Arttu Korppivuori
Member
Brand new, first time Landy owner here. Bought a '93 Disco 1 a week ago, been running ok despite being somewhat beat up (drove it home some 100 miles without issue etc.). Yesterday, however, I ran into a big problem.
I was driving home and noticed I was trailing some smoke and caught a whiff of a weird smell. As I stop at traffic lights, I noticed the clutch was suddenly completely limp and went straight to the floor without much effort. Next thing is smoke billowing from under the car. The engine shut down at this point as well and I lost electrics, too. I tried to apply the handbrake, but there was no resistance. I got out and looking under the car, noticed actual flames on top of the gearbox. I had an extinguisher on board and managed to put the flames out easily.
I had a friend with me and we pushed the car to the side of the road, as it would not start even though the electrics returned after a while. The handbrake lever is completely loose, i.e. the cable has no resistance, and yet the car could be pushed, so it seems the brake is not doing anything. I took off the handbrake gaiter, and it seems the cable has some melted plastic on it and has fused to the rubber plug it runs through. In short, the handbrake cable is not moving in any direction.
Later on in the evening I got a tow back home from a friend, and we actually got the Landy started in my yard with a battery booster, and it could be driven as well, so mostly everything seems ok in that regard. The handbrake is still non-functional.
Any ideas what could have caused the fire and what to diagnose next? I'm not too experienced with cars in general, but I have an idea what it could be. Still, I'd rather hear from someone with more experience first so as not to lead anyone astray with my own, possibly erroneous, diagnosis.
I was driving home and noticed I was trailing some smoke and caught a whiff of a weird smell. As I stop at traffic lights, I noticed the clutch was suddenly completely limp and went straight to the floor without much effort. Next thing is smoke billowing from under the car. The engine shut down at this point as well and I lost electrics, too. I tried to apply the handbrake, but there was no resistance. I got out and looking under the car, noticed actual flames on top of the gearbox. I had an extinguisher on board and managed to put the flames out easily.
I had a friend with me and we pushed the car to the side of the road, as it would not start even though the electrics returned after a while. The handbrake lever is completely loose, i.e. the cable has no resistance, and yet the car could be pushed, so it seems the brake is not doing anything. I took off the handbrake gaiter, and it seems the cable has some melted plastic on it and has fused to the rubber plug it runs through. In short, the handbrake cable is not moving in any direction.
Later on in the evening I got a tow back home from a friend, and we actually got the Landy started in my yard with a battery booster, and it could be driven as well, so mostly everything seems ok in that regard. The handbrake is still non-functional.
Any ideas what could have caused the fire and what to diagnose next? I'm not too experienced with cars in general, but I have an idea what it could be. Still, I'd rather hear from someone with more experience first so as not to lead anyone astray with my own, possibly erroneous, diagnosis.