Help me please. 95 Disco won't start.

[2rovers]

i've already searched discoweb to try to figure this out. this morning the disco wouldn't fire up. yesterday it was running fine. it seemed to me like it wasn't getting any gas and i couldn't hear the fuel pump start before trying to start the engine.

so i replaced the pump with an airtex from o'reilly. it went in like a charm. now i hear it start. the fuel pressure at the rail is just under 40 psi.

maybe i have an ignition problem? i don't really know what to try next.

thanks for the help.

 

[2rovers]

maybe it's the rotor? or ignition module?

 

[DISCODOWN]

check for spark.....

 

[piper109]

Even if you have a spark, check that it is a "really strong spark". The #1 culprits are rotor and distributor cap. Stay away from generics. The genuine Lucas are better.

Check for a spark using just the coil wire and a plug. If its weak, clean all the contacts for the coil and ignition module. If the spark there is fat and strong, replace the rotor.

 

[ozscott]

I agree that genunie Lucas is better....but only until you srap the whole lot and stick in a Bosch dizzy with a Bosch HEI Amp module...and then you get, for the first time, REAL spark and a vehicle that runs better than the day it came out of Solihull... But for now chances are that if its suddenly failed its the Lucas amp module or possibly, the pick up coil (plate with wires on it in the dizzy). But do the usual checks for spark...could of course be as simple as a shot coil.

Cheers

 

[2rovers]

thanks guys. i just got back into town. i was actually going to see if i got a spark the day before i left, but it had iced the night before and i couldn't get the hood open. i just found out that i broke the hood release cable in my vain attempts to get it open. so now i've got to fix that too. poop.

anyway, i live in iowa and it's snowing like crazy, so i think i'm going to wait til tomorrow to check everything out. i know that i have a bosch ignition coil in there now. it doesn't look too old, but i only bought the disco a year ago. i think it probably the distributor cap or rotor.

thanks for the help. i'll let you know when i get it running again.

 

[D Chapman]

Did the 95's have the Spider problem?

 

[t77911s]

I agree that genunie Lucas is better....but only until you srap the whole lot and stick in a Bosch dizzy with a Bosch HEI Amp module...and then you get, for the first time, REAL spark and a vehicle that runs better than the day it came out of Solihull... But for now chances are that if its suddenly failed its the Lucas amp module or possibly, the pick up coil (plate with wires on it in the dizzy). But do the usual checks for spark...could of course be as simple as a shot coil.

Cheers

Bosch? What model, application?

Tim

 

[kferg]

It could be that you flooded it since the new fuel pump trying to crank it My '95 has flooded in cold weather on two occasions. the only way I could get it to start was to pull the plugs, disconnect the fuel pump shutoff on the firewall and turn over the engine to clear the cylinders.

 

[laurenrover]

Hey, just found a fix for our engine flooded problem posted here:

http://www.discoweb.org/forums/showthread.php?t=44192&highlight=engine+flooded

Just had to pull the fuel pump fuse and start it. Replace the fuse when you get an idle.

 

[ozscott]

Gday Tim - I assume that you are in the US mate, so this might not be of much assistance. I run a Performance Ignitions' Scorcher dizzy - its machined up out of a Ford (Australia) 6 cylinder dizzy body and Holden (thats General Motor's Holden Australia) V8 internals, cap and button with a standard Australian Bosch HEI Amp module - all this stuff came out in the early 80s in Australia. I had a very similar set up in my 82 Holden Commodore (like an Opel in the UK). The motors themselves were never as well engineered as a rover v8 but the ignition systems were beyond compare.

Since installing the Schorcher in my 95 model Disco it has transformed the truck...its starting and running are consistent and consistently great; smooth and powerful and the best bit is that they dont do caps and buttons all the time - in fact 50,000 miles out of a button is not unexpected and you usually only replace the cap if you drop when replacing the button at 50,000 or so and your misses runs over it before you pick it up...

The vac advance is worth about $20. The HEI module lasts for literally years - where talking a normal 10 year life expectancy or longer and when it needs replacing your talking $40. Caps and buttons are cheap as chips also. You can get all the replacement kit anywhere.

Cheers

 

[ptschram]

Did the 95's have the Spider problem?

No, but they do have problems with water ingress to the alarm/CDL box that causes all manner of problems. I chased a no-crank problem on a client's truck. I thought it was a problem with the circuit from/to the neutral start switch... Two years later, when the horn began blowing randomly, I realized the error I'd made.

In this instance, my money's on rotor/cap/plugs/wires. It was fine and the weather got worse and it wouldn't start-yep, it's probably due to worn out ignition parts.

Cheers,
PT

 

[beemer]

Gday Tim - I assume that you are in the US mate, so this might not be of much assistance. I run a Performance Ignitions' Scorcher dizzy - its machined up out of a Ford (Australia) 6 cylinder dizzy body and Holden (thats General Motor's Holden Australia) V8 internals, cap and button with a standard Australian Bosch HEI Amp module - all this stuff came out in the early 80s in Australia. I had a very similar set up in my 82 Holden Commodore (like an Opel in the UK). The motors themselves were never as well engineered as a rover v8 but the ignition systems were beyond compare.

Since installing the Schorcher in my 95 model Disco it has transformed the truck...its starting and running are consistent and consistently great; smooth and powerful and the best bit is that they dont do caps and buttons all the time - in fact 50,000 miles out of a button is not unexpected and you usually only replace the cap if you drop when replacing the button at 50,000 or so and your misses runs over it before you pick it up...

The vac advance is worth about $20. The HEI module lasts for literally years - where talking a normal 10 year life expectancy or longer and when it needs replacing your talking $40. Caps and buttons are cheap as chips also. You can get all the replacement kit anywhere.

Cheers

I recall that Schorcher name as I purchased one of their remanufactured vacuum advance units. Paid $43 USD included shipping vs replacing a Rover unit every two years at $137 each. The Schorcher unit is softer and advances more than the smog units sold here in the USA. Enjoy your summer I have high 30 degree F here in the San Francisco bay area.

 

[ozscott]

Thanks Beemer - yep they are good kit and the machining work is excellent. It looks fast just sitting on the bench! I will enjoy summer mate. Here in sunny Queensland we normally have 30-40 degree C (Celcius!!), but this year she is in the low to mid 20s C which is amazingly cool weather. At the moment there is a low pressure and she is blowing 100+kph over the islands, so boating is out (the rover gets a towing reprieve for a week). Down in Melbourne and Adelaide - southern states - where it is normally mid 20s to 30 degrees this time of year its over 40 degrees C each day, so plenty of swimming going on there.

Cheers matey.

 

[2rovers]

well, i checked for a spark today. i bought a spare spark plug, pulled off a couple wires and checked them. they were sparking. i'm not sure how fat "fat" is but it seemed alright i guess, i'm not sure. i've read a few other posts about people who've had the same problem and they replace the cap anyway and it fires up. so i've just decided to replace the cap, rotor, wires, and plugs.

here's the thing though. a genuine cap and rotor is about $90! f that. i just bought the proline stuff from rovers north and it was 23 bucks. also, the proline wires were like 35 bucks so that's not bad either.

when the stuff comes in i'll let you know if my gamble paid off. i know people swear up and down by the lucas crap. even eric at rovers north said i should get the genuine, but dang! that's insane! we'll see. i might have to order the real deal lucas junk anyway.

 

[2rovers]

i put on the new cap and rotor. when i tried to start it, it kind of sputtered for the next couple tries. so i pulled the fuel pump fuse. then it fired right up. now it starts fine everytime.

coincidently, if anyone wants to buy it, check the for sale board. i traded in the freeloader on a suzuki grand vitara for my wife so we don't need the old disco anymore either (though i still love it).

i'll buy another one someday, either that or an old series.

 

[ptschram]

Sounds like leaky injectors.