Hello, I'm New to land rovers and suvs in general. I'm making this account to try and diagnose and trouble shoot a a 98 Land rover discovery that I'm trying to buy. This poor Discovery was broken into and hot wired by the former owner's crackhead mother while he is off shore working. The tow company has contacted the guy and he is not wanting it back. It is currently legally the tow companies and I'm gonna be buying it for $800 USD.
It has some problems I'm trying to diagnose and fix/ by pass to get it to actually start. The ignition was completely destroyed, along with the radio head unit stolen, lots of parts in the dash were broken too. The engine will turn over but there is no fuel going to the pump. I obviously don't have the factory key or fob. I have replaced the ignition with an ebay unit with keys (hoping that would start it) but still no power to pump. It also has a second ECU hood up, I think it's an ECU it's another green box in the passenger.

I'm a simple mechanic, I maintain my cars and have replaced a few odd things but don't have any formal training. I hope I will be able to find what i need on this forum and maybe contribute a bit more than I take as time goes on.
So how many years of my life will I be wasting on this thing?

 

You will be spending a lot of time on this. If it were me I would probably pass on this one and find one that has less issues.

 

It sounds like it's not that there's no fuel going to the pump, but that there is no power to the pump to pump fuel. Could be as simple as a bad fuse...or a bad ground or burnt wire that you may need a power probe to track down.

 

Welcome, If its fuel you want, just take a toggle switch and some Red wire. Find the battery and a ground and Go! (Tongue planted firmly in cheek). Hope its an easy one to fix.