Rough Running Disco 2.......with white smoke.

Hello all, I have a problem or problem in the making on my 2003 disco 2 with 101k on the clock. It's something like this.................... yesterday i took the car off road for the first time in a while for all of 500 yards onto our horse field (so not that extreme really!!) when i stopped there was a squeeking/squeel coming from what i presume is the fuel pump in the tank. When i came to restart the engine it struggled a little, but fired up and all seemed fine. I went out to the car this morning to check it would start, and it did but with a lot of white smoke and missing when you revved it until the rev's picked up past 2k. The water and oil level's are fine, and it's not boiled up or ran hot at all. The smoke is not water in the fuel as it smells like parafin, which points towards it being un-burnt fuel. I have changed the fuel filter today, and when i did i half filled the new one with injectior cleaner and started the car up. It spluttered a little when if fired, then spat a cloud of black smoke out and all looked well after a short time. I took it for a run, with not a murmer. Been out to it again tonight, and on starting it up there was white smoke for about 4-5 seconds along with a bit of missfire, then fine again. Drove it to the local shop (about 3 miles in all) and it was fine again, apart from when i stopped the fuel pump is moaning and squeeling again. Tried the re-prime procedure to see if it was taking air in anywhere, but it's still the same noise. It ticks over great with no smoke and when you get it going it still pulls as per normal (maybe a very little down on power, but that may just be me.............) I have read that the injector seal's could cause this if they give up. I have swapped the injector harness about 6 weeks ago, so that is ruled out as far as i'm concerned. First thought was the head gasket, but that normally makes the white smoke smell 'sweet' due to the glycol burning in the antifreeze, and the levels are fine with no tell tale sign's from anywhere else.
I appologise if this has been covered before and i havent found any thing that covers the subject, but it's baffled me as the car seems to be running fine once started. Could it be the fuel pump? And are the injector seal's an easy job to swap? or am i missing something even more obvious?
Any help will greatly recieved, as i'm at a loss as to what it could be..........

Many Thanks.
Andy.

I too am trying to locate a bit of rough running, although in my case it is consistent and minor with no smoke. One thing I will say though, it might be worth checking your red ECU plug again. Even after the harness change there was still quite a bit of oil in the loom below which took awhile to clear through to the ECU. I had to clean mine three times in as many weeks, with each time being dryer than the last until it was bone dry.

Might be worth getting it checked for error codes, it does sound like it might be over fuelling.

Bit of an update, been out in the car again today, and there was only smoke and missfire as it started. As soon as it got a little heat in the engine, it ran as per normal. This has baffled me even more now!!

Andy......

Hi. Did you ever get a fix for this problem. Mine is doing the same. I bought it like that in the hope it would be an easy fix. I've now changed almost everything...! Any help appreciated.

I had the same problem and I changed harness and it was fine, 2 weeks later happened again, harness was faulty on one injector.

Changed for genuine harness and had all the copper washer and seals changed at same time.

Now running fine I'm told picking it up Friday

leec1 said:

I had the same problem and I changed harness and it was fine, 2 weeks later happened again, harness was faulty on one injector.

Changed for genuine harness and had all the copper washer and seals changed at same time.

Now running fine I'm told picking it up Friday

Click to expand...

this is the way forward i would also be looking at the airbleed valve on the fuel filter head first pipe on left as it gets overlooked and if blown injector seals will be full of soot

Well I've just has mine sorted today. Very easy fix really. I had the timing checked and it was out. So much so that it caused the poor starting too. Quick adjustment and it starts on the button and drives like a train thanks to the Alive Tuning Stage 2 that was already fitted. Very happy. Well, until the next Discovery glitch. ;-)