Only about an inch came in so I've pulled the carpet and will let it dry. Having good mud tyres and the locked diff makes life so much easier.

Toward the end of the day I was having weird non revving issues. In reverse and neutral the car would rev freely, but when i put it in any forward gear the car would have problems revving past ~1750rpm, which I really needed! I managed to work my way through the mud and water by rocking from reverse to drive, and then it pretty much sorted itself out. But it was the worse possible time for it to choose to not give me any power for about 2 minutes. It would get to the 1750ish rpm, then just bog. Once I managed to get it past it would slowly pick up revs to about 3000rpm and then rev up quickly. In reverse though, no dramas, neutral and park too. It took maybe 6-8 attempts before it would even pass the seemingly imposed 1750 bogging mess though. Car feels maybe a tad down on power, so I'll check over plugs, leads and timing tomorrow to see what is happening.

Timing is fine 11ish degrees. Seems to like it there far more than it does 8 or 10. Not sure if I should dial it in even a few degrees more.

Pulled plugs and they are now very black. So, since I reattached the fuel pressure regulator in about 200km my plugs are now over rich. Can't win!

Resistance through the leads in order of 1-8 in 1000s of ohms:
2.90, 3.82, 3.14, 4.50, 2.97, 3.90, 3.99 and 12.5.
So number 8s lead appears to be knackered. Only replacement I have that was that long was 11.0, so only slightly better. The others are all a different type of lead to number 8, and my replacements are the same type as number 8. So my guess is my replacement leads (which came off a wreck) are all bad.

From coil to dizzy, 4.0. I swapped the ends of that lead around as they fit a bit better.

On first start the car started really quickly was was a bit unusual. My car is also having the fans run all the time now. So a problem in my thermostat at a guess there. ALSO! My alternator is rattling slightly now, maybe from the pulley, unsure really. So I re cleaned my engine bay and it is slightly better. I guess a bit of dirt/mud/sand has gotten in there from the weekend. Hopefully it doesn't do any damage.

So, my issues now are how to lean the car out, without just having the fuel reg to air and not connecting it, giving me a vacuum leak. And trying to source a single plug lead to replace the dead ones. Finding a fix to my alternator rattle would be good too.

Edit: Appears that depending on the core of my leads the 'bad' one may actually be alright, I'll have to look into it. However, I'd guess that having them all the same would be a better idea. I don't imagine the mighty v8 is a high voltage system so the less resistance the better.

Some what Eureka! moment this arvo. Alternator is still giving 14V so, that's alright, thinking it is probably the idler puller underneath the alternator that is groaning. Have to look into it on the weekend.

I continued to look into the rich and rough running. Some really basic idiot checks seemed to have solved some of my issues. On first start the car was pretty rough, almost definetly on 7/8 cylinders. Plus rich, exhaust smelt of fuel fairly badly. So, I began pulling leads off one at a time. Some made more difference than others, but when number 8 being the most forward lead came off a bit of water came out with it! Appears that the large number of water crossings and engine gernys I've given the car has pushed a bit of water and slowly corroded the cap. So, some wd40 and a bit of a sanding and presto. Car was running on what seemed like 9/8 cylinders. Idle is now up even more, revs nicer and everything. Free power gains!

I think I'll grab some grease on the weekend and stick a bit under each boot to seal it up properly and save me some heart ache in the future. I imagine this may help my 'rich' condition as the plugs would have been weak sparking. So, I'll check in another 200km.

Lesson learnt - pays to go back to basics!

I got an early knock off from work on Friday, and a mate happened to be up from Tindal as he is leaving the NT for NSW so I took him out in my Disco, and put his car on the side of the road to act as a recovery vehicle.

Was great. Disco is running well. My mate was laughing at how well my car would just drive through everything. He would say 'you can't get through that!' then laugh as the disco just waded through all of the mud and water.

The knobby mud tyres are so good, plus the rear end makes life so much better.

Couple of pics of being stuck in some ultra slick mud. Diffs were hitting the center rut and was dragging me down, and after letting the tyres down to 10psi I managed to work my way out... backwards.







Shallow wading, the base was super soft.


This was awesome. The rear hooked up and span me around pretty much on the spot. Which was what I wanted anyway. A video would have been great, as the car pretty much pivoted on the spot.

Got sick of having the car gradually run out of power due to it developing a miss on 8 as the dizzy would take on a bit of water because the lead wouldn't seal correctly.

So I bought a new lead and it also the same as the others, at 4.7k ohms resistance. Which is 1/3 of the resistance the lead that came off had, and lines it up with all of the others. I also run a bead of grease along the bottom of the leads and dizzy to stop water getting in, and the lead from coil to dizzy as well.

Took the serpentine belt off to find out what the 'bearing full of sand' noise was coming from. Couldn't find a culprit. All bearings spin fine, aircon is a bit clunky, but not in the sense it would make the noise I'm hearing. Idler spins really well. Really well. So, I'm back to thinkin it is the alternator, but while it is still making 13.9V at idle, I'll leave it, unless someone can tell me how to pull it apart to clean it?