By ag184 on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 01:26 pm: Edit

We just bought our first Disco. '98 series 1 that just turned 60k miles. On the way home from the gas station, it ran like shit, "mis-firing" coming up the driveway. I immediately thought bad gas and had it towed to the dealer. Dealer said the gas is fine, but we have a bent valve - could run upwards of $2,000 to fix? Is this common? I heard series 1's will need a valve adjustment, but bending a valve? Any help is appreciated. If this is the case it will be our first and last Disco.... ag in Michigan

By Danno on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 01:36 pm: Edit

there was an issue with the V8's and the valve's, but i don't recall what it was.

i would say, check the sparkplug wires, it's a common problem. see if the wires are arcing somewhere by using a fine mist of water from a spray bottle. you have to do this in the dark with the engine running. you should see little sparks jumping from the wire to metal engine parts.

wires that alot of people upgrade to are Magnecor's
i use the 8mm set.

Danno

By John T on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 01:48 pm: Edit

I can believe that it is a bent valve - the engine is famous for carbon buildup on the valve stem, which causes the valve to stick open, and can result in it being hit by a piston and bending.

My disco is having it's second valve job done at 78K miles, so I'm particularly sensitive to this problem right now.

By Karen Jones on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 03:20 pm: Edit

ag,

Are you under absolutely no warrenty? Seems like they should have given you at least 12 months/10,000 miles or something.....Hope you get things resolved.

Karen

By gil on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 07:20 pm: Edit

did you buy it certified from a centre??

By chrisvonc on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 04:11 am: Edit

A few questions:
1)Did it run that way at the dealership when you test drove it?
2)Did you buy it "AS-IS" or did it come with at least a 30 day warranty?

If it has the 30 day, then it should be up to the dealer to eat that repair. If you bought it as is, then you could be out of luck.

By Eric N (Grnrvr) on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 04:20 am: Edit

Would useing fuel injector cleaner and the like in your gas help to avoid this problem? Or what can be done to help keep it from happening. I would be interested to see what gas people that have this problem are using reg vs. super.. I know that it is to late for the person that started this thread but, for the rest of us it could help.

By Alex Schubow (Alex) on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 01:05 pm: Edit

A top end engine cleaner like BG44K or LR's own stuff every few K miles couldn't hurt. But the best way to keep carbon out of the engine is to drive it like you mean it. If you baby these engines, they will hate you for it. Get those RPMs to the right side of the tach often and your chances should improve. (98 Disco with 80K miles on orignal valves, knock on wood)

Alex

By ag184 on Wednesday, August 29, 2001 - 05:23 pm: Edit

Thanks to all for the postings - after lengthy discussions with the mechanic it is a bent valve. Is true as indicated above, heavy carbon on the valve stem caused it to stick open, ultra coincidental that it happened when I shut off to refuel. Bottomline is - $1200 for parts (new heads (with new valve design) on both sides of V - might as well do them all while we are in there. And $1300 labor. A tough $2500 dollar lesson. Per the mechanic "run the additive fuel and valve cleaner". I personally saw (2) Series 2's in the shop for valve cleaning only 15 - 20k miles. However, lucky bastards theirs were under warranty. Good luck.

By bobgould on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 04:21 pm: Edit

I just had the exact same problem with my '96 disco. I stopped to refuel with 93 octane and it began acting up less than 10 miles from the gas station. It started to stumble under aceleration, cleared up enough for me to get up to 58-60 mph and then began to surge. Over the phone,the dealer said that it was definitely the valves. He said the the cost for that repair is $2,800 (guess you got a deal..HA HA). Nevertheless, it cleared up and has only done it twice in the last couple of days. I just got this darn thing LAST WEEK! I bought it AS IS from a dealer. I just bought someone elses problem and made it my own. I will take it next week to the shop and find out for sure what the problem is. I truly hope it is not the valves. Wonder if it's too late for valve cleaner...

By Eric N (Grnrvr) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Can't hurt to try some cleaner. If it works great of it doesn't then you are really no worse off then you were before. Just out a few bucks instead of a few thousand.

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 05:40 pm: Edit

Top end cleaner as Alex suggested. Just be carefull with it and dont give it big gulps. Your cats dont like it much..


Kyle

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 06:01 pm: Edit

Are you talking about something like Marvel Mystery Oil, or is this something else entirely different?

Is it an oil additive? Or a gas additive? Or both?

Since you can't pour it down the carb the way I use Marvel on other valve problems I've had with other vehicles, is ther a way to get it directly to the valves? Are you pouring it in through the spark-plug holes?

I need details!!!

I think I might be suffering from some carbon build-up, but not as bad as a bent valve yet.... so I'm hoping a lot of cleaner and a heavier foot for a couple of weeks will help keep me from having to tear into this engine.....

-L

By Robert Mann (Oldscout) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 06:23 pm: Edit

I have had good results with a product called Sea Foam carbon cleaner.

Here are a few pages of info:
http://www.bluemoongear.com/JeffSeaFoam.htm

http://w3.one.net/~roz/cars/z28/seafoam.html

By Alex Schubow (Alex) on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 07:29 pm: Edit

BG44K is the shit to use. LR sells something too, may even be the same. Pour one can in an empty gas tank, top off with about 10 gal of gas, and drive it to redline in every gear til empty.

Also, be advised that a faulty speed sensor can cause the exact same symptoms. I would definitely replace that bit before shelling out for a valve job.

Alex

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 02:37 am: Edit

I've heard of SeaFoam, and was thinking that it was the same as Marvel, but it may not be...

Hadn't heard of BG44K... (though that doesn't mean much, whether I've heard of it or not... if it works, it works).

It's almost time for an oil change anyway.... Got a weekend project, I suppose!

-L

By troilus on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 03:32 am: Edit

there are many things that can cause the engine to run rough. the last time the dealer diag was valves it was the oxygen sensor giving bad info to the ecu. i think that they (lr) have made a lot of $$ with unnessary valve jobs. the cleaners will work but i have never had to use them. use good gas, i don't think the octane is as important as the additives the the majors use.

my two bits. also find a good mechanic for second openions. i use a race car guy. they tend to be very picky. 96 disco 110k no valve job.

By warner@vnet.net on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 09:19 am: Edit

Excellent. Thanks for the advice. I'll try the carbon cleaner and then I'll enlist the "drive it like you stole it" theory every now and then. If that doesn't get it I'll get someone to look at the thing and see if it is the O2 sensor. I need to get the "check engine" light extinguished anyway. It's kind of embarrasing for people to see that especially since I just bought it. I need a LR mechanic in the Charlotte, NC area. Any suggestions?

By troilus on Friday, August 31, 2001 - 12:52 pm: Edit

anyone with an obd II computer can read the codes and reset the light. another time i had a "valve" problem it was the thermostat. look for a "ase" certified mechanic with some euro cars on the lot.

By warner@vnet.net on Sunday, September 02, 2001 - 06:29 pm: Edit

thanks for the post

By Mike B. on Sunday, September 02, 2001 - 06:57 pm: Edit

What about trying Resoline? It is an oil additive that is designed to break up carbon deposits on the valves.

Based on a post from Nathan Crabtree, I've added to my daily driver (not a LR) and will add it to my Rover soon. It only costs slightly more than a quart of oil and you can get it at Walmart.

Thanks,
Mike B.

By Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) on Monday, September 03, 2001 - 07:56 am: Edit

The 'miss' I had was intermittent... it would start running a bit rough, then straighten back up. It would do it once warm, on longer trips, not little from-here-to-there trips. It would do it regularly, though, and I was surprised that it hadn't thrown an engine code.

Thursday, once warm, on a longer trip, on a hard incline, it started, and finally did throw a check-engine light.

Well, I instantly started driving harder.... over shorter trips, would leave it in third if I thought I wasn't being too hard on it.

Friday morning, on the way to work, while running in third, it shuddered, and then straightened up, and the check-engine light cut off. Odd, eh?

Couldn't find Seafoam or BG44K. Did find Gunk's Engine Flush, tried it. Just poured it into the oil, let it idle for five minutes, then change your oil. When I refilled, I put a quart of Resoline in place of 1 quart of oil, too. Drove up to the wife's sister's place for the day yesterday, no 'miss' on the way at all. On the way back, no miss then, either.

I'm paying close attention, and it seems that it's helped with the roughness that I had. I'll keep an eye on it, hopefully it'll prove to have done the job well.

-L