OK, So i thought I got a great buy. 96 disco in great shape, visually. Former owner told me there were problems but I thought I could fix it. Here's the problem.. truck does not accelerate beyong 20 mph. in Neutral, engine sounds very very strong, no misses or hesitation at all. In drive, it cannot speed up even with pedal floored. Cant figure it out. Mid truck there is a slight ticking sound and sounds like an exhaust leak. Prior owner who had it serviced by only LR dealership said they told him two cylinders were gone and he needed a new engine. But, that sounds impossible to me given how the engine sounded without a load. Any advice would be deeply appreciated. Should I do a compression test? If so what should I look for from cylinder to cylinder?

 

The fact of the matter is that of course it would perform better in neutral without a load. Iwould definitly consider past advice and look into why two of your cylinders are not firing. Case and point. I recently did a head job on my rover. Went to start it up and in neutral it would run fairly well. Take it on the road and it could barely if not at all accelerate past around 30 mph. Turns out I had reversed two plug wires thereby losing two cylinders. Fixed the wires and all was well. So I think a compression test is in order to verify whats been said in the past. How are your plugs and wires? The ticking sound is of concern. Try and specifically locate it and then do a or have someone do a compression test near that area, then eventually all other cylinders. Instead of needed a new motor, it could just be blown or warped heads. Start by verifiying the orignal claim, then you can cross that off your list and move on to other potential sources.

 

Could be lots of questions and answers, send me your tele number and I'll call you.
Mike
mikeljacobs@comcast.net