Not that my 96' Disco ever seemed fast, but the performance is really pretty pathetic. I recently put on 265/75-16 tires, and my top speed now is only 70 mph, seriously. Also, when you push the gas pedal down, only the first 1/4 of play yeilds any results, after that, the farther you push it, the slower it goes. If you let back up to about 1/4 it will go faster again. Almost like it's choking. It doesn't seem normal to have 3/4 of the gas pedal play to do absolutely nothing. I recently replaced the plug wires after the one on #3 got burned on the exhaust, causing a fault code. I do have a code reader, and nothing has been coming up, except today, with a "lean on bank one" fault. But even before the code came up, performance was exactly the same. Are these Disco's all normally this pathetic? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Silverseven,
One thing to check might be the fuel filter too, that could be causing fuel flow restrictions causing the car's behavior. Also could it be that your plug wires have something going on with them? Did you pull any of the new ones back out after seating them, maybe the wire got pulled loose from the socket so it's not seating & you're not getting good spark on 1 or more cylinders, does it run rough? You can pop the hood at night & look for sparks, if you see some lookout.....

I'm sure there are other folks with more experience than me though. FYI My wife's Disco II has about 42K miles on it, 255/55/18 tires, & runs like a scalded dog, I've hit 80 with a trailer, not the best for mileage or safety though I quickly realized and backed her down to 55...

Anyway best of luck & post whatever you discover in your efforts to resolve the problem, never know who you might help!

Regards,
Walter

 

If you want to get some of your concerns answered, send me your tele number and a good time to call and we can talk.
Mike
mikeljacobs@comcast.net

 

Could be cats too.

...check for mice.

 

vwcox1, your suggestion of the fuel filter makes sense, that would account for the throttle problem and lean burn condition. The spark plug wires were replaced because the #3 wire contacted the exhaust, got burned, cracked, and then caused a misfire. If it's the cats, I may replace those if I go to headers, as I'll probably do the entire exhaust system.

 

If you change the cats, you can go with an aftermarket Y, but if there is a muffler shop that will do it, Look at the Magnaflow high flow cats. I am getting mine done in May, they have already cheacked the truck, and said it would be $300 to $350 depending on difficulty. That is still a lot cheaper than the Y, and you get some increased performance.

Just a thought. Mine is ******* out too, but I know I have a broke cat. I am limping her along till I get the funds together to fix her. I only have a 1.5 mile drive to work. It barely gets warm before I get there.

Good luck, and post your finds if you fix it..

 

Do not overlook your air filter. Just remove it completely and go for a spin around the block. No more than that though. Just as a test.

 

wxcox1 hit the nail on the head......it was indeed the fuel filter. I changed it out, and it seroiusly feels like I just got another 50 hp! Before it struggled to get to 70, but now I got it past 80 and it was still climbing. Off the line performance is *vastly* better as well. Feels like a whole different engine now. With the huge boost in performance just from this, I may not need the headers after all.

 

Did any rust come out of the old one? If you have the same problem in a couple weeks you may have a rusty tank. I don't know how common that is on rovers, but it's worth looking out for.

 

Probably not that common, since the tank is plastic :-)