Thread: Disco1 v8 strange power steering loss and back

Originally Posted by disconc

Hello fellow LR owners,

I have a good one to tell and looking forward to receiving some ideas before I can take time to look into it.

Last night, my wife was driving our 1998 Disco 1 V8 3.9 auto, when crossing a big puddle of water, she briefly saw the battery warning light flash... then nothing further.

Still driving about 1h later, car was behaving nicely, and suddenly as she was exiting a round-about, she lost the power steering and had the battery and oil pressure warning lights on.

She managed to pull over on the side of the road and called me.

According to her (wish I could have been there to see things by myself), the engine was idling fine, no different noise from usual, yet the 2 warning lights were on and no power steering.

When she called me, telling the above, I though the serpentine drive belt might have gone south, so told her to switch off, as if this was the case, there would not have been water pump anymore... and I went to meet her.

I arrived about 30 mn later, opened hood, and found nothing or everything...
=> drive belt was were it should be
=> no apparent signs (by night) of tear or contamination by any fluid
=> no leaks under the engine
=> fluid levels were fine

I told her to start the car : everything was fine, no more warning lights, power steering back... Damn'it those kind of problems that disappear.

I drove myself the car back home, in case it would happen again, 30 mn trip, 6 round-abouts, a bit of highway, a winding road... running smooth as silk !!

So my problem now is that something had happened, and I want to know what to be able to fix it and prevent any further problem like loosing power steering on a mountain pass road !!!

It was late last night and it is not a daily driver, so will look into it hopefully on the weekend, but now looking for some ideas.

Here are my thoughts :
=> no power steering and battery light on => looking for something around serpentine drive belt
=> remove the belt and inspect it, maybe even replace it
=> check the automatic belt tensioner (but last night, the marks on it were not aligned, so I believe the belt tension is fine)
=> check every pulley to see if any play other than rotation
=> check for any leaks : coolant, steering ??

Yet, I still do not get why the engine oil light was also on... as the oil pump is crank driven, not by the belt.

Also, if the belt was slipping to the point of battery light on, no power steering, yet engine idling steadily with headlights and AC on... it should have made some noise, or smelt burnt rubber but my wife said apart what described, no other different noise !?!

If you gents please have any idea of what happened and what I could have a look at to try and fine the culprit, that would be great !

Many thanks in advance for your help

Best regards from New Caledonia

Erik

It really sounds like it stalled exiting the roundabout, ask your wife if she can remember what the tacho was reading when she said it was idling . in other words , disconc........ked out ::-)

Hi Dave,

thanks for your answer.
I see what you mean, but that sounds weird to have at the exact same time the alternator bushes off and the pas relief valve sticking ?

Now, don't shoot me, but honestly, these circuits might not have been serviced recently, and I do not even know what to do or look for...

1. When was the last time you checked and cleaned the alternator.
=> never ?
=> do you have any documentation/procedure on what to do and what to clean ??
on my previous tdi300 I had an alternator with a dead bearing but failed to manage to disassemble it...

2. When was your last power steering flush
=> never by myself ??
=> do you have any documentation/procedure on how to do this ?
Well, when the engine was completely overhauled 7 years ago (the car just passed 20 years old now), the PAS circuit has been opened and emptied when the engine was removed from the car ... so that might count ? only about 10 000 km done since then...

Thanks for your help

Cheers

Erik.

Originally Posted by discorevy

It really sounds like it stalled exiting the roundabout, ask your wife if she can remember what the tacho was reading when she said it was idling . in other words , disconc........ked out ::-)

Hi Discorevy,

come on, I have already asked her several time the same exact question, as an engine stall would have explained all the symptoms, but she is definitely affirmative, the engine never stalled or stumbled when all this happened !!!
If I ask her another time, she is gone shoot me !

Thanks for your help anyway

Cheers

Erik

OK , fair enough, the only other thing is the IAC ( stepper motor that controls idle speed ) could've temporarily malfunctioned causing an idle speed low enough to bring on the ign and oil lights also not giving enough steering assist, try cleaning it with maf or contact cleaner.

Hi Discorevy,
apart from this strange event, the engine always idle smoothly, even after this.
My wife tells me that she really had not felt the engine going so slow it would to this, and when she stopped on the side of the road, the engine was idling smoothly, yet the lights were still on and the steering stiff...
I doubt it could be the IAC, but it never hurts to give it a little cleaning

Hopefully, the weekend is coming, so I will take some time to try and check all what's been covered since the beginning of this thread and will report

Thnks

Have a nic weekend

Cheers

Erik

You know the PO of my TD5 described these exact symptoms to a mechanic who spent $600 worth of labour trying to find the fault.
As I was driving the car home from buying it, the same happened to me, the dash lit up, no power steering, oil light on.
THE ENGINE HAD STOPPED, because the negative terminal of the battery had a bad connection from the stupid vertical terminal.

I know you have a V8 , but have you thought of that possibility?
Regards Philip A

To be honest, I wouldn't trust my wife to be able to tell that the engine had stalled or not, unless she then stuck her foot on the accelerator and drove forwards from stationary without restarting it. Surrounding traffic noise, heater fan, no tacho, how would she know? People report all sorts of things when they get flustered. Also, auto/manual box behaviour differs.

The only problem with the stalling/low revving engine issue is the underlined section of the OP's quoted text:

Originally Posted by disconc

....

Last night, my wife was driving our 1998 Disco 1 V8 3.9 auto, when crossing a big puddle of water, she briefly saw the battery warning light flash... then nothing further.

Still driving about 1h later, car was behaving nicely, and suddenly as she was exiting a round-about, she lost the power steering and had the battery and oil pressure warning lights on.

She managed to pull over on the side of the road and called me.

According to her (wish I could have been there to see things by myself), the engine was idling fine, no different noise from usual, yet the 2 warning lights were on and no power steering.

.....

I guess the wife in this situation would have to be questioned as to what constitutes "engine was idling fine"? 600RPM, 700RPM? .. etc.
That is, did she take notice of the idle speed? .. or just rely on the fact that the engine didn't stall?

Not being sexist here, but most women aren't very mechanically minded .. and there is the possibility that the engine was idling slowly(eg. 500RPM) and that she could have mistook that the engine was still idling as 'idling fine'.

I know New Caledonia is in the tropics(sorry never been there) .. so can we assume that the aircon was running at the time?
How does turning the A/C on and off affect the engines idling?

ps. actually I am going to be sexist here. A few months ago, my dad told me of a recent episode he had with my sis. Sis has a Rav 4, dad in the front passengers seat, could hear a clacking noise. Sis said it's just normal. Mind you dad is quite hard of hearing!
Anyhow, he noticed that a red light was on the dash, sis reckons it was normal. A day or so later, car dies. overheated, no power and wont start.
Turned out that the belt tensioner was totally knackered .. and has to be amongst the most painful jobs to remove/refit.
Helped brother in law remove it .. and I made for the hills as quickly as I could, before the new tensioner came!