Hey guys.

Little bit confused on this one. Yesterday I flew what amounts to an 8.5 hour drive from home to Akron OH to pick up a ‘94 Disco with the 3.9 and a 5 speed. It hasn’t been driven more than 10k miles in 10 years so lots and lots of deferred maintenance and rust on the frame (probably sat in a field). The previous owner bought it from the original owner in October. He said the only mechanical issue is a slight misfire at cold that amounts to a slightly uneven idle at start. Made me a bit nervous to drive but he assured me once it warmed up it was a runner.

Well other than flat-spotted tires, my drive home was pretty great for the first 6.5 hours. Then I felt a sudden, somewhat violent shudder. Like a really bad misfire. Then nothing for about 5 minutes. Then a couple misfires. Suddenly I was losing power. Pressing the gas did nothing. If I down shifted and gave it a ton of gas I could limp it in 4th for a bit then the misfires and power loss came back in all gears. It was like it was having both a spark failure and a gas failure at the same time.

I limped it to a gas station. Popped the hood. The MAF was unplugged. Plugged it back in, hit the road. I was good for about an hour. Then with 1 measly hour to go, same thing happened. Limped it to a gas station again. Couldn’t see anything obvious that was unplugged. Also when it did idle, the idle was typically high and it was always jumping around and seemed to be searching, or it was just trying to stay alive at ultra low RPMs.

The gas station had no wire brushes and I had minimal tools (only place open at 3:00 AM). I intended to clean the grounds as much as possible. But really I wasn’t able to clean much with what I had. I tried unplugging the battery, letting it sit for 15, plugging back in trying to do some sort of Hail Mary with the MAF and the ECU. That made the situation worse. Now it won’t start. It would give me a slight start, burble and die. Giving it gas made no
difference.

I unplugged the battery again. 15 min later plugged back in. Worked the immobilized 5 times like I saw on the forums here, and it started again with the same crazy idle. Test drive resulted in slight misfire. At this point it was 3 am. I gave up. I’m going to rent a uhaul dolly and have my wife bring the truck, but I did just try to start it for warmth but now it’s doing the burble and die again.

So here’s my questions.
1) it was throwing an ECU code, but my OBD2 reader can’t plug into it it appears. I forgot to consider pre-‘96 OBD connectivity issues. I couldn’t find the LED thing under the passenger seat I read about on here. Just a black plastic box.. After unplugging the battery, the check engine light is off but I bet the code is a still stored. Is there an adapter I can pick up? Or any suggested code readers for 94-95 Discos that isn’t going to cost me 1200 on Atlantic British?
2) based on my search here on the forum I originally thought it was either the VSS or MAF but now with the no-start situation idk what to think. Any ideas?

Sorry for the novel and thanks in advance for any help.

 

Did you hear the fuel pump activate when the key was in position II? It could be crap in the fuel filter, or a dying/dead fuel pump. Also the OEM metal capped relays for the Fuel Pump, and Fuel Injectors are known to eventually fail. The other thing to check would be the main wiring harness going to the fuel pump. You should see it if you look up just above the LR mud flap mount. Sometimes the connection gets corroded. High idle is usually from a vacuum leak or a dirty/stuck IAC. The OBD1 diagnostic unit will be clipped into place under the passenger seat. If you have the key on position II the LCD should be lit up with a 2 digit code. Last but not least misfires on a 3.9L with a dizzy could be as simple as a new rotor/cap, and new wires. The other part of the ignition system which normally only acts up when hot = the ignition amplifier. On 94/95 D1's it should be remotely mounted behind the LF headlight on the same bracket as the coil.

 

Thank you! Fuel starvation had occurred to me but I thought that with such a violent misfire-type feeling it’d be something else more spark related. But this could also be a combo of a few things especially with the weak start and lack of throttle response. I appreciate the insight.