I have a 2001 DiscoII SE, 145k miles, and had replaced head gaskets, oil pan gasket, timing chain and gasket, water pump and all hoses, etc.

Put it all back together and it fired right up. Ran quite well for several months until recently. I now notice that if I put it in gear and try to proceed before the 2nd air system has shut off, trying to accelerate will only produce backfiring and stumbling. If you release the accelerator and wait for the 2nd air system to stop, it will then respond to the accelerator pedal and continues on more normally. I've also tested it by holding the accelerator pedal only slightly down and it will move along no greater than 10 or 20 miles per hour and once the 2nd air stops, the engine suddenly accelerates to a point more consistent with the degree of pressure on the accelerator pedal.

The other issue I noticed is the extreme loss of power. While on the freeway, I noticed that acceleration has little effect on engine power and speed. If you push the accelerator so that the transmission upshifts, the engine races but the vehicle barely gains speed and when traveling up an incline, I can push the accelerator all the way down and the vehicle will only manage to maintain speed, sometimes actually losing speed. It's as though my horsepower has been reduced to a minimum.

Any ideas what could be causing this? And just to clarify here, it has gone through many tanks of premium octane gasoline, the plugs are fine and the air cleaner is new and the problem still exists. It's almost like some type of sensor has failed, but I don't know where to begin searching out which one. I did note that during one instance, the service engine light started blinking while the engine was sputtering with the 2nd air system engaged, but once the system stopped the light stopped blinking and the engine was able to accelerate.

Any help is appreciated.

Russell

 

So no check engine lights (other than service engine blink)? Are any codes stored?

 

The blinking service engine light means STOP driving the car until you can fix what is wrong. Severe misfire. There will be a code stored, probably a few.

 

That means you're damaging or destroying $700 worth of catalytic converters and $250 worth of oxygen sensors. The decision to keep on driving it is entirely up to you.

 

Great, give people choices. Now I look like a jerk

 

It doesn't matter in the least about the converters or the O2 sensors. I've got a brand new exhaust system, including the converters and the O2 sensors at my storage unit which will be installed with other parts in a few weeks.

I'm driving the vehicle now and will continue to drive it as I find out what's causing the problem.

I will have to get a code reader to determine what error codes are being stored, if any.

I guess my original posting was simply to determine whether anyone else had experienced a similar problem.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

That's your choice about driving it this way, of course, but you can also damage the engine too. especially the backfiring.

Most of us have probably seen a misfire or two, and I've even had the blinking SES light. Mine was a broken magnecor plug wire once, and a coil pack the next. We'll probably need the codes to help more though. Good luck, and please post back!

 

In that case, might as well just drive it. It all ought to work itself out eventually. Just keep your foot the the floor.

 

^^^Ditto^^^

This guy just kept driving too --> https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...mmmmmmm-40660/

 

LOL, thats funny ylo...