Was hard to start when cold, now won't start
 

I have searched all through the forums and not found the exact same problem. 2 weeks ago I replaced the battery with a new one from Costco, they checked it and said the old battery was bad.

Then last week, the 2000 Discovery II was hard to start when cold in the morning. Seemed to need a few pumps on the gas pedal. Then it sounded a little rough but drove. Once warmed up, it would restart fine.

As of yesterday, I had a heck of a time starting it, would sound bad like cranking and missing, check engine lights, limp mode T and S flashing. Finally started but when pedal off the gas would drop to low RPMs and stall. Battery was jumped to my A4 Audi during this time so as not to drain it.

My ultra gage shows P1884 trouble code. Also showed P0335 and P0336 and P0102, over the course of the hour trying to start it.

Any troubleshooting ideas would be great!

Are you aware of any issues with your grounding system? Loose negative battery terminal, loose positive battery terminal?

Are all the ground terminals tightly fastened?

Check the connections at the following: the passenger fender terminal, the grounding strap from rear of the drivers side head to firewall, and the negative cable to the block just under the alternator. Two hot terminals at the alternator.

Yes, yesterday morning I had coated the battery terminals with vaseline and tightened them down so hard they don't wiggle.

Now I will go about checking all the grounds like you said. Will be back to you later this morning...thanks...

Checked these ground connections, and I think they look ok. Attached some pictures to be sure as well.
the passenger fender terminal,
the grounding strap from rear of the drivers side head to firewall

You said there are:
"two hot terminals at the alternator"
On the alternator, I only see a large red cable, and a small wire that used to be black/tan, but I had to splice it to this green one about a month ago. Any problems with that?

Also I am not sure about negative cable to the block just under the alternator. Do need to take the alternator off and lift it up to see that cable is connected?

Here is a video I just took a few minutes ago to show the problem I am having, thought by listening and seeing the problem here. You will hear it cranking, kind of spitting, then when I keep pumping the gas pedal, it finally catches.


might be able to get some good troubleshooting ideas on how to fix it...

Tell me more about this spliced green wire splice on the back of the alternator.

And Are you measuring 12.76 volts at idle? How about when you rev the engine to ~2k does your voltage increase to 13-14 volts?

have you looked into what your engine trouble codes refer too?

Long story about the spliced green wire. Basically I replaced the broken idler pulley about a month ago, and in the process of removing the idler pulley tensioner, I broke the aluminum casting holding the alternator.

When replacing the casting, removed the alternator, and that little tan wire with the small nut to the alternator broke. So I spliced a similar gauge wire (the green one) to the real short original tan one, and reconnected to the nut on the alternator. I am fairly sure that splice is ok, used a connector and crimped both wires hard. Was running great for 3 weeks until last week.

One more confession. When I replaced the idler pulley a couple weeks ago, I also replaced the serpentine belt with a new one. It squealed really bad for about 4 days. Then I realized I mis routed the serpentine belt on one of the top drivers side pulleys. Corrected this, using the diagram on Atlantic British, and the squealing stopped right away, and the car ran fine for a week.

Looking forward to hearing what you think I can do next... thanks again.

Also, the 12.76V was with the truck off. When it's on, I used to see it at about 13.4V so it was charging... I have tried to research P1884, and see it is about 6 different things, hard to determine what it really is. Crank position sensor, MAF, etc. Thinking these can be symptoms rather than causes though...

Sounds like the problems I had when my MAF went bad. Hard start, stalling and misfires.

Now that I think about it. A bad maf would not prevent it from starting as I actually disconnected mine and started the engine just fine.(but with the misfiring and stalling).

I'd check fuel pressure. Sounds kind of like it might be bleeding down when it sits. Might not hurt to have the battery load tested too.