Had 98 Disco 3 weeks. Land Rover had it for 2 of them. It quit starting and the dealer charged me $800.00 to replace the ignition box under the hood. Got it back and it would not shut off. They told me it had the wrong key switch and it would be another $700.00 to replace that. The dealer had to jump start it when I picked it up too. I drove it home and replaced the ignition switch myself. It still won't shut off without pulling the fuel pump fuse. Now it has a parasitic battery drain too that wasn't present before the dealer got it. While tinkering with it today, it also started sputtering and dying while trying to drive it. Sometimes it will run like a scalded cat and other times it acts like it has a horrible fuel problem. Any suggestions would help me head in the right direction. Thank you.

 

Dunno!!! but sounds like a short, i would be checking the wiring in the key switch area. wiring diagrams are available just search the forum.

 

I will search for the diagrams, thank you Jason

 

Ok, looks like I fixed the not shutting off problem. There was a short behind the fuse box. Now she shuts off and no more battery drain. Still having an off and on problem with sputtering and dying.

 

if it still seams like a fuel problem i would think its the fuel pump, or the power to it. Probably at the fuse box again? if it was shorting there could be melted wires somewhere.

 

I think I'd be complaining to the stealership and trying to get some recourse for the wasted money they took from you. If you can help it, find a independent shop to work on your truck. Never go to the dealer to have mechanic work done. I hope you get it all worked out. Good luck.

 

What I'm curious about is what was wrong with either the wire routing or fuse box mounting that caused the damage and the shorted conductors?

We could add this to the very long list of strange part interactions/engineering that causes problems.

TG

 

The wire in the fuse box that was shorting everything appears to be a wire somebody added to power the fuel pump. When the dealership replaced the fuel module under the hood, it got power like it should and back fed into the fuse box.
The fuel issue has straightened itself out for now. I don't know what the deal was. Possibly bad gas, or it's just waiting to attack again when I'm not looking.
I'm done with the dealership, they screwed me and they know it. I couldn't get anywhere with them.

 

Thanks for letting us know about that.

TG