What's going on all, hope the new year has started well with you all. For those that were keeping up with my progress or helping me, thanks for all the past help again, most of my issues have been resolved, but i still have a few lingering ones that I want to try to take care of while I still have the money.

Just as a reminder m rover is a 97 SE, about 63k original miles, etc. I've already replaced spark plugs and wires, air filter, cleaned iacv and throttle body, changed brake pads and bled breaks, changed both front wheel bearings, new battery, sealed off a power steering leak (whoever suggested white shepherd thanks so much), and changed all the fluids, using a heavier grade for my t case. The previous issue I had with my brakes making that strange thumping noise has stopped, I'm thinking that there may have been air in brakes still as a result of a warped rotor causing uneven wear and pushing against the brake, but I really don't know.

My new issues are as follows :

1. Upon returning home from new years vacation, my passenger window was having issues going down, making strange banging noises as if the regulator was working but the window pane itself was off track. At first it would come down slightly, although it was very difficult for the car, it would make all these clanging and banging noises, and going back up would be even more difficult. Now it won't even come down, but I can still hear the regulator working and banging against the glass, if that makes sense. I may have to take this in as I'm no good at soldering and i don't want to risk breaking the regulator if it's not broken. I don't know how this happened as it was fine when i left and when I got back it just started having problems.

2. I'm still getting a squeaking noise when braking slowly from the front. After replacing my bearings, brakes and whatnot, I'm assuming its one of the rotors, so I plan on just replacing both of the front ones, as I was told that my bushings were fine a month or two ago when i took it in for some other minor work. Could this be related to my brake lines though? I haven't replaced those, what are some telltale signs of the brake lines going?

I removed my abs a while back thinking that it could've been causing some of the brake problems, but if it is my rotors I plan on just putting the abs fuse back in, I wont have to reset my ecu will I?


Finally, I feel like I may have a slight lean to my right, but cant really tell well,. Is there anyway to check my suspension to see of my shocks, struts, bushings , etc. Are ok? I checked for any loose play in some of the rods below, they seemed sturdy but any other way I could check would be appreciated.

Thanks all, hope you have a good rest of the day.

Edit: oh and last thing: some of my lights on my dashboard are out, but not all of them. For instance, the part where my odometer, gas meter, speedometer, etc. Works fine, but the instrument panel for the heat, ac and things don't light up, however wheni push the zircon or recirculate button , those lights come on, and the right side of my gear lights light up next to the gear shifter.

 

I cannot help with your other issues, but the Drivers window I can.
My '96 had similar symptoms and ultimately the "half" gear that was welded to the lift assembly broke completely off.
I pulled the door panel off, meshed the gear and welded it back on. Been great ever since.

Good luck!

 

Thanks mate, how difficult was that? I'm not great at welding / soldering so I might have to take her in or have one of my engineering friends do it.

Anyone got any suggestions for the screeching sound or random lights not working? I'm thinking a fuse ight be blown as my front light inside the car isn't working (the overhead light)

 

Check the rollers on your window regulator. They may be broken. Both sides on my 97 broke within a year of each other.

As for the lean, mine also leans to the passenger side. Springs are original and likely sagging. Very common on these vehicles. I plan to replace mine as soon as I have time and $$$. Here is a good resource for how to do it if you feel like doing it yourself: http://www.4x4wire.com/rover/disco/tech/ome/

 

The lean to the "right" is so you disco sits level when the driver is sitting it the truck... Kind of like what they did with the A Teams vans by putting all the extra weight in the passenger side to compensate for Mr. T's Gold chains.....

 

It was not hard to do at all. However, thinking through the light issues you are also having - and of course the advice from LeakyDisco,
It may all be related. Is your window motor turning? Or at least trying?
If it is the gear, you will just hear it spin. If it is the ECU -or the rollers - you should be able to see the roller issue when you take the panel off to check
On things.
As for the dash, overhead and potentially yhe window motor, it would be time to pull out the RAVE and a Multi-Meter
And check the wonderful spaghetti that is our wiring harnesses.

Do you have the RAVE yet? Depending on your connection, it could take a while as it is over 500MB to download.
But worth every second as it will have all the information to rebuild anything you chose - AND the
Electrical diags are on that page as well.

Good Luck!

 

Excellent mate, thanks I'll check for that. You may be right because today I realized that the window still tries to go up and down, I can see it move slightly but then it just gets stuck, so the rollers being broken could make sense. I'm probably just gonna bite the bullet and have pay for my shocks / struts replacement, I'm no professional at working on cars and I prefer to leave brakes and suspension work (you know, the things where if i screw up I die) to professionals if it's beyond average work.

Groundandpound, got the rave mate, had it since I first got here and you're right, that thing taught me so much that within a week my roommates were asking me when I learned to work on cars lol, but im going through it today and gonna see if I can work something out. Unfortunately, being an amateur mechanic and college student I'm lacking in tools like the multi meter and whatnot, but I've got friends here that probably have one.

Using this sites been making me come up with an idea for a while by the way. Maybe its just my business studies getting ahead of me, but I could really see a web platform / application where guys like leaky disco, Spike, etc. Could post certain wares to work on peoples rovers (obviously other mechanics from other sites and forums would be recruited for other vehicles), and the customers would sign a disclaimer that would mitigate any unintentional damage caused by the mechanics. I got the idea originally when I found my mechanic who is AES certified and all on craigslist, and he was just telling me how after his last dealership downsized, he decided to try freelancing and was making a killing doing basic stuff for people for cheaper than dealerships, and would make it up because the work he generally gets called for isn't that hard, back breaking, or time consuming (think spark plug changes, brake pads, bearing replacements, etc) so he can do many jobs in a day. The people could even provide their own parts to save the mechanics time and themselves money. The site could even eventually expand to getting partnerships with parts distributors to offer discounts to customers, etc.

What does anyone think about this (but if you can only respond once, respond to my car issues )

 

I'm just a software engineer wanting to save a few bucks on labor charges, and I personally enjoy wrenching on cars--my dad was a mechanic, and he taught me how to do brakes, oil, tune-ups, and other small stuff on my cars when I was in my 20s.

I could see how your idea might work as a service locator for local mechanics who could perform mobile work on simple things like tune-ups, oil changes, etc.