Haunted…phantom stall

[pmkpang]

Mine is a 96 D1 (overseas spec) which has this stalling, low-rev, back fire issues going on for ages. Me, my mechanic and the technicians from the dealership all had a go with it and still could not pin point what the problem could be. The dealer had run their computers and a ridiculously long list of codes were generated; as usual they tackle each code by replacing items with new parts but with no success, i.e. same list of codes even with all the new parts installed. So apparently there is nobody I can go to in Hong Kong who can fix my car.

Anyway the symptoms are typical; after warm up, truck runs fine till I come to a stop at the lights, when holding the brakes, the idle would either stall or drop to extremely low rev which then if gas is applied, it’ll back fire immediately, though when I floor the accelerator, the truck jumps back to normal. If I put it into neutral instead, the idle sometimes stays constant at a healthy rev or constant at low-rev, and sometimes it’ll swing. No over heating at all, no torque or power lost, no flashy engine light, no white or blue smoke (a little carbon build up after full throttle), just can’t hold idle…

Right now I’ve “renew” the ignition system including new distributor, rotor and cap, leads to plugs. As for breathing, plenum chamber, MAF, step motor, throttle sensor are all replaced. O2 sensors plus all hoses are clean or replaces. ECU tested and approved.

I’m now suspecting on 4 areas,
- My cats rattle and am going to replace them with straight pipes to eliminate blockage, though I don’t think they’re significant enough to cause the stall.
- Alternator is whining with a dying bearing, but it’s still doing its job right now.
- Wiring loop was blamed but dealership said it was fine after running a test.
- Moist from leaking windscreen jumping the electrics

Any input from you folks are much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Peter

[Geobloke]

Do you have a petrol engine and automatic gearbox?

[Ed Cheung]

have you try the place at Sai Kung? They fix LR.

[pmkpang]

Geobloke: my rig is a 96 V8i auto

Ed: the Sai kung place is a rip off for me, had bad experience with them ages ago. But because of them, I've now learnt how to service the rig by myself. And there is a better and cheaper garage in Kam tin which the owner and the techician are former rover people.

[Ed Cheung]

I only got my disco in Feb, so I am also sourcing some workshop too, the reason I mentioned the place in Sai Kung, well a long story, you can search my post about my alternators few weeks earlier. Do think it is the vaccum, as it start bad when it is cold?
Well good knowing you, I will ask around as well and you can email me at emaleemale@yahoo.com.hk . good to find someone from HK.
Ed

[pmkpang]

sorry forgot to say my rig is a 96 V8i auto:(

[Manila Thrilla]

Hi pmkpang,

My wifes Disco 1 County V8i is behaving excactly the same, driving me crazy....

Land Rover Dealer here has no clue, whats new.

Please let me know how things go with your Disco.

[pmkpang]

Hey thriller,

I've replaced those cats with straight pipes but with no sucess, apart from the worn bearing, the Alt seems to be in working order. Though yesterday when I tried to start the beast, the engine rotates but will not start, I'm still waiting for my mechanic to confirm but most probably the fuel pump has gone. To tell you the truth I've been battling with this for years and still has no solution to it. There are millions of places that would go wrong thus lead to stalling, in my situation, I've noticed that the issue is temperature sensitive, ie problems only occur when in working temp, therefore I've also swap the coolant temp sensor...but now that I can't fire her up, I really duno what good have I bring changing this sensor. Bright side of the world is (maybe pessimist, depends how you look at it), a 99 v8 is never too expensive now in the 2nd hand market. I'll keep you up to date with my stalling battle.

cheers

[Manila Thrilla]

hi pmkpang,
I did all of those parts changes you did.
The fuel pump also headed south on my Disco last year.
Does your Monster also have a small blow bye ?
Mine does and there is a small amount of oil on some of the spark plugs.

Thanks for your replie

Manila Thrilla





I've replaced those cats with straight pipes but with no sucess, apart from the worn bearing, the Alt seems to be in working order. Though yesterday when I tried to start the beast, the engine rotates but will not start, I'm still waiting for my mechanic to confirm but most probably the fuel pump has gone. To tell you the truth I've been battling with this for years and still has no solution to it. There are millions of places that would go wrong thus lead to stalling, in my situation, I've noticed that the issue is temperature sensitive, ie problems only occur when in working temp, therefore I've also swap the coolant temp sensor...but now that I can't fire her up, I really duno what good have I bring changing this sensor. Bright side of the world is (maybe pessimist, depends how you look at it), a 99 v8 is never too expensive now in the 2nd hand market. I'll keep you up to date with my stalling battle.

cheers[/quote]

[SPLITPIN]

pmkpang. Could be many things...... However, have your LR dealer/workshop run a stall test (they should know what that is) - the root of the problem could be with your torque converter this will not be picked up on the computer diagnostic.

good luck.

[SPLITPIN]

To tell you the truth I've been battling with this for years and still has no solution to it. There are millions of places that would go wrong thus lead to stalling, in my situation, I've noticed that the issue is temperature sensitive, ie problems only occur when in working temp, [/quote]

Manila Thrilla you might have the same problem if yours is also an automatic.

[Manila Thrilla]

Hi PM and Split,

thanks for the replie , sorry could not get back to you earlier was down with a bad flu.:(

Yes mine is a automatic gearbox too.

Cheers,
Manila Thrilla

[pmkpang]

hey splitpin,

More and more I feel the torque converter is the source of my problem, it just kills my idle everytime and hestitate to get my car out from static. Thanks for mentioning. As this is a bit pricy for both labour and parts, do you have any suggestion on testing my current torque converter without going into the dealers? or do we have other ways to test it to make sure it's really the devil I'm looking for?

thanks again

Pete

[climbers_uk]

Did you ever manage to sort this out at all??

[pmkpang]

Yup, I'd rectified the problem, it was caused by the Lamda/O2 sensors at the exhaust. I was able to trace the source of the problem by really doing the basics; black smoke, wet smelly spark plugs (petrol smell), as it's a V8i, there must be some kinda sensors which are giving fause signal to the ECU which in turn let the injector spit out more than it should, this turns out to be the lamda sensors. I've swap all the injectors as well and now its all perfect thus giving out all the muscle it use to have.