rough idle, arching behind the engine

[Denisk]

Hey guys, just wanted to run this by you all: just drove my 01 Disco, SES light came on flashing, noticed the rough idle and shaky running of the engine. Popped the hood and heard "extra" ticks, it is dark out, so I looked closer and saw sparkles near the firewall behind the engine, driver side. The wires and sparks were replaced recently (some 12K miles ago or so) with OEM or better wires by a trusted indy Rover shop I in MD. Could this be something worse than one of the sparkplug wires coming loose behind the engine? I hit a sharp speed bump just before it all happened pretty hard.
Thanks to all in advance, I am worried as I am in OBX now, some 300 miles away from home.

 

[mbrummal]

make sure one of the plug wires didn't come off of the coil pack.

 

[Denisk]

make sure one of the plug wires didn't come off of the coil pack.

thats right on! Thank you! It is #4 thats hanging. As some may know, its a real PAIN to get to that spot and I spent all morning trying to put the darn thing back in place.... to no avail. I will keep trying but worst comes to worst, is it safe to drive it on 7 cylinders?

 

[DiscoArt]

thats right on! Thank you! It is #4 thats hanging. As some may know, its a real PAIN to get to that spot and I spent all morning trying to put the darn thing back in place.... to no avail. I will keep trying but worst comes to worst, is it safe to drive it on 7 cylinders?

No, don't drive it. You'll burn up the cats.

 

[mastercamper]

I had to lay on top of the motor and shove my hand in there to get them on, not so hard once you've done it once.

 

[Denisk]

No, don't drive it. You'll burn up the cats.

Thank you guys. Having studied all day the multiple positions that this engine could be laid upon, I finally managed to squeeze the plug back into the lower row where it belongs. What saved me is that I pulled a wire from an upper row above, this gave me just enough room to maneuver the bastard back in.

Whoever decided to place coil packs back there has to be beaten with a stick. I mean, just what was the thought process behind? How to make the owners as miserable as possible??

There is a pretty good writeup with pictures that helps (found a link on this forum):
http://landroverforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9657

 

[Bosbefok]

Some bright spark thought of that no doubt. It must be the same dude who thought that using a 3" bolt in the back of the left head is a good idea.