My daughter bought her own 97 Disco SE7 with her own money, three weeks ago. She turns 15 early this summer. She wanted a car we could work on together over the spring to have ready on her 15th. Pretty cool.

We bought her 97 with only 141,000 on the ODO. Took it to a simple auto shop that a friend of mine owns and he said it ran like a top, and changed all the fluids out. Only issue is a slight weeping of oil at the front seal, which we put in High Mileage oil to soften that back up a bit. The rubber line from the fuel nozzle to the tank was rotten - bought a new one. And other ****ly interior issues.

I try to drive it 30 miles or so every week - all in one go to keep her charged up and the gas fresh. Starts EVERY darn time very quick.

Then last Monday I got in to start her up, and she just turned over - with pep - but no fire. I tried like 4 times over a one minute period. Couldn't get her to fire. Kinda sounded like a fuel problem - but I read on here where where a slightly low battery could be the culprit.

I went and grabbed my battery load tester, and it tested very well. I scratched my head, went back to turn her over again, and BANG. Started right up- immediately. So I grabbed the load tester and hooked up to the battery to check how the alternator was charging, and was getting about 12.5 volts at idle.

I jumped in and took her on a 10 mile jaunt to Wal-mart and back, she did fine.

Any idea what could have caused this? She "was" sitting pointing downhill on a small 5 degree decline for about a week. Just very strange.

Haven't started her up since then. Going to jump in today and see. My daughter and I plan on doing light maintenance on her today as it's supposed to be near 70 and sunny! : )
Murphy

 

First of all, your daughter is awesome. I hope someday my kids have that mentality.

As for the issue, I've experienced something similar with a failing fuel pump at similar mileage. In my case it seemed hesitant to start a few times over the weeks, and then just failed completely (in line to exit a busy parking garage no less...).

You're saying it cranked caught and then died, or just cranked with no feedback from engine? Other areas to consider would be fuel pressure regulator (failing to keep the system pressurized with fuel after the truck sits for a while - so you have to wait for the pump to re-pressurize the rail before it'll fire) and/or Idle Air Controller.

The IAC is a common point of failure in these trucks. It's easy to access and clean, so try that first and work backwards from there. They're sometimes referred to as Idle Control Valves if google isn't behaving.

 

you should have 14 volts at idle, clean all your grounds from batt to body and frame, add a batt to rad support ground and batt to engine ground this should resolve the charging issue unless the alt is dying

have it scanned for codes, buy an ultragauge they are cheap and can read/clear codes

your issue can be several things start with the grounds

at this milage expect to need headgaskets soon and a radiator rod or replace, fan clutch, fuel pump, hoses, and do a good flush on the heater core

 

^ x2 ^

 

Thanks Kingsly and Tom! I'll put all those on the "to do list" this summer.
Got in her yesterday and took my daughter to lunch. She ran perfect.

Kingsly, she was turning over great, just wouldn't fire. I'm going to take ALL the advice here, probably replace everything, alternator, fuel pump, head gaskets, and re-core the radiator and replace the fan clutch. I don't mind getting my hands dirty. I've been a motor head all my life. We grew up poor, so the first car I owned didn't even run, and no one knew the issue. Rebuilt the entire motor at 15 years old.
Murph

 

you do not need an alternator you need to fix grounds like now, it will fix alot of issues, this is a british car with crappy british wiring and alot of electronic stuff grounds grounds grounds or you will be back asking about why is my d1 doing this and that intermittant and throwing parts at it, parts aint cheap

 

I agree with TOM R re: ground issues. I've solved so many issues with gnd - and am living with a lot more issues because of gnd!

 

I don't know about crappy wiring, it's just getting older. Not laid out like a BMW but it gets the job done and it's thicker gauge than any european of the same vintage. The issue with it is mostly just connection corrosion and location which hastens the corrosion. The alternator is probably due for replacement at it's age, diodes don't last forever. If you know of an industrial/commercial electrics rebuilder I would take the original there and have it rebuilt "if" they know what they're doing. Some current Dodges use MM alternators too.

 

I have one question: when the engine DIDN'T start, was the yellow "Check Engine" light on the left side of the instrument cluster illuminated? If it is not on, the engine will not start on your model D1. What I always do is to turn the key to on and then STOP and look for the CEL. If it is on, start the engine, if it isn't on, turn the key back to off for ~5 seconds and then turn ignition to on again.

 

My 98 has a red light on the right says check engine