Recently purchased an 04 DIsco, we dont even have plates on it yet. It has just over 80K mi on it. Nice truck. Very tight and the wife loves it. But it has started to miss fire. Went the cheepie route to autozone and had them download the trouble codes. Missfire in #3 and #6 cyl. so I put in new plugs all around. Still missfires, runs rough etc. Was behind the car as she pulled in the garage last night and smelled the rotten egg sulfer smell. Thought of a burned cat converter.

Called around to the muffler shops and found out there can be up to 4 (4 of them....oh my). Called the dealer, they want to run more tests and cant get to it till nexttues. They say it may be an O2 sensor, carbon build up on the exhaust valves, carbon on the injectors, bad plug wires ( dont even want to think about changing those, how would you do it without pulling the motor or useing a can opener on the firewall dash?)........who knows.

Now I kow I am a cheap SOB but I like to work on these things myself. It is my first landrover. I do like the little beast and the wife loves it.

Any ideas, any recomendations for a shop in the Denver Colorado area?

Any help will be apreciated.

Thanks

Greg

 

Greg, Sounds like you will need a lot of questions answered. If you want send me your tele number and a good time to call and I would be glad to try any answer these questions.
Mike
mikeljacobs@comcast.net

 

Sir: You have dthe very same issue I have on my '03, also with 80k miles. We have had it since new and this is the first thing wrong. I took it to the dealer who said it was engine wires and plugs, each plug $13 and each wire is $30. Yes the intake manifold must come off and you need a new gasket set. But the car came back with a misfire in #6 and a coolant leak. Over heated and the next trip was a head gasket, came back again and it overheated and the misfired when very cold only (in New England). The dealer now says the piston liner has sunk letting some coolant in the cylinder and the engine needs to be replaced!!! DO NOT TAKE IT TO A DEALER YOU HAVE NOT THOROUGHLY CHECKED ! . This one is going to end up in court . Please let me know what the real problem is.

 

Do either of you hav a check engine light on, if so you should go by your local auto parts store and have them read the fault codes and get back to us.
By both of your vehicles mileage, you both should replace your plug wires going to a set of 8mm magancor wires. A good engine flush, and decarbon will also make a great improvement.
Greg, don't keep driving your truck with the cats working over time. You need to get that problem taken care of before you melt your cats down incuring even more expenses.
As for that coolant leak, how did they determine that the #6 sleve dropped, have they torn your engine down or was this based on the old crystal ball testing system?
Mike

 

Thank You Mikefor the conversation, and the tech tips.

Folks, Mike knows his stuff.

Mikes suggestions:
1-Replace plug wires, and yes it can be done without removing the intake manifold.......I hoped to use my 12 yr old to do this, but his arm is to big, and had to drop down to the 10 yr old. He loved it and loved even more the $50 we promised him to wedge his arm between the firewall and manifold.(we are not yet done but have 3 wires done on passenger side, which seems to be the tougher side) If he grows at all, I will be looking at the 9 yr old neice. This is not a project for a large (6-2 240lbs) adult male with size XL hands. Oh yea, and expect to pay 75-80 bucks for good wires.
2-Replace plugs with good double platinum ones $13 each
3-Clean engine and crank case with ATF, then change oil ( couldnt find the filter you recomended though)
4-Sea foam gas additive in tank
5-Sea foam gas additivve in intake (havent done this yet)
6-Air Filter

Mike, I have not yet driven the truck since our conversation last Friday. I had big plans to attack the jobs over the weekend but family stuff conflicted with my plans. I will be calling you when I am finished with everything else before I run the Sea Foam through the intake.

I think this should make the truck run like brand new. Maybe even better.

Folks, I found a shop willing to do the plug wires alone for $800.00. I think the time spent crawling around my own truck is time well spent, but the time spent under the hood with my 2 sons helping out is pricless. You dont get to spend this type of time with your kids anymore.

But if I ever happen to meet up with the idiot who placed the ignition "THERE", I might just have to have a long drawn out conversation with said individual.

Mike says it's the Britts getting even, I just want to know for what?

Otherwise it is a great truck, and I am starting to fall in love with it.

Thanks again Mike, I think I even convienced my wife to join up with the club on some of the more mild trail rides.