I have had my '03 for about 3 weeks now and something I have noticed is the idle is a bit choppy, not real bad, just kind goes smooth, choppy, smooth, choppy so and so forth. Do these trucks idle a little rough? Im new to land rovers so I really dont know. It has new plugs, wires,air filter and head gaskets and no check engine lights on. Im working through the major service stuff, so far all diffs and transfer case fluids changes as well as power steering and front drive shaft rebuilt. Any thoughts on cause or normality of the idle issue?
thanks-jon

 

Well, it is a V8 so you will never forget it's running but mine is smooth as glass, not choppy at all. It sits at about 750 at idle and is smooth. Now the ACE pump is a little noisy, but that is about it. I often imagine how nice it must sound without that pump.. lol

 

Any thoughts on what could cause a rough idle? I went out and looked and the plugs are autolites could they be a problem?

 

I had used Autolite Iridium's and they suck, I had to re-gap them every 6 months because my idle would get rough like what you describe.
I just installed NKG V-groove plugs today after church, smooth as glass now.

 

my plugs where put in by the shop doing the headgaskets, would they idle bad right from the get go?

 

I love NGK plugs. I've never seen any car that had them that had any problems with them. Funny thing is that they don't list a plug for an 03 discovery. They do list a plug for an 02 RR with a 4.6L. I wonder what the difference is.

 

Mine runs a little rough too.....kinda like it has the hiccups sometimes. It doesn't bother me too much though. I can still beat them dumb Cobalts in a street race

I am running Autolite Iridium's too, I'm not impressed at all.

 

What does it idle at? Does it fluctuate? If so, between what and what? Does it do it more cold or hot, or same either? Rough idle basically boils down to ignition, fuel, and what goes on in the chamber. Could be as simple as bad plugs or wires. Could be a vacuum leak, poor compression, dirty injector, etc...

 

I cannot find them for my 04! What gives?

Scratch that - Found them

 

Idles at about 750 and the needle hardly even moves, if you watch it close it will flucuate very slightly. It idles like this hot or cold but, you still notice it a little bit when its idle high with a cold startup. Other than that it runs really smooth, just this irritating idle. thanks for all the replys!