Disco 2 Won’t bloody start!!
- Thread starter 02Disco2
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Did you ever solve the 'going dark'?
Nope. I ran out of ideas and took it to the garage. Starts fine when cold and every now and then but not consistently. Garage has no idea either!!
sierrafery
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I feel sorry for you. 
This kind of intermittent electrical issues are the worst nightmare and unfortunately there is no cheap way around it unless you have skills with electrical troubleshooting at a proffesinal level and know exactly how the D2 works. I'm not gonna read the whole thread again but iirc both fuseboxes were ruled out and if the earths were also checked there are only two steps left:
1. replace the engine harness cos that's quite easy and very suspect
... if still the same
2. replace the main fascia harness... that's a hard one
cos seems that the interruption or short circuit is somewhere in one of these
This kind of intermittent electrical issues are the worst nightmare and unfortunately there is no cheap way around it unless you have skills with electrical troubleshooting at a proffesinal level and know exactly how the D2 works. I'm not gonna read the whole thread again but iirc both fuseboxes were ruled out and if the earths were also checked there are only two steps left:
1. replace the engine harness cos that's quite easy and very suspect
... if still the same
2. replace the main fascia harness... that's a hard one
cos seems that the interruption or short circuit is somewhere in one of these
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It's hard with so much of the loom hidden away 
Did we rule out a dodgy ignition switch? If that's falling apart inside then everything would go dark
Did we rule out a dodgy ignition switch? If that's falling apart inside then everything would go dark
sierrafery
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It's hard with so much of the loom hidden away
Did we rule out a dodgy ignition switch? If that's falling apart inside then everything would go dark
Seems that it was covered here at point 2 if that trick was carried out: https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/won’t-bloody-start.389329/page-3#post-5624239
Last edited:
thanks @sierrafery and I think I might have a crack at the engine harness as a last resort when/if it comes back from the garage. The fascia harness is a bit beyond me so that really will signal the end!I feel sorry for you.
This kind of intermittent electrical issues are the worst nightmare and unfortunately there is no cheap way around it unless you have skills with electrical troubleshooting at a proffesinal level and know exactly how the D2 works. I'm not gonna read the whole thread again but iirc both fuseboxes were ruled out and if the earths were also checked there are only two steps left:
1. replace the engine harness cos that's quite easy and very suspect
... if still the same
2. replace the main fascia harness... that's a hard one
cos seems that the interruption or short circuit is somewhere in one of these
If I were you at this stage, I would unplug everything from the engine harness except for those components needed to give you a baseline configuration, just enough to turn the engine. Off the top of my head, this would include the ECU, the starter motor + solenoid and of course the battery. I would also remove the cooling fan and the auxiliary belt to reduce the cranking load. Attempt to start the engine while gradually connecting components to the harness (individually or combined) and see if you manage to recreate the behaviour seen in the video clip you uploaded a while ago. It is up to you which components to test and in what order but I would start by adding the CKP and the injector harness. I would also disable certain non essential items such as the glow plugs by removing the appropriate relays and / or fuses. With some luck and an overdose of patience, you will manage to home in on the root cause of this baffling problem. Best of luck.
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Cheers for mentioning the video, i missed that!
The battery is goosed,
The nanocom doesn't update very quick but i saw 9v.. in reality it probably dropped much lower. Low enough for the ecu to die and the solenoid to disengage.
With ignition on, turn everything on for 5 mins.. headlights, heated screen, heater blower, radio etc.. Keep an eye on the voltage. You'll need to fully charge the battery afterwards
If it's not the battery then you're either got a bad connection to the battery or the starter motor, or the starter itself is shorting out and taking too much power
The battery is goosed,
The nanocom doesn't update very quick but i saw 9v.. in reality it probably dropped much lower. Low enough for the ecu to die and the solenoid to disengage.
With ignition on, turn everything on for 5 mins.. headlights, heated screen, heater blower, radio etc.. Keep an eye on the voltage. You'll need to fully charge the battery afterwards
If it's not the battery then you're either got a bad connection to the battery or the starter motor, or the starter itself is shorting out and taking too much power
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In post #1 he said the batt was only about a year old.
He could try driving around with a spare, charged up batt and a pair of jump leads. If you are right, whenever it happens again, he could use the above to apply good voltage. If it then starts he may well have a duff batt.
Most motorbits shops will test a batt for no or little money.
diver
Active Member
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You've done the voltage check on cranking at the battery. Try doing the same thing at the starter and see if you get a much bigger voltage drop. The going dark tends to indicate a big voltage drop which means high resistance somewhere. Could be a bad crimp on a battery cable or even a fracture inside the insulation somewhere.
We often see this on marine engines. I've seen battery cables rotted away inside the insulation.
We often see this on marine engines. I've seen battery cables rotted away inside the insulation.
sierrafery
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Guys, IMO the best troubleshooting method for this issue was already revealed here https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/won’t-bloody-start.389329/page-3#post-5624239 ... from what i understood only the engine bay fusebox was ruled out untill now, so it seems that the ignition switch remains suspect so does the interior fusebox... untill these are not ruled out 100% all other discussions are futile ...believe me or not
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Dodgy ignition switch wont drop the measured voltage down to 9v though.. at least not without releasing it's magic smoke
sierrafery
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It was a video in this thread where the whole dash went black and all the electrics seemed to be out for good after a cranking attempt which failled as well so i doubt that there was 9V present then cos at 9V the starter would still spin well just that the engine would not start without any other symptom
So. Final update as the issue appears to have been resolved. After being in the garage for nearly 3 months it turned out to be a dirty ignition cable - which was cleaned and it’s been behaving itself for 2 weeks now!!
Sodding thing - straight through the mot too so looks like it’ll live on a bit longer yet
At least he only charged me £25 for effectively storing it for 3 months and giving it a bit of a clean!
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and things to check
Si
Sodding thing - straight through the mot too so looks like it’ll live on a bit longer yet
At least he only charged me £25 for effectively storing it for 3 months and giving it a bit of a clean!
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and things to check
Si
According to the mechanic the connector from the ignition itself - apparently it looked like it had been “played with” in the past (wasn’t me!).
I’ll be honest I didn’t dig into it any more than that as I was just happy to get it working and not get charged a lot for it, and he was swamped with work - next time I go in I’ll ask in more detail
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Hmmm!
(Post #31)
But buried in among all the other stuff people, including me, had been suggesting.
Very glad you got it sorted!!!
Morning all!Hmmm!
(Post #31)
But buried in among all the other stuff people, including me, had been suggesting.
Very glad you got it sorted!!!
Hopefully final update to this saga as the “issue” started to appear again last week.
I managed to start it by wiggling the brown conector in the fuse box (under steering wheel) while at intention pos 3/crank and replaced the whole lead (from back of ignition barrel to fuse board) and it’s working like a charm now
I think it was dodgy wiring in the brown connector as it was the movement of this that allowed it to start before being replaced and I did try to clean it up (note to self - remove bet lead from battery before putting wire wool across contacts in fuse box unless trying to start a fire
) but managed to find a decent/used lead and took the “easy” optionThanks all for the help and suggestions and hope this helps someone else in the future
