PennineBushcraft

PennineBushcraft

New Member
Hi all,
I recently bought a 2001 Disco td5, manual. I love it, but I took it to an independent landy mechanic recently and he was unable to diagnose the reason for my very noisy, vibrating engine. He did a sniff test and checked the oil and couldn't find anything wrong.
I have no idea about cars, but after a bit of research I found out that blown head gaskets on td5s are both quite common and quite hard to diagnose. Could this be the problem?

My temperature gauge is also acting up. It starts off in the middle as soon a I turn the key to position 2, then climbs to max after about 5 mins of driving. I have noticed the portion of the centre console by the drives left leg does get very hot after after a while.

There is also a bit of growling going on when I turn the wheel (even as little as a few degrees either way). If anyone can assist me with these issues I would be extremely grateful.

Josh.
 
Check obvious, engine mounts, heat shields, engine cover as mine rattles like a Bitch plus being a 5 cylinder engine its naturally out of balance anyway
 
Check top hose after short journey if rock hard its h/g.the growling is power steering check levels.rattle could be dmf.if its a jingly nois its the heatshield on mount.
 
Thanks guys, that's given me plenty to go at. I will have to go away and read up on where the things you mentioned actually are on the car, and will get back to you asap.

Josh
 
Is the growling happening when you're on the move? If so, might be a bearing noise. IF it is that then check each wheel for any play, the wheel bearings on a D2 are integral to the hubs, so it's new hub time (comes complete with new ABS sensor). Lowest I'd seen any on ebay was £48 with 12 month warranty.
 
The uneven running is quite often caused by oil in the injector loom tracking back to the ECU. Easy to see - lift out the ECU (behind the battery - usually you have to disconnect the battery earth) and see if there's oil around the red plug. If so, clean it and the socket with brake cleaner. If you're lucky it won't have got inside the ECU. But you will need to change the loom under the cam cover - pretty straightforward job.

I'd have expected a decent independent to have looked for this.
 
Oil in the injectors had gone through my head before, but short of taking the rocker cover off, I had no idea how to check. I will be checking the ECU (whatever that is) asap.
Difflock, yes the growling is happening on the move in the turns. I checked the power steering fluid, and it's plenty topped up.
 
Just found a brilliant tutorial at defender2.co.uk on changing the injector harness and checking the ECU, so I will be tinkering tomorrow.
I did find someone somewhere who said they had fixed theirs with vasiline. Does anyone know how this is done?
Cambridgecockney: I checked the to hose and it IS hard, but how should it normally feel?
 
Right, just checked the red plug in the back of the ECU. There was a small amount of oil in there, which I cleaned out with kitchen towel. Tomorrow I'll order a new loom, new rocker cover gasket and some break cleaner and see how I go. Many thanks all. However I'm assuming this does not answer the question about the temp guage. Stay tuned, the mystery continues.
 
The saga continues. On Saturday I went to Simmonites and bought a new injector harness. When I took the rocker cover off there was a huge amount of black oil everywhere, and it had splashed all over the inside of the cover. It looked nothing like the photos here: www.discovery2.co.uk / Workshop /Injector Harness
Is that normal?
I changed the loom anyway and put it all back together. I still need to run it a bit and clear any excess oil out of the ECU. But here's hoping.

After the refit I noticed that the suspension was low at the back (the rear mud guard was touching the ground). After a bit of reading on here, it seems that the most likely culprit is an old and leaky air suspension bag. So will need to replace them.

On the way home I noticed a rhythmic thudding noise from the rear of the vehicle. More research leads me to conclude that I might have a dodgy Watts Linkage. I did crawl under for a look and it's pretty rusty, but how do I know if it IS dead?

The growl in the steering is still present. Fluid levels are good, leading me to think that maybe the power steering pump is the culprit. Refurbish or replace?

So now I really feel like a landy owner.
 
PennineBushcraft said:
On the way home I noticed a rhythmic thudding noise from the rear of the vehicle. More research leads me to conclude that I might have a dodgy Watts Linkage. I did crawl under for a look and it's pretty rusty, but how do I know if it IS dead?
Click to expand...
If, when you rock the vehicle from side to side by holding the gutter or roof bars, you hear a clunking / knocking sound the watts linkage could need sorting. Have a look at this fred
 
Thanks for this headtester, that's a great thread. I'm not 100% certain that it is the Watts linkage, but as I said there is a lot of corrosion. If it is, I may end up replacing the whole assembly, arms and all.
 
PennineBushcraft said:
Thanks for this headtester, that's a great thread. I'm not 100% certain that it is the Watts linkage, but as I said there is a lot of corrosion. If it is, I may end up replacing the whole assembly, arms and all.
Click to expand...

That isn't necessary. Just replace the bushes that need replacing. On the subject of rear end sitting low. Sometimes when the vehicle is jacked up high at front, or rear, it can upset the height scensors. If it levels itself when you start the engine, with all doors closed, its ok. But you should check the airbags as well. Raise the rear, and spray them with soapy water, or leak detector if you have any. Its a very easy job to change them if they are leaking.
 
Thanks for that meego. I was sat on the tailgate with rear door open yesterday and it was dropping noticeably. It did re-level after starting the engine, and it doesn't drop overnight, so I'm not overly concerned yet.
I'm more concerned about the faint rhythmic knocking, which I worked out today is NOT the watts linkage (no knocking when i stand on the running boards and bounce up and down). So that one is still a head scratcher.
After reading up on here, it seems that the noise from the steering could be ACE OR steering pump. So that's a head scratcher too.
Josh
 
The groaning is quite likely to be the ACE system and not the power steering. Mine has groaned for years despite checking all pipes isolatdd from chassis, changing fluid and eventually a new pump...no difference and I now just live with the groaning at low revs and low speed cornering. PAS pump for me was a lot more obvious, just changed my PAS pump last week, vibration through wheel and heavy steering. Try turning wheel lock to lock when stationary. The ACE is only active with the vehicle moving so if you get loads of noise when turning wheels at idle then it could be PAS. Check your tyre pressures to eliminate that. Knocking from rear may well be anti roll bar links or bushes, get under the rear and do a few bench presses...watch out for wise cracking passers by. Also your vibration may be mechanical. The crank pulley should be fitted with a torsional vibration damper to try to minimise transmitted vibrations but some folks have been known to fit pulleys without dampers and this may have been done by a previous owner. It could be worth your while removing the serpentine belt and checking all pulleys to ensure theres nothing amoung the auxiliaries or a bad tensioner causing your vibration. Good luck, all thd work is worth it in the end.
 
My power steering sometimes groans and I occasionally hear a different groan from ACE
 
Thanks for that guys. Musky, I hadn't considered the anti-roll bar, so will check. It is a quiet, rhythmic thudding, the beat gets faster in tempo as I accelerate.
I will also do a dry steering test to see if I get the growling. My steering wheel was shaking on the motorway today, and growling was contantly audible.
I checked my tyres about a month ago and had em topped up. I should probably check again.
I have no idea what a tensioner would look like, or what a crank pulley is, so I suppose it's back to the Haynes manual.
Thanks again chaps.
 
P.S. I've also noticed that I get a noise from the front drivers side wheel at regular intervals, that sounds like I've run over a very dry stick. At first I thought I had, but then it happened again, then again, and i realised that sticks weren't that common on the M606. It happens every few miles or so. Any thoughts?
 
Wonder if that might be a CV joint on its way out?

Get under there and see if you can see any wet areas arond the wheel hubs.

That's if you still have any limbs and appendages left after your trip to Simmonites:D.
 
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