We're having trouble with a '92 V8i Disco with LPG and it's driving us barmy to be honest. It's my partner's car and it keeps cutting out. Here's the story.

She bought it last summer and it ran fine for a while.

Earlier this year, on occcasion it would lose power rapidly and cut out , but (I think) usually restarted. Seemed like an LPG problem, but we were also told that low coolant level can lead to cutting out. Took it to the local LPG specialist who is used to working on these engines. He serviced the system and replaced the gas regulator with a used unit. It seemed to go OK for a while. Then it started cutting out again.

It got to the point where it stopped whilst idling and wouldn't start again. After a short time it would start again. The last time it stopped, would start, then die after a few seconds of the idle going up and down dramatically.

The RAC got called out to take it to a local Landy specialist. The RAC guy couldn't find anything obvious except when he had his spark tester on, we could see the spark going weaker and stronger in cycles corresponding with the idle going up and down, then the engine would stop and wasn't keen to restart.

The vehicle was in the garage for a month! They couldn't seem to find out was was wrong with it.

Here's what they did.

Found no electrical feed to fuel pump. Put feed in. Fuel pressure low, replaced fuel pump. Still running rough on petrol.

Found fault in wiring loom and corrected( what fault I don't know)

Replaced plugs and leads (a bit desparate this I thought)

Still misfiring and slow to pick up.

Removed inlet manifold to remove injectors. Found inlet manifold gasket damaged on 6 & 8. Replaced.

Flow checked. Injectors cleaned.

Now runs OK on petrol & gas.

Placed on T4 diagnostic to clear I4CUX memory.

Also it would seem they checked everything else they could think of. They took out the spider unit and temporarily replaced it with a known good one.

All this cost nearly £1000!

Since it came back, it has been running a bit rough on petrol, but not too bad.

Six weeks later, it cut out again and wouldn't start. Tried it 1/2 an hour later. Started OK, but idle going up and down dramatically. This time though spark was consistently strong.

She hasn't driven it much since. I tried to go out in it last week. It cut out after I had driven the length of the car. No spark and seemingly no voltage at the coil either. 1/2 an hour later it started fine, but I didn't fancy driving it anywhere.

I've been in touch with the garage and they don't seem to be very helpful or interested. I've called them 8 times and they've never rung me back once. All I'm getting is 'It's gonna cost you £50 for us to tow it in', 'If it's something we didn't spot before you'll have to pay for it.' Am I unreasonable in expecting better service than this? Every time I speak to them (very reasonably) I'm made to feel like I'm an awkward customer!

So we're left with a useless Disco that's seemingly exhibiting a very similar fault to before it was 'mended' and a garage that aren't interested in helping.

Anybody any ideas (about the vehicle or garage)? As the thread title suggests, we're at our wits end! Any help greatly appreciated.

Hello

This is my advice to you ( as a solicitor ).

You need to get an inspection report carried out by a fully qualified engineer ~ At that point you will then be in a position to cross check any faults on the report with faults that the garage have charged you for repairing.

If you discover that the garage have not repaired or have poorly carried out work on your vehicle you then write to the garage and tell them of your findings and give them a time scale of say 14 days from the date of the letter to repair the faults found or refund you for work not done.

After the 14 day period has passed you can then lodge a claim in your local County Court to recover all reasonable losses and for an award for damages due to loss of use .

If you need any help ( FREE OF CHARGE !!!!!) Then let me know.

Retsgom

Thanks, I'll take that advice.

The garage were supposedly going to send someone round today to look at it. But unsurprisingly, no word.

I took it out on a run today, it only conked out about 6 times in no more than 5 miles. I was sat in Tesco car park for 1/2 and hour trying to get it to start and run.

Just got back from another garage who are having a look at it. The mechanic says that the spider unit had several bad solder joints due to it being overloaded because someone had connected an extra power feed from the coil (he assumes for the gas system although he won't have anything to do with the gas system) which was overloading the spider. So the story I was told from the original garage that he had had the unit out and inspected it seems not to ring true. He also said that the fuel pump was running permanently because it had been wired wrongly (which was something that the first garage did). So at least it now runs without cutting out although the idle is still iffy.

So at last we're getting somewhere!

This is the very reason i come away from the motor trade 15 years ago ! There were too many backstreet cowboys ripping folk off then, but it seems as though they've moved premises, into what looks like reputable buisinesses on the front street ! Obviously they hadn't a clue what they were doing & just "played " around with it in hope of stumbling apon the problem. In saying that, i think the main problem here, was the spanners with their tools in their hands !

Well, the original garage aren't exactly back street. Supposedly they're reputable Land Rover specialists!

How long they'll stay reputable with customer service like that, I don't know.

BTW I've been told since that the fuel pump is supposed to run continuously. Is this correct?

The fuel pump gets its power from the ignition switch & shouldn't run when the key is turned to the off position.

Well, it seems to be fixed now.

I suspect there were 2 faults originally. The first garage claimed they had temporarily replaced the spider unit with a known good one, but it would seem they didn't actually inspect the original one. So they fixed the poor running, but the spider unit problem remained.

The fuel pump thing turned out actually to be the the rear wiper motor that was running all the time the ignition was on as there was a fault with it.

Apprently also the air filter was filthy and not seated properly and the throttle body was full of crap too, which obviously wasn't helping much.

Thanks for your help everyone.