Losing my mind

My brother (unfortunately deceased so he’s no help) used to work on Land Rovers so I don’t know what possessed me to buy one. I just wanted a cheap off-road vehicle I could daily and play in the woods with on the weekends. So it wouldn’t matter if it got a scratch or dirty.

Sunday I drove a 2005 LR3 and it was glorious. Smooth ride, tight handling, engine felt strong, inside and out were in good shape considering its age and 203,000 miles. So I bought it. Drove it home Monday and the suspension fault light came on. Turned the car off, turned it on - back to normal.

Drove it the next day same issue, also noticed while driving at night a slight flicker of interior lights. Turning the car off and back on seemed to “fix it” and all EAS functions would work again.

Today, Wednesday, day 3 of Land Rover ownership. It’s about 30 degrees cooler than yesterday. Drive to work. Fine. Home from work, check engine light comes on. Starts running rough. I’m about 2 miles from home. I managed to limp it home, the light staying off as long as I don’t give it much throttle.

Definitely feels like a misfire. I check the oil it’s fine. Notice the coolant is low, may have been before not sure. Turn it off again. Started it back up hoping it might reset. No luck, and suspension won’t come back up. CEL light now on permanently (not flashing)

I have a GAP IID scanner coming Friday. But planning to do a tune up - oil change, spark plugs, top off coolant and take it from there. Anyone know about coils? was thinking of replacing them with NKG coils. Which are half the price of the ones I found on Atlantic British.

I think this car sat for a while before being sold at auction & getting to me. Literally none of this was evident during a pretty thorough test drive and test of the EAS system overall. Anyone have a similar issue they were able to solve? Any words of advice?

 

You brother possessed you to buy one.

Like going to the doctor where they check blood pressure by default, you need to check voltages. Check teh battery without it running and after it say for at least 10 minutes without having been run so the battery can stabilize. Then check voltages on startup, should be 14v or a little above. After a while or with warm engine, I would expect no less than 13.2 (which is pretty low really). I would be looking for 13.5 to 14.1.

You may also have a faulty PCV valve. When they go an excess or air can enter the engine and cause misfires, dark exhaust, etc. Easy to replace on the 4.4 if that is what you have?

Coils last about 180k miles, so you may be due. Some last WELL past that. You can get API from Rock Auto if you are in the US. They will be Delphi and some or all may even come fully branded but in API boxes. $14 each. I have a couple sets in use, they are fine.

 

You may be right about being possessed. And thanks for the reply…it is indeed the 4.4 so I will probably just do the pcv also. Thanks for the tip on the coils! I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Happy to hear I may be on the right path.

 

my advice - don't get discouraged
buying from an auction, you should expect deferred maintenance and some issues

get a good, new, healthy battery first - voltage issues cause so many seemingly random and unrelated faults
learn your IIDtool - it will shed light on any real issues

get all fluids changed, address any known water leakage points, rebuild the compressor/desiccant/valve blocks, PCV, inspect belts, cooling system/radiator/t-stat/bleeder . . .
basically - make all the "unknowns" become "knowns"

there is a wealth of info here in the forums

 

Thanks for the encouragement! Last night I went and bought all new plugs, oil, filter, coolant. Have an air filter and some cleaners coming for MAF and throttle body. I’m also thinking fuel or injectors may be an issue since I think I filled it with premium for the first time in a known while - maybe unstable gas? Still waiting on my GAP tool which comes tomorrow. In the meantime I called the two shops listed in the carfax report. The car has extensive service history with alternator replacement a few times, last time 10k miles ago. Valve cover gasket, coils and plugs 20k ago after a smoke test and vacuum leak they apparently chased down and some consistent issues with misfiring cylinder 1/3/5. new coolant reservoir, hoses, pulleys, belts, thermostats, 10k miles ago. I couldn’t get any confirmation on the battery so that is going to be stop 1. A bit bummed the coils and plugs were done so recently - not saying they don’t need it, but if they do “again” it’s a bit concerning. So I also thought I’d also get a block tester leak kit. Once I have the codes, I will go from there.

 

Well - knowing the service history is huge for sure, and should help minimize the "refresh everything" approach

Did they say if the PCV was ever replaced? cheap and easy.
I forget if I has a misfire when mine flew the coop (white smoke out tailpipes for sure)
Or if some oil I cleaned up in the intake during TB cleaning helped that - it's been a while

Good luck - report back

 

Just updating in case it helps someone else later. Started tinkering tonight. Took off the air filter cover…I was shocked to find a filter dated 12/26/2013.

so, that explains some things. No idea how that could ever happen on a vehicle with service history. Maybe swapped at the auction yard? No idea. Anyway….

GAP IID delivered today. Scanned the codes and found misfires on cyl 2 & 7. Took the coils and plugs out of 2&4. 2 plug was coated in gas. 4 coil came out with a broken boot! Fixed the boot issue, put new plugs in both cylinders. Swapped the 2 coil with 4. Cleared codes and re scanned….error moved to cyl 4 and no more cylinder 7!

so I just ordered all new coils. Going to replace the remaining 6 plugs, and 8 coils. New air filter. Cleaning up the MAF which is a 2020 and looks okay. Which is why I can’t believe no new air filter. Throttle body also cleaned and looked fine. Will also run BG44k and report back.

 

So it’s been a hot minute but I’m posting the final resolution to the issues we’ve been working through on the car for the next poor soul.

1. Engine misfires. Solved with new coils and plugs. Changed air filter. Changed pcv valve. Cleaned MAF. oil change - including new drain bolt and not torquing the hell out of it or the new oil filter. Cleaned engine bay and undercarriage so we can better identify any leaks.

2. replaced rear drive shaft. While under the car noticed the center support bearing was toast. Put in new driveshaft. Not fun, not impossible.

3. replaced battery. Also keep it nice and charged with a noco tender.

4. replaced brake light switch, and found a ton of corroded bulbs, connectors, and burnt out bulbs in the taillights and license plate lights. Didn’t even realize we had bottom fog lights because they were full of water. Cleaned every connector with contact cleaner. Sealed housing. Reinstalled. We have light!

5. dismantled the EAS system. Bought o ring kits for compressor and valve blocks from 4x4 air seals. Bought a new desiccant drier from X8R with upgraded drier cover. Cleaned and serviced compressor. Old drier full of dust and hard filters. Desiccant seen in all the lines. Removed all valve blocks. Rebuilt front and center. Rear had a ton of corrosion on the left and right solenoids. Opted to replace. Used shop air compressor to blow out lines. Lubricated ride height sensors with spray silicone. Reinstalled everything. Car now goes into access height without any faults. No faults on driving, all modes work as expected.

So all is quiet for now. Haha! Until next time: thanks for the help!

Rear valve block. Left and right should look more like the center. They were totally corroded.

Suspect some arcing through the brake system because soot here and also in the brake light switch.

 

That lot should give you some trouble free motoring for a while.