I have a 1995 Disco, 3.9L.....Do i have a crankshaft Pos Sensor???? If not, then where does my motor get the timing from? Knock sensors anywhere? Please help, this is driving me mad. I looked everywhere in the Rave wkshop manual and can't find what I'm looking for.

 

Timing is set by the disrtibutor. They went to distributorless in 96.

 

thats what I thought but this is my first LR and by all means I have soooooooooo much to learn. So do I have anything that would act similar to the Crank sensor and prevent truck frm starting? I've done all the voltage tests in manual which came out spot on after I replaced rotor and dizzy cap, ign control mod and relocated it with kit, coil readings were right on, new 8mm mag wires and bosch plat 2 plugs. Checked all relays and fuses, brake lights are fine and no trouble taking it out of gear tht is if I have a park/neutral sensor. What am i missing? 35psi at fuel rail and fuel pump is getting power. also changed fuel filter.
Would fuel pressure regulator or coolant temp sensor prevent it from starting? its cranking fine with loud backfire from tailpipe but i CAN'T GET IT TO START. Oh great purveyors of knowledge & wisdom please grant me with the solution!!!!!!

 

What started it? Did you change all of this stuff after it wouldn't start? Have you checked for codes on the LED under your passenger seat? It could be the MAF... if it is backfiring like it wants to start, fuel pressure and spark are ok, and you didn't accidentally knock the dizzy when you were tuning... Check for codes.

 

it just started one morning about a wk ago with the similar scenario to thousands of posts but I live by my literature aka wkshop manual and have done everything to the nine's. Once it warmed it started misfiring and backfired with groggy loss of power while misfiring. It would seem to work itself out for a 5 to 10 min range if i reved the motor a bit. I wasn't consistent therefore ruling out timing. It felt like bad gas but thats not it. Now that it won't start it sounds more like timing but no explicable reason.

I did all the part replacement the minute i bought the truck about three months ago, drove 10hrs to get it and drove the old girl 800miles back without a hitch! No CEL or xmas tree. No issues until now. bought it from brit gent, one owner, engine replaced with reconditioned 3.9L that had 57k miles on it by Land Rover dealership(i have all the paperwork and hv confirmed all with dealership in Pompano beach/ft. lauderdale). So in essence the motor only has about 10k on it since the motor reconditioned( aka, slight rebore to remove imperfections, all oem LR parts, seals, gaskets, bolts, alternator, valve job on new motor so carbon fouling is not an issue, NO LEAKS...believe that or not). I replaced the parts mentioned above as they were not addressed during motor replacement. All done prior to start issue and I've replaced all the same parts again since the issue and ran all wkshop manual tests. It was never taken off-road once. I got so lucky! anyway...........I'm not sure about checking for the codes...I've looked under the passenger seat but am still unsure about procedure as I can't find any type of illustrated photos to know exactly what i need to be looking for. I have a pinkish/red plug that isn't hooked up to anything under pass seat. has the LCD diagnostic been removed from mine?
Before I did any tuning I made alignment marks on the dizzy housing, dizzy cap and labeled all wires just for good measure. all is aligned and straight as an arrow.....

 

how often does the pick-up coil in dizzy go bad? Never any cracks in dizzy cap or cracks to allow water access? I solder everything and shrink wrap for insulation......Oh yeah, before I forget, just want to let you know I appreciate you lending a hand. I've seen you all over this forum and it appears I'm not the first idiot you've attempted to help...lol...

 

pickup coil is giving me the correct ohm reading so thats not even an issue....man I just want to figure it out......buy the part, put it on AND DRIVE MY DISCO!!!!!!!!!!!!! its been a wk now and i feel like I've lost a child!

 

I haven't messed with a distributor vehicle, so I am shooting in the dark here...

There should be what looks like a big relay with an LED readout on it under the pass seat. It may have been removed, or it may not ever have been there. Might just be a NAS thing. Do you have an amber check engine light? I just found one in a salvage while scouring parts for my babies. They didn't charge me for it and I gave it to a friend that needed one for his..

I recall something about the rotor. Something like if you remove it wrong, the seat comes out and causes all kinds of mis-firing and havoc. Distrbutor replacement is the only fix. I will see if I can find more. We have a very limited suppy of non-coil pack trucks here, and most of the people on this site are in NA.

 

yep i have a CEL and it did come on when this jazz began. Keep in mind I drove the truck lightly while this was going on and never did it quit at idle or stall or even have issues starting until that one day where it misfired, quit and was not able to restart it. at that time it was cranking but not starting, not even any backfire. Since the 2nd replacement of previously mentioned parts and tests I am at least getting a backfire but alas...still no start......I examined the dizzy internals....all springs connected, minimal wear at best, all surprisingly clean...made sure air gap was consistent with literature and it was. So.......................................... do discos make good flower pots???????

 

ha. I would see if you can get your hands on the readout and see what codes are in there. The MAF, fuel temp sensor and coolant sensor are about all it reads, apart from the Distributor. You can see if a local shop has a rover scanner to hook into to see the live readings from the sensors, but I realize that is difficult with it not running.