1998 Disco no spark issues
 

Hello all! I havebeen reading for months on here and troubleshooting this discovery and I am ata loss. I have a 1998 Discovery with a4.0 I got that was running bad (bought it for my 15yr old that is turning 16 in11 days about 3months ago). It would missand stall and act up. Put timing lighton the plug wires and found that they are firing sometimes and sometimesnot. I drove it to Advanced and it hadthe following codes:

P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder MisfireDetected
P1187 Variant Selection (O2 sensor)
P1313 Misfire Rate Catalyst Damage Fault - Bank 1
P1314 Misfire Rate Catalyst Damage Fault - Bank 2
P1316 Injector Circuit / IDM Codes Detected
P1447 ELC System Closure Valve Flow Fault
TWICE
Cylinder 4 Missfire

That night I pulled the hot off the battery and left theignition on (read that will reset codes). It rained that night, and the next afternoon I went to drive it toadvanced to see what codes it had and it would only run on two cylinders andspit and backfire. It has been downsince. They are firing less than before(2,4,6,1,3,5do not fire but every now and then I will get a flash from the timing light,8&7 seem to fire correctly). Previous owner supposedly had it at a mechanic that changed out the coilpack, cam sensor, crank sensor, mass air flow sensor, plug wires, and plugs andnothing got the miss out. I have checkedcompression on all cylinders and got 150psi on all. Replaced crank shaft position sensor, ohmedcrankshaft position sensor plug wires, and all 5 coil wires back to ECM. Each wire (WHT/GRN, WHT/YEL, WHT/BLK,WHT/PINK, WHIT/BLUE that goes to the coil pack from ECM has 12V’s with the keyon (I thought only the power wire (WHT/GREEN should have power and the otherfour were ground wires that the ECM grounded to fire the coils?). I attached volt meter to the battery groundand probed the back of each wire in the back of the ECM. I got a steady 12V at each one, and when thewife turned the motor over for me it would fluctuate between 8V & 10V, notsure if that means anything but it wasn’t what I expected. I also put a test light on the injectors andthey seem to be firing correctly, at least they are flashing in time. I have not checked fuel pressure becausecurrently I have no fire to the plug wires so I don’t see the point. I pulled the coil pack off and ohmed each oneand they were all the same (can’t remember the readings I got). I changed the crank sensor just to be sureand that helped nothing. I also found wires melted together on the driver’s side knock sensor. I spliced new wires to the plug and hooked itback up but that didn’t change anything either. I have noticed a ton of vacuum lines off but have not been able to findany documentation on what lines go where. I understand it wouldn’t run well without the vacuum lines but I wouldthink it would at least fire the coils correctly? I also purchased a ECM from ebay, but I didn’tknow the alarm ECM needed to be paired with it so when I try it the enginelight doesn’t come on when the key is in on and it will not start but will turnover. Is there a way to bypass thesinking between the two? I read you haveto take to a dealer in order to do it. Idon’t want to tow the truck 1hr away and pay $150 only to find out the ECM isok. Any ideas?

Just checked for spark again, and now I have no spark on any of the wires. This thing is crazy!

Your driving yourself crazy.

The alarm is doing exactly what it's supposed to. You've hard set the alarm and nothing will undo it except money. Either you buy a matched set or drag it someplace to mate the two. You can unhook the battery, the alarm, the ecu, plug in a hair drier, stick a finger in your ear, nothing will unlock your alarm. You have a LR brick until you put out some cash. I will not give anyone my knowledge beyond what your reading here. I suggest you download a copy of the service manual called the "Rave" if you haven't already.

I want to add that the pair can come from any Disco that had Advanced Evaporative Loss. That is 97 1/2 through 99 1/2. All the guys I suggested to you in the other thread know exactly what I'm talking about so you don't have to worry about that. If it where me I would go with a 99 1/2 because it had the latest ECU firmware for the breed.

Double check your crank position sensor.....
 

....download the RAVE and check that the crank position sensor is connected correctly or else you wont get any spark. Learned it the hard way. Took it to 3 reputable shop to no avail. It costs me less $$$ when I took it to the dealership.

Resolution: Incorrect installation of the crank position sensor.
Good luck.

P1187 - Oxygen Sensor Heater Circuit Short Upstream
P1313 - Misfire Catalyst Damage Fault Bank A
P1314 - Misfire Catalyst Damage Fault Bank B
P1316 - Misfire Excessive Emissions Fault
P1447 - Evap System Purge Valve Open or Short Circuit Fault

These are the Rover P-Code definitions. Yours are generic. Fairly normal codes for a 98 Rover too.

Will Tillery
The Rova Guy Contact Information
WILL TILLERY | LinkedIn

Paul Grant
paulgrant@mac.com
classicroverparts@gmail.com
http://stores.ebay.com/Classic-Rovers
203-770-1699

How was it incorrectly installed, do you know?

I contacted Drillbit and Paul about the 98 ECU/10AS, so I will see when they email me back. Joe, I ask as well how could it be incorrectly installed? Plug only goes one way and the spacer was on it with two bolts. Are there supposed to be shims or anything?

I found a junk yard that has the vehicle with the ECM andthe Alarm module, but the guy needs to know where the alarm module is locatedand what it looks like. I am not realsure myself. Can anyone point me to itso I can relay that information to the junkyard and get this Rover going. J