Thread: Disco 1 v8 97 wont start/runs rough. Need help

Originally Posted by Tvaabel

I wish id be so good. Haha. I gotta look into getting that bosch one. I just cant believe that the new dizzie with coil and everything might do that. Its got a good spark and all new ignition parts. Btw accidentally threw old dizzie away. where could i get that bosch conversion or does anyone wants to do mine in gold coast for a bit of money and cold beers. And maybe have a look whats wrong with it. It was running so good and just stopped. Is there a way to diagnose sensors when the car is not running. Losing hope here

Lucas ignition amplifier replacement by Bosch 024

Thats the link for the bosch conversion, its quite simple to do.
Dont lose hope they are fairly basic once you learn them, i had the same problem after washing my engine, eventually ****ed with it enough to get it running.

It was running fine before your dissy died so it shouldn't be anything else other than timing/spark

If you are getting a good spark thats a start, are you sure that it is timed right?
Give the Harmonic balancer a good clean and find your timing marks, the little notch on the HB is NOT TDC I thought was at first.
You may have it timed on the exhaust cycle not the compression cycle, if thats the case you may need to turn the dissy 180°

One more thing the sparkplugs seem to be getting super wet when we wanna start it. And later pull them off. Smells of petrol. And when my mate was pulsing the negative wire off the coil it started up otherwise it didn't seem to even fire. Like the injectors are constantly on . Or maybe our ignition is totally wrong. But at the same time we got it running like this. Im going there tomorrow agin and trying to get some sense into it.

Ill check the timing again. Maybe it is 180

Heres the link to my thread when i had issues, theres some good info from other people on it.
Chasing a demon, D1 v8 won't start

Originally Posted by LRJim

Heres the link to my thread when i had issues, theres some good info from other people on it.
Chasing a demon, D1 v8 won't start

Do you think that because it has a high output coil it might play up too. Its got a spark and everything :/

I doubt it, not my forte though Bee utey dosnt seem to be around the last couple of days hes the ignition man! There is a thread or 2 about using Bosch MEC717 and a few others so i really doubt its the coil.
I honestly reckon your timings off, your getting good spark and are saying you plugs have fuel on them. Pull the plugs and give them a clean so the dont die.

From that thread if you havnt read it yet.

"And don't forget to set TDC by first principles, remove no.1 plug, feel for the piston crown, check the timing marks, then blow into the plug hole with a short length of rubber hose. Either side of TDC on the firing stroke the valves will be closed and no air will be able to be blown in by mouth. Fit the distributor so that the rotor button points to no.1 lead"

Originally Posted by Tvaabel

My mate is a pretty good mechanic he knows how to time it he marked everything he recons we are right on 8 degree mark. He just hasnt worked with these cars. Maybe he got something wrong but i doubt it.

Just another guess, when you install the dissy, the rotor arm turns so you have to turn the dissy back so the rotor arm is pointing at lead 1. Did your mate check that the arm was pointing at lead 1?

its flooding and the phasing may be off.

first check the spark sequence pull the plugs, set the pump well before 1 should be TDC and firing then turn the crank slowly with your thumb on the plug hole, when it makes compression and the timing mark hits the 12 deg btdc mark, check the alignment of the dizzy arm, regardless of anything else this is now #1 firings position. now move to the next 45 degrees on the housing and the next pot in line, turn the crank slowly with your finger in that pots plug hole. that one should still work, but the 3rd one, if you dont get a little compressed air and got some suction, you used the wrong sequence to lable the pots and tried to do it 1234 down the left bank and 5678 down the right (or vice versa) when the landy is setup 1357 and 2468 left and right (double check that it might be right left, its been a while since I had to do a V8)

YouTube

if that doesnt work, its dumping the fuel in.

1. check the injectors are getting a pulsed signal when you try to start, no pulse means the injectors are wide open.

2. check that you havent left the vac line off to the FPR, if its off the fuel pressure in the rail will be up near whatever the max pressure the fuel pump can push out, if its got the wrong aftermarket pump in it that can mean that the injectors stick open.

3. check you dont have a restriced air flow, if the air filter has collapsed or youve got a rag on the intake (yes it has, dont ask, I've even had a SIII digest and then spit burnt rag out the exhaust)

this stuffs easy... if you can mount and unmount the dizzy and drive a multimeter with a fequency counter you can get this done.

if you cant, ask more questions, we'll fill you in.

if you get desperate enough, flick me a message, I'll give you a phone number to call.