Hi there

I have been having quite a bit of trouble with a 1989 Range Rover V8 3.5l.

The symptoms are quite simple: The car has a problem with idling (splutters, on the verge of stalling) and also has next to no power in the lower rpms (under 2500rpm). It feels as if half the engine is dead, to be honest. When the car reaches 3000rpm on the road (not free revving), the engine seems to "come alive" and feels twice as powerful as usual with a great burst of speed.

It turns out that all four cylinders on the right side of the engine are dead. Plugging out the shock plugs yields no effect on the right side. All four are dead and I can feel it in the car. However, once more, at about 3000rpm they seem to all come alive again and the car performs beautifully.

I used a voltmeter to measure the volts the fuel injectors were receiving and found something strange. The injectors on the right side of the engine receive around 0.05 volts. The injectors on the left side of the engine receive, in comparison, a whopping 1.5 volts. That's a major difference and probably an indicator of the problem.

Any ideas why this would be happening? It obviously isn't a general problem like an airflow problem or such, because it affects only the right side's four cylinders.

I was wondering whether anyone here had any idea what could be the matter? Is it the ECU? I heard something about a fuel injector controller and I was wondering whether there are two separate fuel injector controllers, one of the left side and one fo the right side?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I had something weird like that happen to a Range Rover "Classic". It turned out to be the ignition rotor! How you may ask?! The factory rotor has a silicon coating on it ( the factory updated rotor will have "S" on it to indicate it is the updated factory silicon rotor ), this is to prevent stray radio frequencies produced by the rotor from interfering with the ignition module on the side of the distributor. A Napa or any aftermarket rotor will not have this important feature and will cause all kinds of spark/injector mayhem. When ever I get a classic with runability problems, that is one of my first checks.

Check the rotor that "S" and then replace it with a factory one if it doesn't have the "s".
( warning, I have seen new factory rotors without the "s" stamped on it! It still has the coating but they have eliminated the handy "S" )

 

Thanks. I'll look into it. However, this problem is a recent development and only affects the four cylinders on the right side.